THINGS TO DO FOR A FUN FILLED WEEKEND IN DUBLIN WITH KIDS

DECEMBER 2022

I never really knew why everyone loved Dublin. I have never spoken to anyone, who didn’t end up loving this city. So we added it to our “UK” roadtrip during summertime. And now, having been there, I totally get the love affair that everybody has with Dublin. Dublin is a super vibrant city, with an amazing restaurant scene and lots of lovely, colorful sights. In this blogpost you will find all my recommendations for Dublin, including one hidden gem. Little Hugo joined us on all these activities, so they are toddler friendly as well.

Where to stay

When traveling with kids, I personally prefer to stay in a comfortable hotel with a restaurant. We chose the Moxy Dublin City, because of its central location, the comfy bed for Hugo and because it features a small restaurant and a full bar. Got to make the most out of it when Hugo is sleeping. The Moxy is usually pretty lively in the evening, with other guests having drinks in the quirky designed bar. When you leave the hotel you are in the middle of the city and you only need to cross the river to get to the Temple bar area. Lodging in Dublin is very expensive, I found it one of the most expensive cities I have ever stayed in. So, if possible I would recommend to plan your lodging well ahead of time, to have some budget options available. We paid € 240 per night for our room, which is a normal price point for Dublin, but too expensive for what it is. In Bremen we paid € 100 for a similar room in the local Moxy hotel.

Activities

Book of Kells: You might have seen pictures of the beautiful library of Trinity College. If you are looking for a Harry Potter moment, this is your chance…. just beware that it is not free. Just like most things in Dublin, this is an expensive activity, with an entrance fee of € 18,50 per adult. You have to book your tickets online and they can sell out during the day. Even though you pay a hefty entrance fee, visiting the library is a very popular activity and you have to share your visit with enormous crowds. I came for the Long Room, but you also get to see the Book of Kells, which is one of Ireland’s greatest national treasures. Concluding, the Long Room is absolutely gorgeous and I would not have wanted to miss out. The Book of Kells is decorated beautifully, but you need some religious interest to fully grasp why it is so important. The visit is stroller friendly and you will be redirected to be able to use an elevator to get to the Long Room.

Trinity College: Even though Trinity College is built out of a boring grey stone, it still is fun to see the lively campus. If you want to have a look inside the buildings, you must book a guided campus tour. We didn’t want to stretch Hugo after our Book of Kells visit, where he was very well behaved, so we opted out.

Temple bar: Temple bar is a neigborhood that is dedicated to pubs and nightlife. You will find some of Dublin’s most colorful buildings in this area, including the famous red Temple Bar pub. I did not come to Dublin for the nightlife, but I loved walking around this area in the early morning. The colorful pubs provide a beautiful backdrop for your pictures and if you are lucky you will have an unobstructed view and not have trucks blocking your pictures 😉 In this area you will also find lots of streetart, definitely worth having a walk around!

Dublin botanical garden: This is actually quite of a hidden gem to tourists, as only locals seem to know that the Dublin botanical garden is well worth a visit. On top of that, it is free to visit! The garden features several enormous greenhouses, colorful flower areas and a Japanese rock garden. The botanical garden of Dublin really blew me away! I will write a separate blogpost about our experience at the botanical garden, because there is so much to do and see. Check out the sneak preview below.

Shopping: You can do great shopping in the city center of Dublin, you will find the best shopping in the area of William Street. Anne’s Ln is the cute umbrella street. The Stephen’s Green shopping center has many very outdated shops, but it is a very interesting, station-like, building.

Teeling Whiskey distillery: Most people visit the Guiness Experience, but we opted for a whiskey tour & tasting instead. Ireland once was one of the biggest whiskey distillers of the world and recently Irish whiskey has been making a comeback. I loved that I was able to understand this tour, in comparison to doing one in Scotland 😉 At Teeling you can choose different sorts of tastings. I did a tasting that was women friendly with a cocktail, while Hielke tasted several whiskeys. Tours start at € 18 per person, kids are free. This activity was relatively kid friendly as the tour didn’t take too long, we were moving around suffiently and Hugo was able to do some free roaming.

Restaurants: Dublin features many, many trendy restaurants, you will have trouble picking one. The restaurant scene in Dublin is really good and I would love to explore it one day without our little toddler. On our first day I would love to have a traditional lunch and we ended up at The Bank on College Green. I usually try to not go to restaurants that are located in the main street, but The Bank was too gorgeous not to want to sit down. Food and service was really good and the atmosphere was great!

Most restaurants tend to get booked up quickly, especially for the evenings. So if you are walking around Dublin and you see a restaurant that interests you, I would advise to book as soon as possible. The Ivy is a well known, fancy restaurant chain, and they have a dependance in Dublin that looked lovely. We also had dinner at Zanzibar, which was delicious and atmospheric. It is located at the river front, where you will find all sorts of restaurants.

Doors of Dublin: This is not really an activity, but I really enjoyed the “doors of Dublin”. If you venture away from the city center just a little bit you will find colorful doors everywhere. I spotted loads of these doors near the botanical garden and near the Teeling Distillery.

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