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Top ten things to see and do in Dublin

1. Guinness Storehouse

Located in the heart of the St James’s Gate Brewery, which has been home to the black stuff since 1759, Guinness Storehouse® is Ireland’s Number One Visitor Attraction. The massive seven-storey building, a former Guinness® fermentation plant, has been remodelled into the shape of a giant pint of Guinness®. A visit will teach you everything you ever wanted to know about this world famous beer from how Guinness® is made to the ancient craft of Guinness® barrel making in the Cooperage.

2. St Stephen's Green

Probably Ireland's best known Victorian public park, with tree lined walks, shrubberies, colourful flowerbeds, herbaceous borders, rockeries, and ornamental lake and a garden for the visually impaired. Lunchtime concerts in the summer months.

3. Temple Bar

Temple Bar spans an area of 28 acres and is home to over 50 arts and cultural buildings, 3.500 residents and 4 public spaces. Temple Bar Cultural Trust organise over 250 free outdoor cultural events each year, including free outdoor movie screenings titled Movies on the Square, spectacular outdoor circus shows and events and 3 outdoor Temple Bar Markets including the Temple Bar Food Market, Temple Bar Book Market and the all new Designer Mart at Cow’s Lane which is located in the Old City.

4. Book of Kells

The Book of Kells is the centrepiece of an exhibition which attracts over 500,000 visitors to Trinity College Dublin each year. Written around the year 800 AD, the Book of Kells contains a richly decorated copy of the four gospels in a latin text based on the Vulgate edition (completed by St Jerome in 384 AD). The book contains complex scenes normally interpreted as the Arrest of Christ, His Temptation, and images of Christ, the Virgin and Child, St Matthew and St John.

5. Phoenix Park

Extending more than 1,752 acres in area few cities can lay claim to a breathing space quite like the Phoenix Park. The largest Urban Park in Europe and one of the most impressive legacies of our Georgian Heritage. The Park (open all year round) also provides an excellent service to the public, contained within the grounds are a number of sports fields and there are also a number of cycle and walking routes through the park. The Park also houses Dublin Zoo reputed to be the fourth oldest Zoo in the world.

6. Christchurch Cathedral

This is the oldest religious site in Dublin with the earliest manuscript dating a place of worship on this site to 1030. Both King James and King William came here before and after the Battle of the Boyne in 1689 and 1990. At one stage its vaults were used as a pub for local traders.

7. Kilmainham Gaol

If for no other reason, Kilmainham Gaol would be remarkable for being the biggest unoccupied gaol in these islands. As such, it gives the visitor a dramatic and realistic insight into what is was like to have been confined in one of these forbidding bastions of punishment and correction between 1796 when it opened and 1924 when it closed and offers a panoramic insight into some of the most profound, disturbing and inspirational themes of modern Irish history.

8. Official Georgian Dublin Walk

Dublin Tourism’s iWalks series are free podcast audio guides to Dublin created to help you discover Dublin at your own pace! This walk will bring you along the edges of some bustling shopping streets before inviting you into the quiet oasis of the 18th century heart of Trinity College and from there into some of the best preserved quarters of Georgian Dublin with its terraces and squares of impressive period houses.

9. Bewleys Cafe

Opened over 80 years ago in 1927, Bewley's Grafton Street is a cherished Dublin landmark and is Ireland's longest established and largest café. Be it traditional freshly prepared porridge; poached eggs and bacon on a bagel; health conscious yoghurt with fresh fruit; a hearty cooked breakfast; pastries or simply tea and toast - our early nourishment is guaranteed to warm the soul. Open seven days a week, Bewley's is the place to see and be seen in Dublin.

10. Literary Pub Crawl

Ranked # 4 in 'The World's 50 Best Walks' by the Sunday Times, this is an award-winning show that crawls from pub to pub with professional actors performing from the works of Dublin's most famous writers - Joyce, Beckett, Oscar Wilde, Brendan Behan and many more.

11. Dublin Zoo

One of the best in Europe and among Ireland’s top attractions with nearly one million visitors a year. It has been extended substantially after the President donated additional land. Don't miss the elephants in the new Kaziranga Forest Trail.