Things to Do in Dublin City, area by area

A guided walk through a former prison whose stone wings and echoing corridors tell the story of nineteenth and early twentieth-century Ireland.

Free national collection of Ireland’s archaeology and history, from the Ardagh Chalice to the bog bodies, a short walk from St Stephen’s Green.

Dublin’s best-known city-centre park: formal gardens, a lake with waterfowl, and a loop that is easy to walk in under an hour.

A red-brick Victorian market hall of small shops, plus a weekend design and food market in the lane behind it — browsing that costs nothing.

A signed loop around Howth Head with sea cliffs, Ireland’s Eye views and harbour pubs, about 30 minutes by DART from central Dublin.

An illuminated ninth-century gospel book and the long, barrel-vaulted Old Library that holds it, in the heart of Trinity College campus.

Seven floors of stout history at St James’s Gate, finishing with a pint and a 360-degree view in the Gravity Bar.

A medieval cathedral above the Liffey with one of Dublin’s oldest surviving crypts and a stone-vaulted past to match.

Fiddle, bodhrán and guitar in a warm back room — the pub session is Dublin’s most reliable free night out, if you pick the room carefully.