Tickets & Tours in Dublin

Single tickets or a pass – what's at stake

Dublin's best-known attractions require tickets, and several venues use dynamic pricing in 2026. If you're planning to visit several sights over just a few days, the question is whether single tickets or a city pass work out cheaper. This page covers current prices at the major attractions, explains when the pass pays off, and shows which tours are worth the money.

One rule of thumb up front – booking online with a time slot is almost always worthwhile. Several venues are cheaper online, and the two most popular destinations, the Guinness Storehouse and Book of Kells, are only realistically visitable with a booked slot. For an overview of walking tours, pub crawls and day trips, see the tours and day trips guide.

Ticket prices at the top attractions in 2026

Prices are for adults, as of 2026. For dynamic pricing, the official starting price is given; real-world time slots are often higher.

2026 closures – Dublin Castle and Chester Beatty

For 2026 planning, there are two closures to know about. Dublin Castle is closing in two stages because of Ireland's EU Council Presidency – the State Apartments have been closed since 5 May 2026, and from mid-June the whole campus closes; public tours won't resume until January 2027. Outside the closure, the self-guided visit costs €8, the guided tour €12.

The Chester Beatty Library, on the same campus, stays closed from 15 June until the end of December 2026. It's normally free (a €10 donation is suggested, no booking needed) and is one of the most rewarding museums in the city.

The second permanent fixture in any planning is the Book of Kells – one of the city's most popular attractions, but it isn't included in any Dublin pass and is always booked separately via visittrinity.ie. If it's your main reason for visiting, factor that into the pass calculation.

The Dublin Pass compared

The "Dublin Pass" is today sold as the all-inclusive pass by Go City – a time-based pass that covers around 35 attractions and tours on the days you choose, including the Guinness Storehouse, EPIC, Jameson, Teeling, Dublin Zoo, Malahide Castle and a 24-hour ticket for the Big Bus hop-on-hop-off service. The one-day pass starts at around €79 (child €39), with the average daily rate falling as you add more days.

A pass pays off with a packed itinerary of around three paid attractions a day – the Guinness Storehouse, EPIC and the bus alone already reach the price of a day pass. With only two or three attractions in total, buying single tickets is usually cheaper. Also note that despite being listed, Dublin Castle can't be redeemed from 5 May to 31 December 2026. Full details and the price logic are covered in the Dublin Pass guide, and the complete list of included attractions is on the same page.

City tours and hop-on-hop-off

The easiest way to get your bearings is the open-top double-decker buses; a full loop without getting off takes around one hour 45 minutes. DoDublin (green buses, part of Dublin Bus) costs €34 for 24 hours, €39 for 48 and €44 for 72 hours (child €14/19/24), with one child travelling free per adult – and it includes free admission to the Little Museum of Dublin. Big Bus starts at €35 for 24 hours and its 24-hour ticket is included in the all-inclusive pass. For a provider comparison with routes and the cheaper Leap Card alternative, see the hop-on-hop-off bus guide.

Pub crawls, whiskey tours and boat trips

Beyond the buses, whiskey, literature, music and the water shape Dublin's tour scene. Prices given are for direct booking on the official sites – resellers charge similar or slightly more, with only small savings (roughly €1 to €3), while booking direct gives you every time slot and the official price tiers.

• Traditional Irish Musical Pub Crawl – €22, around 2.5 hours, led by two professional musicians through the pubs. Starts at 19:00 at the Ha'penny Bridge Inn in Temple Bar, Sunday to Friday, roughly March to September.
• Dublin Literary Pub Crawl – around €22 to €23, about two hours, led by actors performing scenes from Joyce, Beckett, Wilde and others. Meeting point The Duke, 9 Duke Street; daily at 19:15 in summer, Thursday to Sunday in winter.
• Jameson and Teeling – the guided distillery tours with tastings cost from €26 (Jameson Bow St.) and from €20 (Teeling, the first new city-centre distillery in over 125 years when it opened in 2015).
• Viking Splash Tours – the amphibious tour through the city and the Grand Canal Basin costs €37 from 1 July 2026 (child €31), lasting around 1 hour 15 minutes.
• River Liffey Sightseeing Cruise – 45 minutes of city history from the water, around €15 to €22.

Every tour in detail, including day trips to the Cliffs of Moher and Giant's Causeway, is covered in the tours and day trips guide.

Free museums and money-saving tips

Not everything in Dublin charges admission. Permanently free is the National Museum of Ireland – in Dublin that's actually two sites in 2026, Archaeology on Kildare Street and Decorative Arts & History at Collins Barracks, including the free Dead Zoo Lab. The Natural History branch on Merrion Street has been closed since September 2024 for a multi-year refurbishment, and the fourth site, Country Life, is in Castlebar, Co. Mayo. Also free are the National Gallery of Ireland, IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art), Phoenix Park including its Visitor Centre, the Trinity College grounds and the grounds of Glasnevin Cemetery (museum €8, tour €15).

Where admission is charged, these tips get you the most for your money:

• Book online in advance – Dublin Zoo costs from €22.50 online instead of €26.50 at the gate, and EPIC costs €17.60 with the 30-day ticket instead of €22.
• Secure a time slot – the Guinness Storehouse and Book of Kells are only sensibly visitable with a booked slot and sell out days in advance in summer.
• Heritage Card – admission is free for card holders at Kilmainham Gaol and other OPW sites.
• Use hop-on-hop-off wisely – the DoDublin ticket includes admission to the Little Museum of Dublin, and one child travels free per adult.
• Attend a service instead of paying admission – visiting St Patrick's Cathedral for a service costs nothing.