Most of what this page lists sits inside the canals, or a short DART ride from them. The Gate, on Cavendish Row, seats 371 in a steeply raked Georgian room where Orson Welles and Michael Gambon both started out. Across the river, the Irish Film Institute runs three screens in a converted Quaker meeting house on Eustace Street, and its courtyard and café bar draw people who never make it into a screening. The Light House does much the same job back on the north side, in Smithfield’s Market Square, with a bar in a former car park you can carry a drink from into the film. The National Concert Hall, on Earlsfort Terrace opposite the Iveagh Gardens, puts free lunchtime concerts alongside its ticketed programme.
Ballsbridge and Lansdowne Road hold the big-crowd end of the list. The Aviva seats 51,711 with a DART station at the gate, and runs hour-long tours seven days a week when there is no event on. The RDS campus beside it covers 40 acres and takes in the Dublin Horse Show, Leinster Rugby and the Young Scientist Exhibition; its rebuilt Anglesea Stand reopens as the Laya Arena in summer 2026.
Three of the ten want a car. Johnnie Fox’s at Glencullen and the dry ski slope at Kilternan both sit up in the Dublin Mountains towards the Wicklow border, and Portmarnock’s links runs out along a dune peninsula ten miles north of the city, open to visitors from April to September.
The national ground for both rugby and football, on the Lansdowne Road site since the 1870s, with tours seven days a week and Lansdowne Road DART outside.
A 371-seat Georgian house on Cavendish Row that launched Orson Welles and Michael Gambon, and has been Dublin's window on European drama since 1928.
Ireland's national cinema, three screens in a converted Quaker meeting house in Temple Bar, with a café bar and courtyard worth the trip on their own.
An 18th-century pub high in the Dublin Mountains at Glencullen, known for seafood, nightly traditional sessions and the Hooley dance show.
A crossroads village on the Wicklow border whose one big draw is the Ski Club of Ireland's dry slope, the only one in the Republic.
10 of 10 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Lansdowne Road, dublin
The national home of both Irish rugby and football, shared equally by the two codes, built on the Lansdowne Road site where the game has been played since the 1870s. It seats 51,711 under a translucent curved roof that shelters the stands but leaves the pitch open, with Lansdowne Road DART station right outside. Hour-long tours run seven days a week when there's no event on.
Dublin, dublin
Behind a Georgian facade on Cavendish Row, the Gate seats just 371, steeply raked and close to the stage. Since 1928 it has been Dublin's window on European and American drama – the theatre that gave Orson Welles and Michael Gambon their start, and staged all nineteen of Beckett's plays in three weeks in 1991.
6 Eustace St, dublin
The Irish Film Institute is Ireland's national cinema, in a converted 18th-century Quaker meeting house in Temple Bar. Three screens show the independent, Irish and international films the multiplexes overlook, and the IFI Irish Film Archive holds over 30,000 cans of film going back to 1897. There's a café bar and courtyard worth a visit on their own.
Glencullen, dublin
Rising above the Dublin Mountains, Johnnie Fox’s Pub blends 18th-century rebellion history with a lively modern atmosphere. Visitors can enjoy award-winning seafood, nightly traditional sessions, and a famous Hooley dance show, all set against panoramic mountain views.
Kilternan, dublin
Kilternan is a crossroads village in the foothills of the Dublin Mountains, on the Wicklow border. Its one big draw is the Ski Club of Ireland's dry slope, the only one in the Republic, backed up by the blue Church of Our Lady of the Wayside and walking straight onto the Dublin Mountains Way.
Ballsbridge, dublin
A €52 million rebuild of the Anglesea Stand pushes the old RDS Arena past 20,000 seats. Renamed Laya Arena in November 2025, it reopens in summer 2026 with the Dublin Horse Show, and Leinster Rugby return that September.
Dublin, dublin
The Light House is Dublin's leading arthouse cinema, four screens tucked into Smithfield's Market Square. Element Pictures programme it around independent Irish and international film, director seasons and live event broadcasts, and the real character is downstairs: a bar in a former car park where you can pour a drink and take it into the screen.
Dublin, dublin
The National Concert Hall stages orchestral, jazz, trad and opera on Earlsfort Terrace, in a stone exhibition palace that later housed University College Dublin. Home to the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, it runs free lunchtime and community concerts alongside its ticketed programme, opposite the Iveagh Gardens.
Ballsbridge, dublin
The Royal Dublin Society began in 1731 as a society for improving farming, manufacture and the arts, and helped found the National Botanic Gardens. Its 40-acre Ballsbridge campus now runs the Dublin Horse Show, Leinster Rugby, the Young Scientist Exhibition and the Dublin election count.
Portmarnock, dublin
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