Located on Ireland's eastern shore, Dublin started life 1000 years ago as a Viking settlement. Over the centuries it was taken over by a succession of conquerors and colonists, especially the English, whose period of rule left many scars but some positive legacies as well, including the dignified Georgian architecture that now gives the city much of its charm and character. Many of its landmarks and memorials recall the bloody but eventually successful struggle to drive the British out, but today there's no ill-feeling at all towards British, with whom Ireland now has close ties and cordial relations. Dublin's population today is about 1 million, and the Irish name of the city is Baile Atha Cliath.

Dublin Tourism's main office is in Suffolk Street, in the city centre south of the river (tel. 01 605 7700). There are other tourist offices in the Arrivals hall of Dublin Airport's Terminal 1; at  14 Upper O'Connell Street; and in Dun Laoghaire ferry terminal.
  If you're planning to see a lot during your stay, it could be worth buying a Dublin Pass from the tourist office (1 day - €35, 2 days - €55, etc) giving free entry to over 30 attractions.
  You can book accommodation in advance, as well as finding information on sights, offers, shows, shopping and travel to Dublin, on these official websites:
www.visitdublin.com (Dublin Tourist Board)
www.discoverireland.ie (Irish Tourist Board)

The centre of Dublin is the busy, crowded area on both sides of O'Connell Bridge over the River Liffey (picturesque "Ha'penny Bridge" and the newer Millennium Bridge are two pedestrian bridges just upstream). North of the river is broad O'Connell Street, Dublin's magnificent principal boulevard with a wide central pavement under a row of trees. South of the river is a more atmospheric, historic district (in effect, Dublin's Old Quarter), with Temple Bar on one side, running down towards Trinity College. The tourist office is on the south side, in a former church in Suffolk St. Some sights on the western edges of town are best reached by catching a bus along the riverside.

Whatever the changes, Dublin's greatest attractions are still people, music and pubs.
  Really, there can't be another city anywhere with as many pubs per head. There are about one thousand altogether. For masses of atmosphere and great craíc, push open the door into almost any of them.                               
  The very best are gorgeous unmodernised places gleaming with mirrors, mahogany and brass. Come the evening, and in the daytime too, many of the city's pubs settle down with some live music, usually foot-tapping folksy traditional Irish styles.                                  
  The Brazen Head, Dublin's oldest pub, has music most nights. Or join the throng listening in the Victorian bars of The Oliver St John Gogarty, one of the very best for traditional Irish music. Round the corner at bigger, crowded Fitzsimons, there's a wide range of music and dance on five floors.

Most of the time, it feels like nowhere in Dublin is more than a short distance away, and it's a pleasure to walk in the city centre. However, for the Guinness Brewery you might want to catch a bus. For longer and faster trips around the city, use Dublin's superb DART urban railway.

Chapter One With a feel that's both down-to-earth and refined, this Michelin-starred restaurant in the basement of the Dublin Writers Museum is a leading name in inventive, modern Irish fusion cooking with an emphasis on the best of local seasonal ingredients.
www.chapteronerestaurant.com

The Clarence Hotel A sense of fine quality pervades this renowned city centre luxury hotel, part of the Dublin scene for 150 years, now owned by Irish rock group U2.
www.theclarence.ie

The Morgan Hotel A little bit of designer chic, well placed in Temple Bar, comfortable, stylish rooms.
www.themorgan.com

Dublin has good transport links to the UK, with two ferry routes from two ports (Dublin Port and Dun Laoghaire) to Holyhead and Liverpool, and flights to nearly 30 UK airports. Flight time is generally around one hour. Ryanair offer rock-bottom fares and service to match. Aer Lingus provide full service, also with low fares to Dublin.
www.aerlingus.com. 

- Where is it?
  It's the capital of Ireland, on the east coast.
- International phone dialling code:
  00 353.
- Time zone:
  GMT/BST (same as UK).
- Money:
  Euro (€).

- Don't ask for a "beer" - what kind do you want? Guinness is the rich, dark, locally brewed stout. If you really have no idea, the barman will be happy to explain, especially if you buy a pint for himself.
- A "half a pint" of beer is called a "glass". But for a pint, ask for a pint!
- Craíc (pronounced 'crack') is Irish for good company and good times, usually accompanied by good drink and good music.

 Guinness Storehouse -
 The Guinness Experience 
The Guinness Storehouse is Dublin's number one attraction. Its 6-storey exhibition gives a fascinating glimpse into the mysterious alchemy of ingredients in Ireland's favourite glass. The twin secrets are the water (from St James' Spring, 25 miles west) and the carefully tended yeast culture (still the one Arthur Guinness borrowed from a neighbour in 1759). A waterfall and an atrium-sized beer barrel combine with genuine historical artefacts like Arthur Guinness's cluttered desk, and the lease he signed entitling him to make beer here ... for 9,000 years! At the rooftop Gravity Bar you'll be handed "the perfect pint" - free of charge. The bar also enjoys the perfect view of Dublin, a 360-degree glass-walled panorama taking in the whole city, the dark shapes of the Wicklow Mountains and the Irish Sea beyond.
www.guinness-storehouse.com

 Temple Bar 
Running along the south bank of the River Liffey, Temple Bar's cobbled lanes have become the vivacious focal point for the arts and the avant-garde, as well as (after dark) a centre for stag and hen parties, with scores of pubs and restaurants which once fuelled Dublin's brash role as the Party Capital of Europe. In recent years, some local bars have banned big groups. Such measures have partly succeeded, and the mood stays fairly mellow.
www.templebar.ie/

 Dublin's Literary Heritage 
The city of Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw, Brendan Behan, Sean O'Casey, W.B.Yeats and Samuel Beckett loves literature and has quite a cultured air. Learn about its writers, and see many of their personal effects and first editions at the Dublin Writers' Museum in Parnell Sq. In the same square is the Irish Writers' Centre.
  Drama is a local speciality, and there's usually an Irish play showing at the prestigious Abbey Theatre. Other theatres with programmes worth checking are the Gate and the Gaiety.

 The Book of Kells, Trinity College
 and 'the Dublin Experience' 
Dignified and sombre, Trinity College has been Ireland's premier university since it was founded in 1592. The oldest remaining parts are 17th century. It says much about Ireland that Catholics (almost the entire Irish population) were barred until 1873, and then that for almost another century the Catholic church prohibited Catholics from attending. Pass through the lovely neo-Classical Reading Room, with its impressive Long Room gallery, to reach the Book of Kells, the 1200-year-old "most beautiful book in the world", which lies open at a richly painted page. Facing the library, The Dublin Experience is a multimedia attraction on the history of the city,
www.tcd.ie/about/history/

 O'Connell Street  
Most Dublin attractions are south of the Liffey, but its principal institutions and monuments are on the north side of the river, especially along this fine 18th- and 19th-century boulevard. Among them is the astonishing 393-foot (120m)  slender metal Spire of Dublin (known as the Spike), erected in 2003 to replace a Nelson's Column previously destroyed in a Republican bombing. Statues along the length of the street commemorate the great names of Irish life and letters, including Irish nationalist campaigner Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847) after whom it is named. A great landmark in the nation's fight for independence is the city's grandiose main post office or GPO (General Post Office), which was seized during the 1916 Easter Rising, became the besieged HQ of the doomed nationalist leaders. It still has bullet marks in the facade.
NB - the street is rowdy and seedy at night.

 National Museum  
Gold, silver and gems feature among this treasure trove of ancient Ireland.
www.museum.ie/

 17th/18th-century architecture 
Majestic set-pieces of neo-Classical and Georgian architecture survive in the city centre.
  Bank of Ireland Westmoreland St, facing Trinity College; 17C, neo-Classical; Ireland's parliament until the Act of Union. The banking hall is the old House of Commons.
  Merrion Square A few paces SE of Trinity College; a beautifully preserved ensemble of 18C Georgian town houses.
  Custom House on the north bank, east of O'Connell Bridge; 18C, neo-Classical; now occupied by the High Court.

Silly souvenirs abound; with miniatures of Irish booze, carved leprechauns, Irish joke books, etc, apparently in strong demand. Better quality Irish products worth taking home include fine linen and lace, glassware, sweaters and tweeds. Irish music CDs and tapes are worth buying.
Visit Powercourt Townhouse for high-class shopping, and the city branches of Kilkenny and Avoca Handweavers for genuine traditional and modern Irish goods.

16-19 Mar 2012: Go crazy for Patrick.
His special day is March 17, enthusiastically celebrated anywhere in the world that Irish people are to be found. The Irish capital spends a wild few days on its annual St Patrick's Festival, with street parties, exhibitions, funfair and music. Wear green, drink Guinness. The highlight is the St Patrick's Day parade.
www.stpatricksfestival.ie

16 Jun - Bloomsday: Dublin Re-Joyces
The day celebrates Dublin on June 16 1904, the setting for Ulysses, by James Joyce. Not just Bloom, central character of Ulysses, but all of Joyce's life and work are celebrated in this strange literary appreciation that has become a city-wide festival in honour of Dublin. Events start a few days before the 16th.
www.jamesjoyce.ie