Tag: travel

WHAT ARE THE BEST THINGS TO DO IN DUBLIN WITH KIDS??

I am constantly asked by families on tours, what are the best things to do in Dublin with kids?

I believe there are many great things to do with kids in Dublin and from my experience guiding and living here I’m well aware of what is good to visit with kids in Dublin and I’m very aware what is not so good to visit with kids in Dublin.

And in this post I am going to share with you 10 things I would recommend doing with your children if you are visiting Dublin or living here!

NUMBER 1 – VISIT THE ARK

The Ark is Dublin’s dedicated cultural centre for Children. Not only do they put on events for children like high quality arts, theatre and music experiences but they also offer interactive age-specific workshops too.

Most of what they offer is aimed at kids between 2 to 12 but they are centrally located on Eustace Street in Dublin’s Temple Bar area and a lot of their events are free. Just be aware that you may need to book some events in advance.

Click on this link for their website.

NUMBER 2 – VISIT PHOENIX PARK

Phoenix Park is one of the largest walled parks in the world. It equates to 7 kilometers in total and is full of green space for kids to enjoy themselves.

They also have kids playgrounds, places to buy coffee and you will get to see wildlife like Deers and Squirrels in the Park, though you are not supposed to feed the Deers!

You can get there by tram on the Red Luas line from Dublin City Centre and get off at the Museum stop near the entrance and also numerous buses go there from the City Centre too. Taxis from Temple Bar area should take no more than 15 minutes and cost no more than €20.

Bikes can be hired at the entrance for those who get to see as much of the park as possible and I would recommend half a day is ideal with your children.

NUMBER 3 – VISIT DUBLIN ZOO IN PHOENIX PARK

Dublin Zoo is consistently one of the highest ranked tourist attractions on Trip Advisor in Dublin and very popular with local families. It is also considered one of the better Zoos to visit in Europe!

At the time of writing it is 15% cheaper to book online than to pay at the gate and kids under the age of 3 go free!

Click on this link for their website.

NUMBER 4 – VISIT THE ILLUSION MUSEUM DUBLIN

There are two Illusion attractions recently opened in Dublin City which are very close to eachother so please don’t get confused but the one to book is definitely The Illusion Museum Dublin.

My sister went to both attraction recently with her 3 kids aged between 5 and 9 and was adamant that the Illusion Museum was the better of the two and more suitable for children. She also said there was more to see and do in the Illusion Museum and it was also way better value. I called in there recently myself and the staff are also super helpful which is a bonus!

Click on this link for their website.

NUMBER 5 – VISIT CROKE PARK MUSEUM & STADIUM TOUR

Croke Park is Ireland’s National Stadium which hosts our National Gaelic Sports being Gaelic Football & Hurling. It is also the 4th largest capacity stadium in Europe which accommodates just under 83,000 people.

They offer a fantastic tour starting with a great video of what it is like on big matchdays and you get a close up of the speed and skill of the sports.

The main stuff on the Tour that the younger boys and girls will enjoy is that you get to visit the players locker rooms, walk thru the tunnel entering the pitch with accompanying matchday noise and also get to lift the important trophies, where everybody gets their photo taken.

The Museum also has an interactive games area which will easily keep kids occupied for 30+ minutes. In that you can also get to try some of our Gaelic Games in a safe environment, which is great fun for the younger age-group.

Look up https://crokepark.ie/gaamuseum and https://crokepark.ie/stadiumtour for more details

NUMBER 6 – TAKE A DAY TRIP TO MALAHIDE VILLAGE

Malahide is a pretty village on the edge of Dublin.

They have a medieval Castle that you can visit on a Tour which is cool for kids.

The Castle is also located in a big Park that has lots of space for kids to play in with a kids playground, a pitch and putt short par three golf course where you can hire clubs and also close to the beautiful Malahide Village where there are lots of food and drink options.

The easiest way to get there from the City Centre is on the DART Train. You get off at the Malahide stop and a return ticket will cost less then €6 return per person. The train journey takes less than 40 minutes to get to Malahide from Connolly Station in the City.

NUMBER 7 – VISIT THE LEPRECHAUN MUSEUM

I would not advise the Leprechaun Museum for adults on their own but do think it is a suitable attraction for kids.

They specialise in fairytale and mythology storytelling and bring you into different rooms with different themes related to the stories they share with you. For example in one room it is full of super large tables and chairs and the idea is to give you a sense of what it would like to be a Leprechaun where everybody else is much bigger!

Look up www.leprechaunmuseum.ie for more details!

NUMBER 8 – DREAM POINT EXPERIENCE

Dream Point Experience is an immersive indoor family friendly attraction that has 7 themed rooms focusing on light, art and play. It includes a ball pit with 250,000 pearl balls, an inflatable forest, a balloon room, interactive projection walls, a glow corridor and a unique draw alive room!

Dream Point Experience is located in the 3 Arena which is in Dublin Docklands on the edge of Dublin City. It is accessible from Dublin City Centre on the Luas Red Line and you get off at The Point stop.

Visit www.dreampointexperience.ie for more details

NUMBER 9 – VISIT DUBLINIA

Dublinia is Dublin’s Viking Museum and is located next to Christchurch Cathedral.

They have three floors and on each floor there is a different theme. The ground floor is all about Viking History in Dublin, the first floor all about the Medieval History in Dublin and the top floor explains how Archaeologists work and research.

It has some interactive sections and would be of particular interest to kids interested in Viking and Medieval history and also kids who are interested in Archaeology.

Look up www.dublinia.ie for more details.

NUMBER 10 – BOOK A TOUR WITH DUBLIN PRIVATE TOUR

If you have kids are interested in history or studying history, Dublin Private Tour can organise a Tour that would be of interest and benefit to them.

I have dealt with numerous families on my Tours over the years so I know how to make the Tour interactive for them so they can not only learn but equally enjoy the Tour!

Dublin Private Tour can also arrange a discounted family Tour rate so for more details please email me at dublinprivatetour@gmail.com or simply send me a whatsapp message at (+353) 872859028.

I hope this gives you some ideas of things to do in Dublin with your children! If you have any further questions about things to do in Dublin with kids then feel free to email me at dublinprivatetour@gmail.com 🙂

LOCAL DUBLIN ADVICE ON HOW TO GET THE BEST OUT OF ST PATRICKS DAY & ST PATRICKS FESTIVAL 2026

Dublin City will be thronged with Tourists over the coming days for the St Patricks Festival!

I have prepared a short video below with some local Dublin tips and advice for those visiting Dublin to get the best out of 2026 St Patricks Day and the St Patricks Festival.

But for those who don’t wish to watch the video or don’t have access to it, then I have written below some bullet points of local Dublin advice on how to get the best out of St Patricks Day and St Patricks Festival in 2026.

  • The St Patricks Festival 2026 in Ireland and Dublin is being celebrated from Saturday March 14th to Tuesday March 17th
  • There will be hundreds of different variety of events taking place all over Dublin City Centre for the St Patricks Festival. A schedule of the St Patricks Festival 2026 events is available on this link……………………….. https://stpatricksfestival.ie/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/SPF-26-Digital-Brochure-LIGHT.pdf
  • For those wishing to go the official Dublin City St Patricks Day parade then get in early (probably an hour before it starts) and go to the area closest to where you are staying as there will be a lot of restrictions getting around Dublin City during the St Patricks Day parade. The Dublin City St Patricks Day parade starts at 12.00 and lasts approximately 2 hours.
  • A link to the Dublin City St Patricks Day parade route is https://stpatricksfestival.ie/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/St.-Patricks-26-Parade-Route-Map-scaled.png
  • Local advice on where to find a more authentic experience for a St Patrick’s Day parade then head to any of these outside Dublin City Centre: Dun Laoghaire, Bray, Stepaside, Swords, Skerries, Balbriggan and Blanchardstown.
  • And for those who want to have the best craic on St Patricks Day in Dublin, then hang around Temple Bar area, the surrounding streets and Dame Street. This area will be full of Bars with traditional Irish music, though it will be mostly Tourists.
  • Local Dublin advice on where to find local bars with locals on St Patricks Day in Dublin City Centre then go to any of the following areas: Georges Street, Camden Street, Dawson Street, Baggot Street and Capel Street. And Harcourt Street too if you are out a bit later, as that is where a lot of the nightclubs are.
  • Please do not under any circumstances call the day St Pattys Day to local Dublin or Irish people if you are visiting Dublin for the St Patricks Festival. Irish people call it St Paddys Day for short and really dislike the phrase St Pattys Day. That is the best advice on WHAT NOT TO DO in Dublin as a Tourist on St Patricks Day!!!!
  • If you are here in Dublin on the weekend leading up to St Patricks Day 2026, then ladies are definitely in for a treat. We are expecting close to 10,000 Scots travelling over to Dublin for the really big rugby game between Ireland and Scotland on Saturday March 14th. They will be mostly men wearing kilts, which always gets the ladies excited!!! The game is being played in the Aviva stadium, which is a 20 or so minute walk from the City Centre and kick off is 2.10pm on Saturday March 14th.

Regardless if you are travelling over to Ireland and Dublin for the 2026 St Patricks Festival or just for the 2026 St Patricks Day then you are more than welcome and make sure you have the craic, which does mean fun by the way!!!

And to make sure you get the most authentic Dublin and Irish experience for St Patricks Day & St Patricks Festival then book a tour with https://dublinprivatetour.com/

UNIQUE HIDDEN HISTORY OF DUBLIN’S SHELBOURNE HOTEL WHERE HITLER’S BROTHER WORKED

The Shelbourne Hotel on Stephens Green in the heart of Dublin City Centre is arguably Dublin’s most famous and most upmarket five-star Hotel in Dublin.

Aside from that, it is also home to some bizarre and hidden history.

My favourite obscure story about The Shelbourne Hotel is about one of its former staff members, a man called Alois Hitler Junior.

The surname is a give-away but believe it or not Alois Hitler Junior, the half-brother of Adolf, worked in The Shelbourne Hotel as a waiter in 1909. Alois Hitler Junior had served time in prison in Austria for theft before he ended up in Dublin. Regardless, it was here in the Shelbourne Hotel in 1909 that he would meet his future wife Bridget Dowling.

Bridget & Alois eloped to London in 1910 and the following year 1911 Bridget gave birth to their only child, William Patrick Hitler who was born in Liverpool.

Later on in the 1930s William Patrick visited his Uncle Adolf Hitler in Germany hoping to take advantage of his Uncle’s growing prominence and popularity in Germany at that time.

Initially their relationship was cordial but something changed that lead to a disagreement between the two leading to Adolf later describing William Patrick as his “insufferable nephew”.

William Patrick escaped Germany soon after just before the outbreak of World War Two and headed back to the UK. Later he emigrated to the United States and the irony of all ironies he then joined the US Army in 1944 to fight against his Uncle for the Allies in World War Two.

William Patrick served three years in the US Army as a Pharmacist’s Mate and was awarded a Purple Heart for his endeavours. He later got married to a lady called Phyllis, where they settled in New York raising four children and he ran a successful healthcare business.

So it may seem bizarre to learn that Hitler’s nephew fought against him in World War Two and the story all started in Dublin’s most famous Hotel being The Shelbourne Hotel.

If you found this interesting then look up details on Dublin Hidden History Private Tour where you will learn all these bizarre and unique stories of Dublin City’s History.

more info on dublin hidden history private tour

Feel free to watch the Video below outlining more details on the story of Alois Hitler in The Shelbourne Hotel and also more unique and bizarre stories about The Shelbourne Hotel

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR TOURISTS VISITING DUBLIN

Most Tourists come to Dublin and when they listen to conversations on the street or converse with the odd local they can’t understand a thing and just assume the local Dubliners are speaking in the Irish/Gaelic Language.

In short they are mistaken!!!! We do speak English here but in Dublin it is our own version, that as a joke we call it “Dublinese”.

In Dublin we have two different distinct accents, generally considered to be separated by the famous River Liffey. In truth the real Dublin accent is found in all parts of Dublin. The other accent, being the not so famous “posh” southside accent, is generally just found in the leafy suburbs of Southside Dublin and in a couple of similar Northside suburbs if we are being honest.

But the real strong Dublin accent is particularly prevalent in Dublin inner City and without doubt definitely hard for the majority of Tourists to understand. And to make it more difficult and confusing for our overseas visitors, we have tons and tons of unique phrases and slang, which are not easy to follow.

The Dublin accent added to the slang is what we refer to as “Dublinese”.

Learn a bit of Dublinese in the videos below and for more information look up our Real Dublin Culture Private Tour where we explain and explore this in much more detail, among so many other Dublin Cultural aspects relevant to those visiting here.

In short, please don’t come to Dublin and experience the place on a superficial level like most Tourists do.

Learn some Dublinese and your experience here will be enhanced tenfold and you will get to experience the real & authentic Dublin that Dubliners value & love so much!!!

more info on real dublin culture private tour