From harbour to mountain
The county motto, Ó Chuan go Sliabh – ‘from harbour to mountain’ – is the most efficient way to plan a day here. Start on the granite of Dún Laoghaire’s East Pier, drive or DART a few miles inland, and by lunchtime you can be on the summit of Two Rock looking back down on where you started. Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown is small – 125.8 km², with about 233,860 people at the 2022 census – but it packs the whole descent from sea to bog into that space. If you only do one thing, make it the East Pier and Killiney Hill in the same afternoon; the two views bookend the county.
History and character
The name Dún Laoghaire means ‘fort of Laoghaire’, after the 5th-century High King Lóegaire mac Néill; for centuries it was a small fishing village called Dunleary. What changed it was the harbour, built through the first half of the 19th century as a refuge for ships in Dublin Bay. When King George IV visited the works in 1821 the town was renamed Kingstown, a name it kept until 1920. Ireland’s first passenger railway reached it in 1834 and set off a Victorian building boom – the grand terraces, hotels and seafront promenades that still shape the place.
What to see and do
The harbour and East Pier
Dún Laoghaire Harbour is one of the largest artificial harbours in the country, and its East Pier is the walk everyone does: about 1.3 km long, so 2.6 km out and back, flat and paved, with views across the Bay to Howth. The pier and its two arms were built from 1817. Halfway along, the restored cast-iron bandstand hosts seasonal concerts. The harbour is a working sailing base rather than a museum piece, with schools running kayaking, paddleboarding and sailing, and the adjacent People’s Park gives you fountains, a playground and a Sunday market.
Parks and green spaces
Inland, Marlay Park in Rathfarnham covers 121 hectares – about 300 acres – of parkland, woodland and ponds around a restored Georgian house of 1794. It has walled gardens, a miniature railway on summer weekends and a well-known farmers’ market, and its paved paths make it easy going for buggies and wheelchairs. It also doubles as a trailhead for longer walks up into the hills.
Coastal walks and mountain trails
The county’s hills give you short walks with a lot of view for the effort. Two Rock Mountain (536 m) is the highest point, topped by an ancient cairn known as Fairy Castle, with a 360-degree panorama from the city to the sea. For less climbing, Killiney Hill has a well-made path to an obelisk above Killiney Bay – on a clear day you can pick out the coast of Wales. A coastal cycle path links the shoreline stops, so you can combine walking, cycling and the DART in a single loop.
Culture and free museums
A lot of the county’s culture costs nothing to visit. The National Maritime Museum of Ireland fills a 180-year-old former mariners’ church and is genuinely worth an hour: a recreated ship’s radio room, a Titanic exhibition, and salvaged items from the RMS Leinster, the mailboat torpedoed off Dún Laoghaire in 1918. Its Maritime Café serves vegan and vegetarian food. Nearby, The Oratory is a small Celtic Revival gem, its interior covered in hand-painted murals by Sister Concepta Lynch, and it is fully wheelchair-accessible.
For the modern counterpoint, the DLR Lexicon – the flagship library that opened in 2014 – has award-winning architecture, harbour views and a ground-floor café. The county wears its literary history openly: James Joyce spent six nights in the Martello tower at Sandycove that opens Ulysses, and walking tours trace him, Beckett, Maeve Binchy and Joseph O’Connor through the area. If you’re planning around them, the tourism office publishes three free downloadable guides – Urban Splash (water activities), Well Worth the Climb (the uplands) and Between the Lines (culture and history).
Getting there and practical tips
Public transport does most of the work here. The DART runs along the coast through Dún Laoghaire, Dalkey and Killiney, while the Luas Green Line and Dublin Bus cover the inland suburbs. If you drive, know the parking before you arrive: on-street in Dún Laoghaire is €1.70 per hour with a three-hour maximum, the harbour is €2.00 per hour (minimum €2), and the main car parks – the LexIcon, Pavilion and Bloomfields – run at €2.40 per hour, with the LexIcon capped at €6 for the day.
The dlr tourist kiosk is at The Metals on Marine Road, beside the DART station and outside Meadows & Byrne. It runs a seven-day service, 10am to 5pm (closed 1.30pm–2.30pm for lunch), and staff hand out free trail maps and timetables. Phone +353 1 280 6964 or email info@dlrtourism.ie.
A base in Dún Laoghaire or Dalkey puts you within a short walk of the sea and a short drive of the hills, which is the whole point of the county. Time a summer weekend and you’ll catch open-air cinema, food markets and live music along the promenade – but check the event calendar first, as it changes week to week.