Various Dublin Recommendations
Here’s my Dublin recommendations. Most of these are around where I spent my time in college. If I share this with you and you just go to Temple bar, you’re an op.
Cafés ☕
Shoe Lane – small but pleasant good vibes café, weird seating
Cornucopia – poshy vibes but lovely, food looks really good but is stupid expensive
Café Tri Via – small cute and nice, soup and sandwich is cheap for lunch
La Pausa Café – out the way, but I was here once and it was nice
Zanzibar Locke – nice place you can work with your laptop for a long time
Dolce Sicily – my favourite place for a coffee and cake to celebrate on rare occasions
Il Caffee de Napoli – all of the aesthetic aura farmers sit outside of this cafe, does look cool though to be fair
Books Upstairs – nice bookstore, café upstairs
Laudrée – yummy rich French hot chocolate
Food 🍜
Lincoln’s Inn – Good pub food, close to my heart
The Duke – Good pub food, great pub for chats
Featherblade – haven’t been, very nice and cheap for what you get
Nanetti’s – haven’t been, looks amazing, hard to get reservation
Pig’s Ear – went here once, amazing good if you’re rich
Sano – nice pizza place, one of me and Affraic’s first date spots
Port House, Dundrum – fine Spanish-style tapas, romantic vibes, one in town isn’t that good in my opinion
Salamanca – haven’t been, Spanish-style tapas, looks good and vibes look nice
Las Tapas de Lola – haven’t been, recommended to me as good Spanish-style tapas
Pye, Dundrum – nice bar with pizza, I think there’s a pub quiz here one of the days
Mr S – haven’t been, someone recommended to me as great BBQ
Ramen Bar – fine ramen, I like these kimchi arrinchini things they have
Little Dumpling – classic, you will be happy, close to my heart
Madame Pho – haven’t been, meant to be good
Biang Biang – was underwhelmed but apparently is good, fair warning
Andhra Bhavan – haven’t been, someone recommended to me as a good indian place
Afanti – very good uygher food, took a long time to be served but it was fuego
Shouk, Drumcondra – not a big fan of middle eastern food but this place was probably good
Masa – good Mexican place, can get Modelos there
Dada (olololo) – Moroccan food, ate here once years ago and I thought it was good
Bunsen – just a solid burger, cheap enough, in the city
Mary’s Wowburger – nice chicken burger, music on upstairs most days
Mad Egg – nice chicken burger, what you would expect from a chain
Wishbone – been to the one in Galway, nice chicken wings
Firebyrd – good chicken wings, cheap enough
D’Grill – Mosque-type food and kebabs, much better than you would expect, recommend
The Diner in South Circular Mosque – food is banging, you will be happy, fair warning it is in the Mosque but it’s chill brother come in
Bambino – meme but is good pizza to be fair
PI – good pizza, bit expensive
Xi’ans – spice bag, they actually do good other stuff too
Yum Thai – cheap ass thai food, fed me through college
Centra, Westland Row – best price-to-value chicken fillet roll, seating downstairs that’s always empty if you need time to recharge
Pig and Heffer – great deli-style sandwiches
Fx Buckley – weekday lunch sandwich and soup from a proper butcher, spenny but worth it
Tang – haven’t been, but sandwiches look good and people love it
Sprout – quite mid in my opinion, but people seem to love it, salad bowls and all that
Zakura – a staple lunch time Bento box
Tekara – good lunch time Bento box
Lisboa Pastelieria – pastel de natas and other snacks
Mama’s Revenge – best burrito in my opinion
Pablo Picante – good burrito, bit expensive
Pubs + Bars 🍻
Blackbird, Rathmines – good vibes, beer garden, snacky food
Pawn Shop – trendy cool vibe, nice though
Lincoln’s Inn – good pub food, close to my heart
The Duke – good pub food, great pub for chats
O’Donoghues – good pub, massive smoking area
Chaplins – good pub, close to my heart of course
Fibber’s – if you want to hang out with your weird punk rock uncle, funny tough
Cassidy’s – same vibe as Fibber’s but more of a pub, I kind of like this place though
Bloody Stream, Howth – classic pub, heard it’s been going downhill though
Doyle’s – good pub, close to my heart
Bowe’s – haven’t been but apparently great Guinness, old man pub
Kehoe’s – classic pub, it’s actually a little mid but classic
Cobblestone, Smithfield – proper Irish music and trad culture, good pints
Bonobo, Smithfield – good pizza, millenial vibes but good
Pints on Drury’s Street – good vibes, and a mix of places and food, Ciss Madden’s being the most obvious place but there’s a lot of options, there’s also a wine bar somewhere here that looks good
Fagan’s, Drumcondra – had some nice memories in this pub, and Drumbcondra is lovely
Things to Do 🧗♀️
Howth Cliff Walk – nice hike, doable whenever and easily accessible, also you’re in Howth which is nice
Bray/Greystones Hike – really nice but a bit far, doable though, Bray is lovely so end there and get a pint or some scampi
Forty Foot – lots of people go here for sea swimming but I have never been
Sandymount Beach – nice beach, nice walks
Howth Beach – nice beach, also you’re in Howth which is nice
Trinity College Dublin – worth a visit to be fair, sit on college green at the back for a recharge, could probably skip the book of kells
Dublin Castle – haven’t been in ages, it is cool though to be fair
St Patrick’s Cathedral – haven’t been, but looks cool from the outside
Guinness Storehouse – have never been, but apparently it’s actually quite good
Stephen’s Green – nice in theory, always crowded and seagulls are on crack
Merrion Square – nice and not crowded like Stephen’s Green
National Gallery – free, yeah
EPIC Museum – haven’t been, apparently quite good though
National History Museum – free, actually class istg, go look at the long ass boat
Collin’s Barracks – oddly a lot of great events here all the time, I think there’s a military museum in there too
Phoenix Park – big ass park, zoo is there, light show on at Christmas
Iveagh Gardens – nice for a walk if you’re in the area
Hodges Figgis – nice bookstore near Trinity
Books Upstairs – nice bookstore, café upstairs
Secret Bookstore – my favourite bookstore, goated, records too
Lexicon Library and Cultural Centre, Dun Laoghaire – just a lovely public library, could make a day out of it if you do other things in Dun Laoghaire
Board and Brewed, Dun Laoghaire – cute little board game shop, could make a day out of it if you do other things in Dun Laoghaire
Harbour, Dun Laoghaire – a nice harbour stroll, seafood vans along the way, could make a day out of it if you do other things in Dun Laoghaire
Viking Theatre, Clontarf – nice small theatre, could go for a walk along the coast road and get posh dinner in Clontarf
Saint Anne’s Park, Clontarf/Raheny – nice park but out the way, I think you can get the bus somewhere
Savoy – cheap cinema in the middle of town
Light House – great cinema, trendy, always show great stuff
Irish Film Institute – haven’t been, meant to be good and they seem to show cool things here all the time
Stella, Rathmines – fancy cinema with nice seats, apparently
George’s Arcade – permanent market, quite nice
The Hideout – pool tables, byob
Drunken Fish – karaoke, solid vibes, korean food is also meant to be banging
Token – arcade, what you would expect
Murphy’s Ice Cream – free samples, and they have always been good to be fair
Areas 🌍
Around Trinity – this is where I would spend my time (and most people do) if I wanted to see the nice parts in Dublin
Howth – nice seaside area, good restaurants and seafood, hike, seals, pints, locals
Skerries – my favorite place in Dublin, quite quiet, lovely beach, chill, cosy pubs
Smithfield – lots of cultural stuff to do
Liberties – gentrified working class area, nice stuff to do but not loads, historical
Temple Bar – touristy, you should walk through to be fair, but don’t waste your time or money here, there’s much better places to do that