Dublin travel guide: where to eat, the pubs, and getting in from DUB

Dublin is the small capital that runs on its pubs, its writers, and its rebuilding-since-the-2008-crash energy. The Liffey splits the city north and south. Almost every visitor stays south of the river, near St Stephen's Green or Temple Bar. The pub scene is the cultural fact. The food has caught up with the visitor density in the last decade and is now respectable enough to plan around. A long weekend covers the city. A week opens up Howth, the Wicklow Mountains, and the Aran Islands.

On this page

• Getting in from the airport
• Festivals and big annual events
• Where to stay
• Where to eat

Getting in from the airport

Dublin Dublin Airport (DUB) sits about 10 km north of the center. The Airlink Express bus is the simplest path in, with rideshare as the easier-with-luggage option.

Mode	Time	Cost	When to use
Airlink Express (747 / 757)	25 to 35 min	€8 single	The default. Direct to the city center (St Stephen's Green, Connolly, Heuston). Runs every 15 minutes day and night
Aircoach	25 to 35 min	€10 single	Alternative private operator. Serves a wider set of city-center stops including Ballsbridge and Donnybrook
Uber / FreeNow / taxi	20 to 40 min	€30 to €50	Late arrival or heavy luggage. Dublin taxi market is well-regulated and the meter runs on the regulated rate
Local Dublin Bus 16 / 41 / 102	40 to 60 min	€2 single	The cheapest path. Slower and with limited luggage space, useful only if you are traveling very light

Festivals and big annual events

Dublin's calendar runs on one global headline (St Patrick's Day) and a handful of literary, music, and sport events that fill specific weekends. The hotel inventory is small relative to the demand on the big weekends, so every event below moves prices noticeably.

Event	When	What it changes
St Patrick's Day	March 17, with the parade and festival running the four days around it	The biggest day of the Irish year and the biggest Dublin tourism weekend by some margin. Hotels triple or quadruple in price, often book out months ahead. The parade runs through the center mid-morning. Temple Bar and the south Quays are unwalkable from late morning onward. Either commit fully (book the hotel six months out, queue with the crowds, embrace it) or push the trip a week in either direction
Bloomsday	June 16	The literary festival around Joyce's Ulysses, which takes place on June 16, 1904. Readings, period dress, walking tours retracing Bloom's day across the city, breakfast events serving fried kidneys. Niche but committed: the Joyceans book the city. The James Joyce Centre on North Great George's Street is the anchor venue
TradFest	Late January, around six days	The traditional Irish music festival across pubs and venues mostly on the north side. The single best week of the year for live traditional music in Dublin. Smaller hotel impact than St Patrick's, but the better trip if music is the reason for the visit
Six Nations rugby weekends	February and March, three home weekends in Dublin	Aviva Stadium hosts three home matches in the championship. Match weekends fill the south-side hotels and pubs, especially around Lansdowne Road and the south Quays. Worth knowing about as a hotel-pressure window even if you are not a rugby fan
Dublin Theatre Festival	Late September to mid-October, two weeks	The international theater festival across the Gate, the Abbey, the Smock Alley, and dozens of smaller venues. Smaller hotel impact, bigger restaurant impact: the dinner reservations near the theaters get tight
Culture Night	A Friday in mid-September	A free city-wide opening of museums, galleries, and cultural venues into the evening. Local-first, not heavy on visitors. A good reason to plan an evening around
Dublin Marathon	Late October bank-holiday Monday	Road closures across the city. The expo at the RDS the days before
Christmas Market	Late November to late December	Smaller than the German equivalents. A reason to visit Dublin if you are already on a Britain or Ireland trip, not a reason to book Dublin in December over Nuremberg or Bath

St Patrick's Day is the trip-shaping one and the one to either book early for or avoid. The better local-feel weekend most Americans never hear about is TradFest in late January.

Where to stay

Property	Note
citizenM Dublin St. Patricks	3/5 ⭐⭐⭐

These are the hotels I have pinned from prior stays. Each links to the pin with the address, the rough nightly band, and any notes.

Where to eat

Irish food has shed the boiled-and-gray reputation. Modern Dublin runs on serious gastropubs, a steady wave of international restaurants, and the bakery and burger scene. The picks below mix the casual evening rotation with the booking-ahead places.

Spot	Rating
Boeuf	5/5
BIGFAN	Pinned
Braza Food	Pinned
Bunsen	Pinned
Cookieboy	Pinned
Etto	Pinned