Complete Dublin Walking Tour

3 Dublin Walking Tours, Map and Attractions Guide

Visit 50 attractions in central Dublin using the three self guided walking tour maps below

Use the Dublin google map below to visit the attractions in Dublin city center. A complete self guided walking tour with map and guide to Dublin attractions, including Cathedrals, Squares, and historic Dublin sites. Follow the walking route to explore the city at your own place. Spend a few hours or two days depending on how long you want to spend at each attraction. There are three separate Dublin self guided walking walking tours: Tour 1- Downtown Central Dublin located north of River Liffey, Tour 2 – Temple Bar Region, St Stephens Green and Grafton Street located south of River Liffey and Tour 3 – Historic Dublin includes Dublin Corporation, Dublin City Hall (and includes parts of the Temple Bar Region).

Click on the arrow icon to the left of the title to display the legend. Click on the Attractions attractions map pins (green, red, black, purple or blue pins) or on the legend (left icon on the title bar) or the PDF map that you download for additional information including images of the attraction. Each set of colored map pins can be used as a separate walking tour of Dublin making it flexible to work into your schedule of other planned events or lunch breaks.

  1. Dublin City Center – Purple Map pins below. For accompanying Central Dublin Walking Tour 1 attractions guide click HERE
  2. Dublin Temple Bar Region – Black Map pins below. For accompanying Templar Bar Dublin Walking Tour 2 attractions guide click HERE
  3. Historic, Old Dublin Walk – Red Map pins below. For accompanying Historic Dublin Walking Tour 3 attractions guide click HERE

Wifi – SIM card

We brought an old smartphone for our trip and purchased a SIM card from one of the major carriers in Dublin. You will need an unlocked smartphone, the SIM will give you a local number. Purchase from one of the major carriers and not a phone shop. If you use your existing iphone, keep your original SIM card safe and put it back in your phone when you leave Ireland

I purchased mine from Vodafone but you can get one at any major provider. They have flexible “pay as you go” plans that you can top up as needed. You will need to purchase both a SIM card and a data plan to use your smartphone in Ireland. Download the google map below onto your smartphone using the instructions below for easy to use free Dublin self guided walking tours to the major attractions

Zoom in to view the color coded three self Guided walking tours in Dublin. Instructions to download Interactive Dublin Ireland map are at the end of the post

Download PDF Map HERE

Self guided Dublin Walking Tour, Dublin Ireland Map

Dublin Walking Tour
Dublin Ireland Walking map of three routes: Purple Route (Downtown – Walk 1), Black Route (Temple Bar, Square and Parks – Walk 2), Orange Route (Old Dublin – Walk 3)

When to Visit Dublin

The peak season in Ireland is between June and September. At this time central Dublin is teaming with tourists and many of the attractions in the Dublin Walking tour may have line ups, especially the Book of Kells at Trinity College. Plan accordingly if you want to complete all three Dublin tours as lineups in the peak season may mean that you it will take longer to complete all three Dublin Walking tours

What to Wear on the Dublin Walking Tour?

While visiting in the shoulder season (April-May or October) means that there are less tourists and shorter lineup but it may also mean colder weather and start of the rainy season. In addition to shorter lines for attractions at this time, pub entertainment is limited, and live pub crawls are eliminated to weekends only.  Dress warmly during the shoulder months during the Dublin Walking tours, layering is essential. The temperature can drop and a wool sweater, cardigan, rain coat with a hood, waterproof walking shoes are helpful to keep warm and dry.

From Dublin Airport to Central Dublin and onto the Dublin Walking Tour

Ireland has a well used and convenient public transportation system to travel within Dublin, its surrounding areas and to connect to the different cities towns and villages in Ireland. In Dublin, the well-connected transport system means that tourist do not have to rent a car, look for expensive parking spots in the center and get caught up in the traffic jams.

Public transportation, the local buses run by Dublin Bus will take you into central Dublin. It takes about 45-60 min by bus. The Buses 16, 41 will take you to the city center. However, Dublin Bus 102 takes you to Sutton Station outside of Dublin, it does not stop in downtown Dublin. You can board these buses in Zone 15 in the parking lot. View Dublin Airport bus map here. Tickets can be purchased right on the bus but you will need exact change or euro dollars; the machine does not give out change. Just drop the money into the machine when you board.

Once you arrive in the city center, follow the maps and tours below to explore central Dublin using the three Dublin Walking Tours

Getting around using the Dublin Walking Tour

Dublin’s downtown core is fairly compact and a walk from the GPO (General Post Office) to Stephens Green should take about an hour.

A useful tip if you are looking for a specific address or postal code, the numbers on the Northside of the street are odd numbers while the Southside the numbers are even numbers.  In general, the higher the number, the further away the address is from Dublin’s core. Names of streets are not on sign posts, they are plastered along the side of buildings.

If you would like to explore Dublin, then Dublin has a good public transport network with a choice of buses, two tram lines (the Luas), a local area train running all the way along Dublin Bay (the Dart) and a large number of taxis

Dublin Walking Tour – Identify functional Quarters

As you walk in central Dublin, keep in mind that Dublin is divided into several quarters as follows:

  • Medieval Quarter – It is the oldest part of the city and includes the attractions such as St Patrick’s Cathedral, Christ Church and Dublin Castle. of the Dublin Walking Tour
  • Cultural Quarter – This is the area around the Temple Bar region. Attractions in the area are in the Dublin Walk
  • Georgian Quarter  – Merrion Square, St Stephen’s Green and Fitzwilliam square showcase some of the finest Georgian architecture in Dublin
    Tech Quarter – Dublin’s Docklands in the Grand Canal Dock Area. Tech giants such as Facebook, Google amongst others can be found here
  • Creative Quarter – The hub of design and creativity is located South William Street to George’s Street, and from Lower Stephen’s Street to Exchequer Street

Pubs in the Dublin Walking Tour

Pub life is interwoven within the fabric of the society. History shows that many Dubliners lived in unheated, overcrowded accommodations and a visit to the local pub was common to warm up, enjoy company and take the Craic (fun). On the Dublin Walking tours, you will see pubs almost every 100 meters. The staff are friendly and often times you will see locals at the popular local pubs discussing world news, get a tip on the horses or maybe sing a song or two (evenings).  Traditional pubs do not have table service so if you are lucky to find a seat, you will need to go to the bar to order. Typical beer orders are half pints.

Queen of Tarts

If you’re on the lookout for some good coffee and even better cakes, then the Queen of Tarts on Dame Street. The caffe founded by NYC pastry chefs trained sisters Regina and Yvonne Fallon. They offer generous and delicious portions of sweet treats across two locations in Dublin since the late 1990s. This is the perfect rest stop in the middle of the Dublin Walking Tours

Instructions to download the interactive map to a smart phone:

Take the Map with you when you travel:

Instructions on:

  • Using it offline
  • Using it online – We bring one of our older smart phones when we travel and buy a local SIM card. You can purchase a local tourist SIM card from one of the main local providers, they are usually pretty inexpensive. You may need your passport to purchase as its a tourist SIM if you are an international tourist. You should have them put it in your old smartphone and check that it works before leaving the store. Use it to follow the map online, its the best way to explore

Sign into google using your Gmail account on your smart phone and be connected to the internet. If you do not sign in, this process will not work. You will be downloading this map to save it. You will be saving it in google maps in two places:

  1. Save in “Your Places” for online use and
  2. Save in “Offline map” for offline use
  3. Youtube instructions on link as follows:
    https://youtu.be/_6j9koieMsU

Instructions to save above map:

  1. Click on the rectangle on the top right hand side of the above map [ ] – if you move your mouse to it, it will say “view larger map”
  2. It will take you into google maps on your smartphone and it will automatically save this map. You must be already be signed into google maps with your Gmail account, if you are not signed into google maps then the map will not be saved
  3. In google maps, click on the menu which is the three horizontal lines on the top left of the google map (it is to the left of the search box)
  4. From the menu, click on “Your Places”. This will take you to another screen with a menu at the top. From the top menu bar select “maps”. A list of your maps will be displayed including the map that was just saved. Select the map you just saved
  5. Make sure the map is still onscreen; do not close out of it as you will be downloading this map and it has to be onscreen to download. While the map is onscreen, click on menu again (three horizontal lines top left hand corner)
  6. Select “Offline maps” then select “custom map”
  7. Once you select “custom map”, the onscreen map will be displayed; select the area you want downloaded (zoom in or out to get all the data points into the blue square outline; pinch fingers for zooming)
  8. Click on “download” – this will save the map in an offline area that you can use when you are not connected to the internet
The map is now saved in two places. To see this, click on the menu (three horizontal line on top right hand corner) in google maps:
  1. Click on “Your Places” from the menu, then select “Custom Map”. The map will be listed and you can use the map while connected to the internet
  2. Click on “Offline Maps” from the menu. The map will be listed to use the map offline ie: not connected to the internet (make sure location services is turned on and your will see the blue dot indicating your location as you navigate with the offline map)
  3. After you download a map, use the Google Maps app just like you normally would. If your Internet connection is slow or absent, or if you are in “airplane mode” Google Maps will automatically use your offline maps to give you directions