Our 6 days in Ireland: Visiting Dublin with kids
Well, we’re back from what Chris has officially dubbed “my favorite place we’ve been.” High praise! We spent 6 days in Ireland, including Dublin, a day trip to Glendalough and a road trip to the west of the country.
Our trip kicked off with 3 days in Dublin, where we met my in-laws, Gail and David. We had a great time seeing Dublin with kids — it is a wonderfully child-friendly city!
Ahem, we also thought it was an “adult-friendly” city as well. Guess why?
Note: if you are going to Dublin with young kids, I’d say 3 days is about the minimum you want to have to make the most of Dublin. With strategic planning and a little older crew, you’ll be able to get a lot out of 2 days in Dublin!
Things to do in Dublin with kids
Note: this post has been updated to reflect Chris’ April 2018 visit here!
If you are headed to Dublin with kids, rest assured there is plenty to do! Here were our favorites for the entire family.
- Guinness Storehouse. Sounds like it wouldn’t be child-friendly, but you’d be surprised. Whether you are headed to Dublin with kids or without, this place should be on your agenda. Read more here.
- Phoenix Park. The perfect spot to run off some extra energy, climb some playground equipment or search for deer. Read more here.
- Kilmainham Gaol. Fascinating and educational; even our 4-year-old was interested in the 1-hour tour of this place. Absolutely do not miss this place — and remember to book your tickets ahead. Read more here.
- National Museum of Ireland — Archeology. If your kids are little museum buffs like ours, they’ll love the National Museum of Ireland! Especially the peat bogs, which are pleasingly creepy. Read more here.
- Dublin Zoo. Located within Phoenix Park, this is a spot we didn’t hit on our May 2017 trip. Chris, however, had the chance to visit in 2018 and said it was outstanding. We won’t miss it next time.
- Trinity College. Going to see the Book of Kells might not seem like a big thrill for kids, but the place itself was so visually interesting (think Beauty and the Beast) that I wouldn’t skip it. Read more here.
- Dublin Castle. We only saw the outside of this one due to time constraints, but next time we are in Dublin with kids we’ll be touring it! We’ve heard great reports.
When we next have the chance to check out Dublin again with our crew, I’d also like to plan to visit an indoor waterpark — AquaZone — and Imaginosity, billed at the Dublin Children’s Museum.
But, I’ll get into these sites a little more below and in the posts to come!
Why 6 days in Ireland?
Gail and David were planning to come see us this year, but we also wanted to do some kind of a trip together. To be honest, I have no idea how we finally settled on Ireland given that when we first started discussing it Gail said she was basically interested in everywhere in Europe except Portugal. And then David chimed in that he thought Portugal would actually be cool … as you can imagine, narrowing it down was tricky! None of us had been to Ireland and we all wanted to see it, so it eventually won out. One bonus was that it was an easy, nonstop flight from Chicago. (My in-laws live in Indianapolis, but since overseas flights from Indianapolis tend to be dramatically more expensive they chose to drive to Chicago to fly from there). Overall, all four of us were (I think!) thrilled with our choice, though we wish we’d spent more time there.
Chris, the kids and I arrived in Dublin around 1 a.m. Sunday morning because Aer Lingus offers just two nonstop flights between Catania and Dublin per week at this time of year, so choices were limited. We picked a hotel near the airport so that we could get to bed quickly (wishful thinking) and as an easy meetup point with Gail and David when they arrived later Sunday morning. We also arranged for a large taxi-van with car seats to pick us up from there, and arranged with our AirBnB host to drop off our bags early.
Day 1 in Dublin with kids: Dining at Ireland’s oldest pub and taking it easy
Sunday was a low-key day in Dublin because we were exhausted from our late-night flight, and Gail and David hadn’t been able to get any sleep at all on the plane. We decided to have lunch at The Brazen Head, which was founded in 1198 and is reported to be the oldest pub in Dublin. It also proved to be a rather further walk than we thought – sorry, guys. I didn’t love my food, but everyone else really liked theirs and it was generally a fun pub atmosphere.
I had optimistically booked us a free walking tour through Sanderman’s Walking Tours for the afternoon, but by the time out 2 p.m. meetup point came around we were exhausted and drinking beer in The Brazen Head felt like a much better idea. If we had more time, I would have rebooked though – I’ve heard really good things.
From there, Chris and the kids and I just explored Dublin a bit while Gail and David got some sleep at last. We walked through Temple Bar and had some snacks, including possibly the best wings we’ve ever had. Temple Bar seemed like a fun area, if you don’t have two cranky preschoolers in tow! Speaking of the kids – Owen and Fiona were asleep by about 5:30 and 6 p.m., respectively, and slept until the next morning. Poor guys were tired!
We took turns grabbing dinner while they slept – it was SO NICE to be in a place where you can eat before 8 p.m. if you are so inclined. And even nicer to have a date opportunity with Chris! We went to the Bleecker Street Café – it isn’t super impressive looking on the outside, but it was good food and good times inside. I recommend the chicken curry.
