Romantic Dublin: Where to Go and Book
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Two things in this city need booking weeks ahead and neither of them is a hotel. Dublin holds seven Michelin stars across a very small area, and the boat that crosses Dublin Bay sells out before it sails. Everything else here can be decided on the morning.
Seven stars, and where they are
| Restaurant | Stars | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Chapter One, under Mickael Viljanen | two | Parnell Square |
| Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud | two | Upper Merrion Street, at the Merrion Hotel |
| Liath | two | Blackrock, County Dublin |
| Bastible | one | South Circular Road, Portobello |
| Variety Jones | one | Thomas Street, the Liberties |
| D’Olier Street | one | D’Olier Street |
| Forest Avenue | one | Sussex Terrace, Ballsbridge |
Forest Avenue took its star in 2026 and D’Olier Street in 2024. Book all of these well ahead; the two-star rooms in particular go weeks out. chapteronerestaurant.com and restaurantpatrickguilbaud.ie .
Below that tier and still worth reserving: The Winding Stair at 40 Ormond Quay Lower, above the bookshop, looking straight at the Ha’penny Bridge, open daily 12:00 to 22:30 and run by Elaine Murphy’s restaurant group since she reopened it in 2006. Gallagher’s Boxty House in Temple Bar has been serving boxty for over thirty-five years and is honest about being in the most tourist-priced quarter in Ireland.
The bay by boat
Dublin Bay Cruises sail from Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dún Laoghaire and Howth. The Dún Laoghaire to Howth crossing takes about an hour and is their most popular route, with a standard fare around €25 and the range running roughly €25 to €35. Book online, because tickets are only sold at the boat if it has not already filled.
The trick is to go one way. Sail across, eat chowder at Howth harbour, walk part of the cliff path, and come home on the DART for €2. Sailings at dublinbaycruises.com .
Where to stay, and what each one is
- The Merrion, on Upper Merrion Street, five-star Georgian, with Patrick Guilbaud in the same building. merrionhotel.com .
- The Westbury, Doyle Collection, off Grafton Street, which puts you thirty seconds from the shopping spine and five minutes from St Stephen’s Green.
- Brooks Hotel on Drury Street, a four-star boutique with a private cinema and a whiskey bar, which joined Small Luxury Hotels of the World in 2026.
For rates and availability across all three areas at once, compare Dublin hotels on Booking.com .
The evening that needs no reservation
The Long Hall at 51 South Great George’s Street has been licensed since 1766, and its interior dates from 1881: a carved counter, gold-leaf partitions, ornate stained glass, bevelled mirrors. There is no music in it. That is the point of the room, and it is the reason it works for two people who want to hear each other. Kehoe’s on South Anne Street, The Stag’s Head and Mulligan’s on Poolbeg Street are cut from the same cloth.
A pint runs €5.00 to €6.20 in a Dublin local against €7.00 to €9.00 in Temple Bar, Grafton Street and the hotel bars, so walking one street back is worth about three euro a round.
Free, and better than most of what you would pay for
- Killiney Hill at dusk, 25 minutes south on the DART for €2, for the long view over Killiney Bay and the walk back along the Vico Road into Dalkey.
- The Iveagh Gardens, behind the National Concert Hall: a sunken lawn, a cascade and a maze, and far quieter than St Stephen’s Green.
- The Great South Wall, roughly 4 km out into Dublin Bay on an eighteenth-century sea wall, ending at the red Poolbeg Lighthouse.
- The National Gallery of Ireland, free, with a Caravaggio and a Van Gogh, which is the best wet afternoon in the city. nationalgallery.ie .
- Merrion Square and the Georgian doors, five minutes from the gallery door.
One for swimmers only
At Sandycove, beneath the Martello tower that opens Ulysses, the Forty Foot is a rock promontory with steps into the open Irish Sea. It has been swum year round for three hundred years and it is deep at every state of the tide. It is never lifeguarded and never patrolled, and there have been deaths, near-drownings and cases of hypothermia there. Swim it only if cold open water is already something you do, go with someone, keep it short, and have dry clothes ready. Otherwise it is a fine thing to watch from the rocks at sunrise.
If you would rather have the day arranged in advance, browse Dublin experiences on GetYourGuide .
Book one two-star dinner and one bay crossing before you fly, and leave the rest of it loose: the gardens, the hill and the wall are all free and all better decided by the weather on the morning. Look at what a day out of town adds , and read up on the quarter everyone books a hotel in before you do.