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County Dublin

At the same time accommodation in the capital has been brought up to international scratch.

New hotels belonging to the Radisson, Marriot and Hilton chains abound, while older famous establishments such as the Gresham and the five-star Shelbourne in Stephen’s Green have been returned to their former glory with multi-million pound refurbishment.

O'Connell Street has benefited from a new streetscaping and the Millennium Spire sculpture. The wealth that has coursed through the city during the Tiger years has seen an explosion of shopping, restaurants, bars and clubs, north and south.

Temple Bar, once a terminus for polluting buses, has been converted into one of Europe's busiest entertainment zones and despite its bad press still offers a buzz like nowhere else in the city.

Dundrum Town Centre, built in 2005, is a mecca to Ireland's religion of shopping with two British department stores and dozens of international fashion chains. But the Grafton Street zone is still the country’s premier shopping district.

Traffic and the lack of public transport is Dublin's nemesis – it is rated as one of the most congested cities in Europe.

But luckily, it benefits from being on a large bay with several good beaches and the wilderness of the mountains and Wicklow National Park only a 20 minute drive away. Outside rush hour of course.

City Landmarks

St Stephen’s Green
A marshy common for grazing until 1663, this city centre park offers a popular lunchtime escape for city workers. Restricted to local residents until 1877 when it was opened to the public at the behest of a member of the Guinness family. Designed around a formal garden, it is home to one of the best herbaceous borders in the country (by the Leeson St entrance) and a garden for the blind where plants are identified in Braille. Dotted around the park are countless memorials, including one to Countess Markiewicz (who occupied the Green with the Irish Citizens Army during the Easter Rising.)

The Georgian squares
Don't just do the obvious walks around Merrion Square and Fitzwilliam Square, special as they are. Some of the earliest and grandest squares and Georgian streets are on the north of the city including North Great Georges Street, Henrietta Street and Parnell Square, formerly known as Rutland Square where you can pay a visit to the Hugh Lane Gallery and the Writers Museum.

Museums, galleries, churches
The great thing about Irish galleries is that admittance is usually free. All the usual sights on the tourist trail are worth visiting including the Book of Kells in the Elizabethan library of Trinity College and the National Gallery on Merrion Square which houses Ireland's best collection of Irish art including paintings by Jack Yeats and masterpieces by Gainsborough, Caravaggio, and Goya.

Also in the 'must do list' for culture-vultures is the relaxed and recently-renovated Hugh Lane Gallery in Parnell Square. Full of contemporary Irish art including permanent exhibitions of Sean Scully, William Orpen, Louis le Brocquy and the Francis Bacon studio – which was donated by his heir as a permanent installation. Suitable for art lovers and non-art lovers alike, the building itself offers respite from the city and the café (on the right as you enter) looking out at an interior courtyard with a waterfall isn’t half bad.

For ancient Irish artefacts including bronze torcs and bog people the National Museum is on Dawson Street, but for more contemporary history try the less well-known Collins Barracks, near the Four Courts. It has a permanent exhibition of Eileen Grey, regarded as one of the most influential furniture designers of the 20th century, she is responsible for an iconic chrome and glass table and some amazing beds.

James Joyce Museum
One of the many towers built during the Napoleonic scare, and scene of the opening of Ulysses, regarded as the greatest (some unscholarly wags say the greatest unread) novel of 20th century literature. The author stayed here briefly as a young man.

Other literary landmarks abound around the city including homages to George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Sean O'Casey and Samuel Beckett.

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.

The Dublin Mountains
Accessible by car and bus, these gentle mountains on the south of the city are part of a National Park that transports the weary city-dweller into a wonderful part-forest, part-heather-clad boggy wilderness, worth visiting any time of year.

Phoenix Park
Phoenix Park is one of the biggest city parks in Europe and is home to Dublin Zoo, the president's residence and Farmleigh House, a 78 acre estate bought by the government in 1999 and open from March to Christmas with Farmers markets, cultural events and children's puppetry.

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.

National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin
Easily matches the bigger Kew Gardens in London as an experience and trumps it for its beautiful arboretum and river walk.

Malahide Castle and gardens
The fine Talbot Botanic Gardens are in the grounds of Malahide Castle, the oldest Irish castle continuously occupied by one family - the Talbots.

Other Gardens
The sprawling Carton House in the west of the county has recently been turned into a hotel so its grounds are open to the public. Along with Westport House in Mayo, Powerscourt in Wicklow, and Leinster House where the Dail sits, it is one of a series of splendid houses built by Richard Castles in the 18th century. Prince Rainier, Grace Kelly and Peter Sellars have all stayed there.

Dublin Bay
Nothing will beat a trip on the Dart from Howth head to Bray for a magnificent view of Dublin Bay. The stretch from Dun Laoghaire to Bray is Ireland's answer to a journey on the Amalfi Coast – craggy hills on one side, the open sea on the other. Get out at Dalkey Village for lunch, or Killiney Bay for a stretch on the beach beneath Bono's house.

The classic pub crawl
Dublin is renowned for its pubs – if you are new to the city just wander round the streets off Grafton Street and you’ll find some old treasures with beautiful Victorian bars and stained glass windows including Kehoe's Davy Byrnes (on the Joyce trail) and The Stag's Head. Some of the best bars however are on Baggot Street including Toners, O'Donoghues and Doheny & Nesbitts. The Long Hall on South Great George’s Street is one of the oldest Victorian pubs in Dublin with a deep red embossed oak ceiling and an antique clock marked "correct time". The Stag’s Head is more ornate however. Mulligans in Poolbeg Street and the Palace Bar on Fleet St are also well-regarded watering old-style holes as is Smyth’s on Haddington Road. For traditional music try Temple Bar – Oliver St John Gogarty’s – or O’Donoghue’s on Baggot Street.

Restaurants come and go, but Dublin has come on in leaps and bounds in the last 20 years and has plenty of options from the budget bistro to Michelin-starred haute cuisine.

Walk around Howth head (south side)
Most tourists get the Dart or a coach to Howth village and walk the north side of the head ending at the windswept lighthouse. But it is not the best way to do Howth Head. Facing north, it is invariably cold and in shade, even in summer. A less-trodden path (and much warmer) is the walk along the cliffs and coves, ideal for summer picnics with a view of the Sugar loaf and Dublin mountains, Pigeon House and Millennium Spike. On a sun-drenched day, you could be in the south of France. If driving, park past Sutton Yacht club and just start walking. Great for dogs too.

Beach walks
From north side to south side: Portmarnock (sandy); Bull Island (bird sanctuary) Dollymount Strand (kite-surfing, windy walk), Sandymount (dog walking), Sandycove (sheltered cove popular with families in the summer), Killiney (pebbles but great cliff-setting beneath Bono's house).

Music
Dublin is renowned for live rock gigs and big acts often use Dublin audiences to rehearse before going on tour in the UK or Europe. So if you're visiting check the listings. Among the best smaller venues are Whelan's, The Village on Wexford Street and Vicar Street, The Button Factory, the Ambassador and the Olympia in the city centre. For trad music try the pubs in Temple Bar or O’Donoghue’s on Baggot St. Large acts play the Point, Malahide Castle, Marlay Park and the RDS.

Golf
Although it's a city there are plenty of greens in Dublin including the famous world-class courses at Malahide and Portmarnock. Howth and Clontarf are also on the northside as is the Royal Dublin on North Bull island while Edmondstown is in the foot of the Dublin mountains.

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