What’s actually here
Arran Quay is a short stretch of the Liffey’s north bank, and it’s better understood as a walk-through than a destination. The view that makes it is the green dome of the Four Courts just to the east; the quay itself is a one-way traffic road backed by granite quay walls built around 1800, with the old iron-stayed ladders still descending to the water from the days when barges unloaded here. Maritime development on this bank goes back to the 13th century, and the quay as you see it was begun by William Ellis around 1680 - the reason the stretch next door is called Ellis Quay.
The whole run is about half a kilometre, between Mellows Bridge and Father Mathew Bridge. That eastern end sits near the Ford of the Hurdles, the ancient river crossing that gave Dublin its Irish name, Baile Átha Cliath - the town of the hurdled ford.
The Four Courts and St Paul’s
The Four Courts, James Gandon’s great neoclassical courthouse, stands just east of Arran Quay on Inns Quay, its dome a fixed point on the north-bank skyline. In 1922 it was the flashpoint of the Civil War: an explosion and fire gutted the building and destroyed the Public Record Office beside it, taking centuries of Irish archives with it. The courts were rebuilt and reopened by 1932. It’s a working court complex with tight security, so this is one to admire from the quay rather than tour - the dome and colonnade are at their best in late-afternoon light.
At the western end of the quay is St Paul’s, designed by Patrick Byrne and built in 1835-37, with a granite Ionic portico and a copper-domed bell tower added in 1843. It was among the first major Catholic churches to go up in Dublin after Catholic Emancipation, and a contemporary called it the ‘principal ornament’ of the quay. Its quiet claim to fame: Éamon de Valera married Sinéad Flanagan here in 1910. The church keeps limited hours, mostly around services, so don’t count on getting inside on spec.
The best thing is around the corner
If you have twenty minutes, spend them at St Michan’s. A few minutes up Church Street, this is the church with the mummies - centuries-old bodies naturally preserved in the dry limestone vaults of its crypt, shown on a guided tour, plus an organ from 1724 that Handel is said to have played. It’s the genuinely memorable sight in this corner of Dublin, and most people walking the quay miss it. The crypt opens on weekday mornings and afternoons and Saturday mornings; check before you go.
For coffee, Copper + Straw at 1 Arran Quay is the local pick - Belfast-roasted beans, dog-friendly, open Monday to Friday 8am to 4pm and weekends 9am to 4pm (not all day, despite what some listings say). And a small piece of history with no plaque to mark it: Edmund Burke, the philosopher and statesman, was born at 12 Arran Quay, in a house demolished around 1950.
A note on the boardwalk
If you’ve pictured the wooden Liffey Boardwalk over the river, that’s downstream from here, running between roughly O’Connell Bridge and Grattan Bridge - it doesn’t reach Arran Quay. Along Arran Quay you’re on a standard riverside footpath beside traffic, which is fine for a stroll to the Four Courts but isn’t the café-lined promenade some guides imply.
Getting there and around
Arran Quay is an easy walk from the city centre. The Luas Red Line stops at Smithfield (a few minutes north) and Four Courts (across the river), and the area is well served by buses along the quays. Driving, the quay is one-way eastbound, with little on-street parking; Q-Park Smithfield is the handiest car park, around 500 spaces at roughly €3 an hour. The riverside footpath is level and step-free.
Make it part of a north-bank wander: the mummies at St Michan’s, the Four Courts dome, a coffee on the quay, then on to Smithfield Square for food, or across the river to the Brazen Head - reckoned Ireland’s oldest pub, founded in 1198 - about five minutes’ walk over Mellows Bridge.