Dublin on foot: books, cathedrals and the river
A flat day through the literary half of the city, down to the two medieval cathedrals, into the castle, and over the river by the narrowest bridge in town.
Dublin is walkable end to end and almost entirely flat, so the enemy is not distance but queues and closing times. This order puts the timed ticket first, the free square, gallery and garden next, the cathedrals and the castle as one paid block, and the river at the end, when the light on the Liffey is worth stopping for.
Where to start: At Trinity, at opening. The Book of Kells queue is the one thing here that punishes a late start.
The walk, in order
- 1 Trinity College and the Book of Kells
Start at the oldest university in the country for the Book of Kells and the Long Room. One to two hours, and the earliest slot you can book.
- 2 Museum of Literature Ireland
Ten minutes' walk away, on the south side of St Stephen's Green, in the Georgian house where Joyce studied: the first copy of Ulysses and his own notes. Two hours if you read the cases.
- 3 Merrion Square
The best-preserved Georgian square in the city - the doorways everyone photographs, and the people who lived behind them named on plaques.
- 4 The National Gallery of Ireland
On the square itself, free, strongest on Irish painting and holding a Caravaggio found in a Jesuit dining room. Two hours, or forty minutes if legs are the limit.
- 5 Iveagh Gardens
A Victorian garden with a waterfall, a maze and a grotto, hidden one street from a crowded park. The quietest hour of the day if you find the gate.
- 6 St Patrick's Cathedral
The largest church in Ireland, with Jonathan Swift buried in the floor he preached above.
- 7 Marsh's Library
Next door, and the reason to come this way: the first public library in Ireland, open since 1707 and barely changed since. An hour, and you will want longer.
- 8 Christ Church Cathedral
The older cathedral, founded by Norse Dublin around 1030, with a crypt running the full length of the building.
- 9 Dublin Castle
Eight centuries of power in one courtyard, Norman tower to Georgian state rooms.
- 10 The Chester Beatty
In the castle gardens and free: Islamic, East Asian and early Christian manuscripts that outshine plenty of national museums. The best-value hour in Dublin.
- 11 Ha'penny Bridge
Cross the Liffey on the white iron footbridge of 1816, named for the toll it used to charge. Fifteen minutes, most of it looking up and down the river.
- 12 Temple Bar
Finish in the cobbled quarter if you want the music, and know what you are choosing: it is loud, touristed and the most expensive pint in the city.
Where to cheat
Nothing here needs transport, but the two cathedrals to the castle is the stretch where a bus is forgivable in rain. Book Trinity online; the walk-up queue can eat an hour of a flat day.
Honest expectations
This is a lot of ticketed interiors for one day. Pick three - Kells, one cathedral, Chester Beatty - and let the rest be street-level Dublin, which is half the point of the city anyway.
More of this country is on the Ireland page. Going between towns instead? See the routes. Other cities on foot are on city walks.