Attractions in Dublin

Dublin is a surprisingly walkable city for a long weekend: most of the big attractions sit south of the River Liffey, within a few minutes of each other on foot, and everything else is a short bus or DART ride away. This page rounds up all 54 attractions in the city, from the brewery to the cathedral, the city park to the high-security jail. Here you'll find the top 10, landmarks by category, every free attraction, 2026 admission prices, and two ready-made itineraries for two or three days.

The top 10 attractions in Dublin

Short on time? Work through these ten. Between them they cover everything the city is known for: beer, books, rebellion, medieval history and the sea.

1. Guinness Storehouse - Ireland's most-visited attraction for fifteen years running, seven floors of brewing history topped off with panoramic views from the Gravity Bar (from €24).
2. Trinity College and the Book of Kells - the medieval illuminated manuscript and the Long Room of the Old Library. The campus itself is free; the exhibition charges admission (from €26, from €19 without the digital section).
3. Kilmainham Gaol - the prison where the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were executed. Access is by booked guided tour only (from €8).
4. St Patrick's Cathedral - Ireland's largest church, where Jonathan Swift worked and is buried (from €11.50).
5. Christ Church Cathedral - the older of the two cathedrals, home to Ireland's largest crypt (from €12).
6. Temple Bar - cobbled streets, live music and galleries between the Liffey and Dame Street. Free to wander, unless you stop for a pint.
7. Phoenix Park - one of the largest city parks in Europe, home to a wild deer herd and Dublin Zoo (park free, zoo from €22.50 online for adults).
8. Dublinia - the Viking and medieval history museum next to Christ Church, the most family-friendly history stop in the city (from €18).
9. Jameson Distillery Bow St. - a whiskey tour with tasting inside the old distillery building in Smithfield (from €26).
10. Howth - the fishing village on the peninsula, with its harbour, cliff walk and boats out to the bird sanctuary of Ireland's Eye. Half an hour away on the DART.

An eleventh attraction would normally make this list: Dublin Castle. It's closed to the public for Ireland's EU Council Presidency, the State Apartments since 5 May 2026 and the entire grounds since 15 June, until 31 December 2026; public tours resume in January 2027.

More attractions by category

Beyond the ten classics lies the real depth of what Dublin has to offer. The gallery above lists all 54 attractions; the hubs below sort them by theme:

• Museums and galleries - the National Museum, the National Gallery, Chester Beatty, MoLI, the Little Museum and the IMMA: the full overview with prices and free-entry houses is in our Museums in Dublin hub.
• Churches and cemeteries - alongside the two cathedrals, the mummified crypt at St Michan's, St Audoen's and Glasnevin Cemetery: see our Churches in Dublin guide.
• Castles and country houses - Malahide Castle, Rathfarnham Castle, Swords Castle and Ashtown Castle: see our Castles around Dublin guide.
• Parks and nature - St Stephen's Green, the National Botanic Gardens, the Royal Canal Way and the coastal path to Poolbeg Lighthouse: see our Parks and Gardens guide.
• Politics and Georgian Dublin - Leinster House, seat of the Irish parliament, plus Government Buildings, City Hall, Custom House and Four Courts.
• Unusual finds - Casino Marino on the northside, a pleasure house with 16 rooms hidden behind the facade of what looks like a single building, the Smithfield horse fair and the James Joyce Tower in Sandycove.
• Landmarks you'll pass along the way - The Spire, O'Connell Bridge, the General Post Office and the Bank of Ireland at College Green, the former parliament building.
• Beer and whiskey - the Storehouse, Jameson, Teeling and the Irish Whiskey Museum in context: see our Guinness and Whiskey guide.

Closely related but not covered on this page: guided walking tours, pub crawls, bus and boat tours and day trips are in our Tours and Day Trips guide, and the multi-attraction pass is covered in our Go City Dublin Pass guide.

Free attractions

Roughly half of Dublin's attractions cost nothing to visit. Free to enter are the big green spaces Phoenix Park and St Stephen's Green, the pub district of Temple Bar, the Trinity College campus, and landmarks such as The Spire and O'Connell Bridge.

The state institutions are permanently free too: the National Museum of Ireland at its Dublin sites Archaeology on Kildare Street and Decorative Arts & History at Collins Barracks, the permanent collection at the National Gallery of Ireland, the IMMA and the National Library. Among the churches, St Audoen's and St Mary's Pro-Cathedral charge no admission, and if you visit St Patrick's Cathedral for a service, that's free too. The grounds of Glasnevin Cemetery are free to walk; only the museum and guided tour cost anything.

Two attractions drop off the free list in 2026: the Chester Beatty Library on the Dublin Castle grounds is closed from 15 June to the end of December 2026, and the Natural History Museum on Merrion Street has been closed since September 2024 for a multi-year renovation. The Hugh Lane Gallery has been closed since 28 September 2025, expected to reopen in 2028.

2026 admission prices and advance booking

Prices are for adults, as of 2026. Several attractions use dynamic pricing; the figure shown is the official starting price, and real time slots often cost more.

Three rules save the most money:

• Book online with a timed slot. The Guinness Storehouse and Book of Kells sell out days ahead in summer and are realistically only visitable with a pre-booked slot; Kilmainham Gaol can only be visited on a guided tour at all.
• Book ahead. Dublin Zoo costs €22.50 online instead of €26.50 on the door, and EPIC costs €17.60 with 30 days' notice instead of €22.
• Run the numbers on multi-attraction passes. From around three paid attractions a day, the Go City Dublin Pass is worth checking; for two or three attractions overall, individual tickets work out cheaper. For OPW sites such as Kilmainham Gaol, the Irish Heritage Card is the better-value option.

Two or three days: what you can realistically fit in

Three to five paid attractions a day is realistic, allowing 1 to 2 hours each plus travel time. Two ready-made itineraries with order, walking times and breaks are in our Dublin in 2 Days and Dublin in 3 Days plans.

As a rule of thumb: day one belongs south of the Liffey, with Trinity College, the two cathedrals and the Liberties around the Guinness Storehouse. Day two takes in Kilmainham Gaol, Phoenix Park and Georgian Dublin to the east with the state museums. If you have a third day, head to the coast at Howth or Malahide, both around half an hour away on the DART.

Map and orientation

Almost every city-centre attraction lies within a 20-minute walk of Trinity College, and the River Liffey is the easiest way to orientate yourself: to the south, Trinity, Temple Bar, Dublin Castle, the cathedrals and Georgian Dublin to the east; to the north, O'Connell Street, the GPO and Parnell Square. For exactly where each attraction sits, see our interactive map of Dublin; the neighbourhoods themselves are profiled in our Neighbourhoods in Dublin hub.

Most paid attractions open mid-morning, around 09:30 to 10:00, and close in the late afternoon, with last admission often 45 to 60 minutes before closing. Parks, neighbourhoods and landmarks, by contrast, can be slotted in at any time, ideal for early morning or late afternoon between two bookings.