50 Best Bars in Dublin, Ireland

Cafe en Seine

Southside Fodor's choice

Dublin's first superpub received a €4 million face-lift just before the pandemic with three floors of opulent Art Nouveau style à la grand Parisian brasserie, an extensive food menu, and a spectacular enclosed garden terrace with a retractable glass roof. This is one of Dublin's more elegant places to socialize.

Cobblestone

Dublin West Fodor's choice

A glorious house of ale in the best Dublin tradition, the Cobblestone is popular with Smithfield Market workers. Its chatty imbibers and high-quality, nightly, live traditional music are attracting a more varied, younger crowd from all over town.

Fallons

Dublin West Fodor's choice

Somehow you always get a seat in this tiny sliver of a pub—a warm, old-school boozer at its best—tucked away on a corner near St. Patrick's Cathedral. Pure Dublin class.

129 The Coombe, Dublin, Co. Dublin, Dublin 8, Ireland
01-454–2801

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Grogan's

Southside Fodor's choice

Also known as the Castle Lounge, Grogan's is a small place packed with creative folk. The old owner was known as a patron of local artists, and his walls are still covered with their work. There's no music or TV, so you can have a proper chat with your pint and toastie.

Horseshoe Bar

Southside Fodor's choice

The who's who of city society have always been drawn to the elegance of this glorious Dublin institution at the Shelbourne hotel. There's comparatively little space for drinkers around the famous semicircular bar—but this does wonders for making friends quickly.

P Mac's

Dublin South Fodor's choice

Old meets new in this award-winning, cozy spot adjacent to the Drury Court hotel. The dark-wood and bar-mirror interior is classic Dublin, but the craft beer selection and chilled-out, board-gaming atmosphere has a more millennial vibe. 

Palace Bar

Temple Bar Fodor's choice

Established in 1823, and scarcely changed since the 1940s, the wonderful Palace Bar is still all tiles and brass. Popular with journalists and writers (the Irish Times used to be nearby), the walls are lined with cartoons drawn by newspaper illustrators.

Peruke & Periwig

Southside Fodor's choice
This stylish, three-floor cocktail bar, named for the wigmakers once located here, has cutting-edge cocktails, plush velvet banquettes, wood panels, and baroque portraits and wigs on the walls. The food is decent, too.

Stag's Head

Southside Fodor's choice

A Victorian beaut, the Stag's Head dates from 1770 and was rebuilt in 1895. Theater people from the nearby Olympia and Trinity students gather around the unusual Connemara red-marble bar, study their reflections in the many mirrors, and drink in all the oak carvings. They host live music and comedy downstairs most nights.

Against The Grain

Dublin South

Ireland has gone through a craft-beer revolution and this busy spot is the place to sample a huge variety of them. The classy red pool table and selection of board games are perfect for a rainy afternoon. 

Anti Social

The Liberties

A clever and cool addition to the Dublin nightlife scene, an evening at Anti Social can mean some serious dancing to live DJs, or a laid-back gaming session on the old-school arcade machines. 

101 Francis St, Dublin, Co. Dublin, Dublin 8, Ireland
01-498--8855

Brazen Head

Dublin West

Reputedly Dublin's oldest pub (the site has been licensed since 1198), the Brazen Head doesn't have much of a time-burnished decor, with one big exception: an enchanting stone courtyard that is intimate, charming, and delightful. The front is a faux one-story castle, complete with flambeaux, while the interior looks modern-day (except for the very low ceilings). People love to jam the place not for its history but for its traditional-music performances and lively sing-along sessions on Sunday evening. On the south side of the Liffey quays, it's a little difficult to find—turn down Lower Bridge Street and make a right onto the old lane.

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Pub
20 Lower Bridge St., Dublin, Co. Dublin, 8, Ireland
01-677–9549

Button Factory

Temple Bar

A happening music venue, the Button mixes top DJs and up-and-coming live acts. The place tends to be on the cutting edge of the Irish dance-music scene.

Cassidy's

Southside

Once a quality neighborhood pub with a tasty pint of stout, Cassidy's has morphed into an often overcrowded but very popular spot with a young clientele.

Pub
42 Lower Camden St., Dublin, Co. Dublin, 2, Ireland
01-475–6540

Cellar Bar

Georgian Dublin

An 18th-century wine vault with bare brick walls and vaulted ceilings, this spot at the superstylish Merrion Hotel tends to draw a well-heeled crowd.

Davy Byrnes

Southside

A noted pilgrimage stop for Joyceans, Davy Byrnes is where Leopold Bloom stops in for a glass of Burgundy and a Gorgonzola-cheese sandwich in Ulysses (and ruminates before helping a blind man cross the road). The decor—with leather seats and dramatic art on the walls—is more decadent than in Joyce's day ("He entered Davy Byrnes. Moral pub."), but it still serves some fine pub grub.

Doheny & Nesbitt

Southside

A traditional spot with snugs, dark wooden furnishings, and smoke-darkened ceilings, Doheny & Nesbitt has hardly changed over the decades.

Doyle's In Town

Southside

A cozy pub, Doyle's is a favorite with journalists from the Irish Times and Trinity students.

Ha'penny Bridge Inn

Southside

In its tiny but buzzing upstairs room, the Ha'penny Bridge regularly hosts blues and jazz nights and has good comedy on Thursday.

Hogan's

Southside

A huge space on two levels, Hogan's gets jammed most nights with a cool, college crowd. But in the afternoons it's a quieter spot and perfect for people-watching out the large windows.

Pub
35 S. Great George's St., Dublin, Co. Dublin, 2, Ireland
01-677–5904

Kehoe's

Southside

Popular with Trinity students and local hipsters, Kehoe's has a tiny back room that is nice and cozy, while the upstairs is basically the owner's old living room, open to the public.

McDaid's

Southside

A landmark that once attracted boisterous Brendan Behan and other leading writers in the 1950s, McDaid's wild literary reputation still lingers, although the bar has been discreetly modernized and is altogether quieter.

Pub
3 Harry St., Dublin, Co. Dublin, 2, Ireland
01-679–4395

Mulligan's

Southside

Synonymous in Dublin with a truly perfect pint of Guinness, Mulligan's started life as a shebeen (unlicensed drinking venue) and then, pub lore tells us, was listed as "legal" in 1782. Today, locals and students flock here for a good pint.

8 Poolbeg St., Dublin, Co. Dublin, 2, Ireland
01-677–5582

Neary's

Southside

With an exotic, Victorian-style interior, Neary's was once the haunt of music-hall artists and a certain literary set, including Brendan Behan. Join the actors from the adjacent Gaiety Theatre for a good pub lunch.

Pub
1 Chatham St., Dublin, Co. Dublin, 2, Ireland
01-677–7371

O'Donoghue's

Southside

A cheerful, tourist-friendly hangout, O'Donoghue's has impromptu musical performances that often spill out onto the street.

Pub
15 Merrion Row, Dublin, Co. Dublin, 2, Ireland
01-676–2807

Oliver St. John Gogarty

Temple Bar

A lively bar that attracts all ages and nationalities, the Oliver St. John Gogarty overflows with patrons in summer. On most nights there's traditional Irish music upstairs.

Pub
57 Fleet St., Dublin, Co. Dublin, 2, Ireland
01-671–1822

Pantibar

Dublin North

Originally fronted by the infamous Dublin drag queen Panti and a cultural hot spot for the local LGBT community, this amusingly named gay bar has loud music at night but is pretty chilled-out during the day.

7–8 Capel St., Dublin, Co. Dublin, 1, Ireland
01-874–0710

Peter's Pub

Southside

The epitome of the cozy little boozer, Peter's Pub hugs a busy corner where people-watching becomes an art at the outside tables in summer.

Pub
Johnson Pl., Dublin, Co. Dublin, 2, Ireland
01-679--3347

Quay 14

Dublin North

This latest incarnation of the bar at the Morrison Hotel is an überhip cocktail joint that is trying (perhaps a little too hard) to attract the cool crowd. Still, the bar staff are inventive with their cocktails, and aficionados of Irish whiskeys will be thrilled with the selection.

The 51 Bar

Ballsbridge

Famous for its collection of whiskeys from around the world, the 51 is also a quality sports bar with a beer garden that is always buzzing with activity in fine weather.

Pub
51 Haddington Rd., Dublin, Co. Dublin, 4, Ireland
01-660–0150