A 4-Day Gal’s Trip to Dublin

Dublin is the perfect location for a gal-livanting girl’s trip. It’s a walkable and lovely city with deep history, fun nightlife, delicious restaurants, and perfect starting point for easy day trips. It also seems relatively safe to walk around at night.

On Day 1, we dealt with jet lag by booking a walking tour of Dublin. The right guide will take you to all the key areas of Dublin, share its history, and make excellent suggestions for tours on your own. This 4 to 6 hour tour will keep you moving and less focused on how darn tired you are. We used this Viator tour and enjoyed getting the lay of the land of Dublin.

Where to Stay

As a group, we decided to stay in the Temple Bar area: a section with a lively nightlife and a lot of pubs. In hindsight, it was a bit too loud for our taste. And the hotel rooms were small, especially the bathrooms. If I were to go again I would choose a hotel near St. Stephen’s Green and Anne Street South. It’s not far from Temple Bar and the Ha’Penny bridge but it is quieter and a little more…upscale.

Activities in Dublin

Once you understand the layout of Dublin, you can make your decisions on what you want to see. Even though it is small compared to other Irish castles, be sure to walk in and around the Dublin Castle. There are several beautiful churches and cathedrals (especially the magnificent Christ Church) around it to meander through as well. We did this on our first day and took a much needed coffee break in the picnic area behind the castle.

Be sure to walk over the Ha’Penny Bridge, Dublin’s oldest pedestrian crossing over the river Liffey. It was erected in 1816 as the Wellington Bridge and it acquired its better known nickname from the halfpenny toll levied on all users of the bridge up to 1919. Very picturesque as you can see from the photo.

No trip to Dublin would be complete without a visit to Trinity College, its gorgeous Harry Potter-esque library, and the famous Book of Kells.

On day 2, we jumped on a bus out to the Cliffs of Moher. None of us wanted to miss this incredibly beautiful wonder of nature. These spectacular cliffs stretching 700 feet over the rugged Atlantic coast is 100% worth the hours-long drive. We took a tour bus with a fantastic guide who prepared us for what we were to see, gave us an in-depth history of Ireland from an Irish perspective, and told us wonderful stories as we drove across the verdant Irish countryside. Once we got there, he let us loose to walk along the cliffs and enjoy the sheer beauty. As you would expect in Ireland, it was a cool, windy day with unexpected rain showers. We were luckily able to walk around for awhile before the rain storm hit.

After the cliffs, the tour took us to Galway, a harbor city on Ireland’s west coast. The city’s center is the 18th-century Eyre Square surrounded by shops and traditional pubs that offer live Irish folk music. We only spent a few hours here, so it’s definitely on my list to get to know Galway better and longer next time.

On day 3, we had a nice leisurely Irish breakfast (bangers and blood sausages) and queued up for our Guinness Distillery tour. I wasn’t sure what to expect, as I am not usually a big Guinness drinker, but geez was I surprised.

We booked the tour that took us to the top of the distillery: the Gravity Bar. The 360 degree view of Dublin was special! The rest of the tour, which takes you in a slow circular motion up to the top, is extremely interesting and informative. Never thought I’d be that interested in beer-making but Guinness’s history is deeply intertwined into Dublin’s history. The golden Guinness harp is probably one of the best-known logos and was so named after one of only three remaining medieval Irish harps, the Brian Boru — a 10th century Irish king celebrated for his patronage of the arts.

One Day 4, we took another half-day tour out of Dublin to Wicklow to enjoy the striking mountains and lakes.

A notable lake is Guinness Lake (technically called Lough Tay) which is, of course owned, by the Guinness Estate. Wicklow is also where Guinness gets its water for its beer.

There are some great hikes and walks in this stunning area just south of Dublin. We enjoyed our sweet Irish guide who got us back in time to do some shopping on Grafton Street before dinner.

Where to Eat

On the first night, we ate along Anne Street South at some cozy alfresco restaurant. We forgot to get the name, but you can’t go wrong in this area. There are lots of old pubs and modern restaurants to choose from. On the way home, we walked through a square full of 20-somethings playing music, enjoying pints from surrounding pubs, and dancing. It was a fun way to end the night.

We ate at FIRE Steakhouse on the second night, a beautiful modern restaurant in a Victorian building with high vaulted ceilings. While the main dining room was large, it was still warm and inviting with its stained glass windows and bronze sculptures. And their award-winning food was off-the-charts! It’s pricey but worth the splurge.

On the last night, we ate at Sophie’s Rooftop Restaurant over in the St. Kevin’s area. This chic industrial space offers great views around Dublin, so go just before dark if you can. The food was quite good.

As for lunch, do not miss trying the famous fish and chips at Leo Burdocks, Dublin’s oldest chipper, near Christ Church Cathedral. Don’t go expecting great ambiance, but do expect delicious fried fish.

Where to Drink

Where not to drink would be a shorter section. There are pubs all over the city and many are quite old and atmospheric. Most of the pubs have live Irish music, so be sure to visit one or two. We went to Stag’s Head for a pint, and The Brazen Head, Dublin’s oldest pub where it was new singer mic night so we were treated to a wide variety of Irish singers and musicians.

But if you really want the whole Irish experience, stop by the famous Temple Bar Pub after dinner. we caught two fabulous musicians playing the Irish accordion and guitar. It was a raucous, fun night of great music and dancing. Yes, it was a bit touristy but that pub brings the action.

If you want to do your own pub crawl, check out this site for other great Dublin pubs.

To Dos and to Don’ts

• If your plane arrives at 5 am (like ours did), we suggest you book a room with late check in for the night before. It was dark and nothing was open so we ended up finding a hotel with a room available and sleeping for a few hours until Dublin woke up.
• The weather is always changing and uncertain so bring layers and definitely rain gear. It won’t always rain for long but you will get showered on.
• Unless you LOVE noise all hours of the night, do NOT stay in the Temple Bar area. We like the Stephens Green area.,
• Do talk to the locals. We found Dubliners to be friendly and helpful.

If you want to see more photos and videos of the trip, be sure to follow @gallivantiatravel on Instagram and @gallivantia on Tik Tok.