Visiting Ireland’s capital, it’s easy to be drawn to the same spots: the pub-jammed Temple Bar enclave, storied Trinity College and the graceful Georgian Quarter, and the Guinness Storehouse, where you can sample the legendary black stuff at source. But Dublin is worth getting to know beyond these tourist favourites. Here are five districts that offer different perspectives of the city and its people.
STONEYBATTER
A sprawling cattle market once saw this inner-city enclave, just north of the River Liffey, nicknamed Cowtown. The market closed in the 1970s, but cartoon cows feature on the signs welcoming you onto the district’s main strip, which curves up from the Liffey-spanning James Joyce Bridge. A mix of old-school and modern addresses flank Stoneybatter, many with restored decades-old shopfronts and facades, and strolling along, past trendy millennials and flat-capped pensioners, you’ll see everything from pharmacies and hardware stores to new-wave Korean and Italian restaurants. Enjoy a flat white at The Little Cactus — a speciality coffee shop decorated with prickly potted plants — or a pint at welcoming pubs like J. Walsh and L. Mulligan. The latter is renowned for its food and across the street from Pender’s Market, where, each Saturday, down a little passageway you’ll find a farmer’s market, with artisan baked goodies, crafts and bric-a-brac for sale beside hanging plants and garden gnomes.
SMITHFIELD
Neighbouring Stoneybatter, Smithfield has long been synonymous with its Bow Street distillery, established in 1780 and carrying the name of its owner, the Scottish-born lawyer John Jameson. Whiskey was distilled here for almost 200 years before switching to the company’s site in County Cork. Guided tours and tastings are still offered at the Dublin distillery, which is part of a complex of shops, cinemas, eateries and apartments overlooking Smithfield Square. The distillery’s chimney is now an observation tower. Climb the 259 steps for 360-degree Dublin views. While Smithfield has seen smart new hotels and dining venues arrive in recent years, it retains a gritty authentic feel, helped by The Cobblestone, which is usually bouncing with live bands playing traditional Irish music. Plans to turn the pub into a hotel were thrown out by the city council in 2021 after a campaign by the community to preserve it. Look out for the murals on The Cobblestone and its surrounding half-derelict buildings. As well as a colourful Picasso-esque piece, there’s a plaque and portrait of Bob Doyle. Depicted wearing a beret and an eye patch, this Smithfield-born man was a veteran of the Spanish Civil War and a lifelong activist for socialist causes. After he passed away in 2009, aged 92, a funeral procession was held in the streets of Dublin.
PORTOBELLO
Stretching south of St Patrick’s Cathedral, the Liberties blends into Portobello, a district of genuine contrasts, from the thronging bars and teenage nightlife of Camden Street to the tranquil backstreets lined with 18th and 19th century brick townhouses and villas with brightly-painted doors and front gardens that come alive with magnolia and blossom in the northern spring. The esteemed playwright George Bernard Shaw was born in Portobello, which is still popular with literary types yet also attracts a wide variety of Dubliners of all ages. They frequent the independent grocers, cafes, bakeries and shops on Lennox Street and Richmond Street, and enjoy walks and bike rides beside the tree-shaded Grand Canal, a waterway that separates Portobello from other intriguing southside Dublin enclaves like Ranelagh and Rathmines.
SANDYMOUNT
Hugging Ireland’s east coast, Dublin’s seaside suburbs are handily connected by the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) train that runs through the city, linking northern villages like Malahide and Howth with southern counterparts such as Dalkey and Dun Laoghaire. Just a 12-minute ride south of the central Connolly station, Sandymount is another slice of Dublin with a strong artistic heritage. Alighting here, you’ll find pleasant residential streets where creatives like Jonathan Swift, Sally Rooney, Shane McGowan and James Joyce used to live. This was actually one of the settings for Joyce’s novel, Ulysses, and his former home is opposite Sandymount Strand, a great place to stretch your legs with views out to Dublin Bay (a large sandy beach appears at low tide). Edging the promenade is a Martello Tower, built in the early 19th century to thwart a potential Napoleonic invasion, while the grassy bay-facing lawns attract families, friends and couples for tipples and picnics. A few hundred metres inland, there’s a nice choice of bars and eateries by Sandymount Green, which has a bust of WB Yeats, a celebrated poet born around the corner in 1865.
+ Steve McKenna was a guest of Tourism Ireland. They have not influenced or seen this story.
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+ For more information on visiting Dublin see visitdublin.com
+ To help plan a trip to Ireland, see ireland.com
