Generated by All in One SEO v5.0.0.1, this is an llms.txt file, used by LLMs to index the site. # Tourist Information Dublin ## Posts - [Favourite Places in Dublin (3 of 5): Waiting at O’Connell Bridge](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/favourite-places-in-dublin-3-of-5-waiting-at-oconnell-bridge/) - For years I spent a surprising amount of time near O’Connell Bridge waiting for people who had never met me. That’s a large part of being a walking guide. You arrive early because being late is unforgivable. The group arrives in stages because apparently meeting at a specific place at a specific time is more - [Favourite Places in Dublin (2 of 5): The Pub Where Nobody Asked Questions](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/favourite-places-in-dublin-2-of-5-the-pub-where-nobody-asked-questions/) - The pub wasn't famous. That's probably why I liked it. No tour groups outside. No signs claiming the best Guinness in Ireland. No framed photographs of celebrities desperately trying to look like they belonged there. Just a narrow doorway, a few old tables, and a barman who seemed to have been working there since the - [Favourite Places in Dublin (1 of 5): The Bench in St Stephen’s Green](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/favourite-places-in-dublin-1-of-5-the-bench-in-st-stephens-green/) - I never mentioned this place on the tours. Not because it was secret. It’s right there in the middle of Dublin. Thousands of people walk past it every day. But when you do that job long enough, you end up keeping a few places for yourself. For me it was a bench in St Stephen’s - [The Walk I Always Did After a Tour (And Why It Feels Different Now)](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/the-walk-i-always-did-after-a-tour-and-why-it-feels-different-now/) - There was a walk I used to do after certain tours. Not every tour. Only the ones where the group asked good questions, or laughed at the right bits, or didn’t spend the whole time staring at their phones like they were waiting for the internet to save them. Those tours deserved a quiet ending. - [The Last Tour I’m Not Giving (And the Places My Brother Keeps Mentioning)](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/the-last-tour-im-not-giving-and-the-places-my-brother-keeps-mentioning/) - I walked through Dublin the other day the way you do when you’re not really walking through Dublin. Not for errands.Not for exercise.Not even for the usual mild resentment. It was more like I was doing a tour I wasn’t being paid for. Which is a terrible habit to have, by the way. Once you’ve - [Why Every Public Bench in Dublin Is Somehow in the Wind](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/why-every-public-bench-in-dublin-is-somehow-in-the-wind/) - There is a particular kind of optimism involved in sitting on a bench in Dublin. You see it. You think, that’ll do. You imagine five quiet minutes. Maybe a sandwich. Maybe just watching people walk past with their important coats and their unimportant expressions. You are wrong. Every bench in Dublin is, somehow, in the - [The Luas Will Humiliate You (A Local Guide to Dublin’s Tram Etiquette)](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/the-luas-will-humiliate-you-a-local-guide-to-dublins-tram-etiquette/) - I used to think the Luas was foolproof. A tram. On rails. Comes, goes, everyone gets on, everyone gets off. Like a polite, organised snake. Then I started bringing tourists near it. The first mistake everyone makes is assuming it works like a normal city tram system. You look for barriers. There are none. You - [Hidden Art and Murals You’ll Walk Past and Never See (Unless You’re With a Local)](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/hidden-art-and-murals-youll-walk-past-and-never-see-unless-youre-with-a-local/) - I used to tell people Dublin was a city you had to look sideways at. Straight on, it gives you the obvious things. Big doors. Big pubs. Big history. You get the postcards and the bus commentary and the feeling you’ve “done” it by Tuesday afternoon. But if you tilt your head a bit, slow - [Dublin Bus Stops: Where Time Goes to Die (And Occasionally to Chat)](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/dublin-bus-stops-where-time-goes-to-die-and-occasionally-to-chat/) - If you ever want to understand Dublin, stand at a bus stop for twenty minutes.Any one will do. O’Connell Street, College Green, Donnybrook, doesn’t matter. Time stops working there. The timetable is just decoration. I used to start some of my walking tours near the stop outside Trinity. It was like a theatre. Students half-running, - [Phoenix Park Will Trick You Into a 12km Walk](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/phoenix-park-will-trick-you-into-a-12km-walk/) - Phoenix Park is gorgeous and sneaky. It looks like a quick wander and then the horizon keeps moving and your toes start writing letters to management. Here’s the version that saves your feet and your mood. Start at the big gates on Parkgate Street. Don’t linger. Pick a loop in your head before you step - [The Dead Zoo, the Live Pigeons, and Why Dublin’s Best Museum Still Smells of Varnish](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/the-dead-zoo-the-live-pigeons-and-why-dublins-best-museum-still-smells-of-varnish/) - If you grew up in Dublin, chances are you were marched through the Dead Zoo at least once in primary school. Half the class buzzing with the idea of seeing lions and tigers. The other half trying not to cry in front of a stuffed badger. Officially it’s called the National Museum of Natural History. - [The River Liffey: Beautiful, Brown, and Surprisingly Full of Traffic Cones](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/the-river-liffey-beautiful-brown-and-surprisingly-full-of-traffic-cones/) - People love the idea of the Liffey. Postcard shots. Reflections. Bridges lit up at night. Looks lovely when you're walking beside it and don’t have to think about what’s actually in it. Locals know better. It’s not a river you swim in. It’s not a river you write poems about unless you’re being sarcastic. And - [Tourist Questions That Broke My Brain (And One That Made Me Cry a Bit)](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/tourist-questions-that-broke-my-brain-and-one-that-made-me-cry-a-bit/) - You get used to daft questions when you’re a tour guide. After a few years, you stop flinching. People are lost, they’re tired, they’re full of jet lag and bad Guinness. You give them a bit of grace. But some questions stick. Not because they’re stupid — although, to be clear, some are — but - [Why Dubliners Don’t Say Hello — And What We Say Instead](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/why-dubliners-dont-say-hello-and-what-we-say-instead/) - You’ll notice it if you’re not from here. No one really says “hello.” Not properly. Not like in other cities where people seem genuinely delighted to see you. In Dublin, greetings are something we do by accident, or under duress. It’s not that we’re rude. We just don’t like making a fuss. Saying “hello” sounds - [The Famine Sculptures, the Zombie Film, and the American Who Asked for a Selfie](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/the-famine-sculptures-the-zombie-film-and-the-american-who-asked-for-a-selfie/) - I used to include the Famine Memorial on maybe one in every five tours. Depends on the group. If they looked like they could handle something heavier than anecdotes about Joyce and overpriced pubs, we’d head down to Custom House Quay and stop by the statues. Six figures. Thin, twisted, holding bags or babies or - [Hidden Pubs That Still Let You Sit in Silence (If You Nod to the Right Barman)](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/hidden-pubs-that-still-let-you-sit-in-silence-if-you-nod-to-the-right-barman/) - Some pubs are built for talking. Others are built for people who’ve already done enough of that and just want to sit down without being asked what their plans are for the rest of the day. This post is about the second kind. Not pubs with neon signs or Instagram drinks. Not pubs where there’s - [Statues I Talked To More Than My Ex](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/statues-i-talked-to-more-than-my-ex/) - I spent twenty years walking Dublin’s streets giving tours. In that time, I had more one-sided conversations with statues than I ever did in my last relationship. Not on purpose. You just find yourself saying the same things to the same lumps of bronze and stone every day. And they never talk back, which is - [How to Cross O’Connell Street Without Getting Killed or Conned](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/how-to-cross-oconnell-street-without-getting-killed-or-conned/) - Crossing O’Connell Street shouldn’t be an ordeal. It’s not that wide. There are traffic lights. You’d think people would manage. They don’t. Locals dart like they’ve just robbed something. Tourists wander like they’re waiting to be adopted. Buses do whatever they want. And in the middle of it all, you’ve got the statues, the leaflet - [The Best Pint of Guinness I Ever Had (And the Worst That Still Haunts Me)](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/the-best-pint-of-guinness-i-ever-had-and-the-worst-that-still-haunts-me/) - Every Dubliner’s got an opinion on where to get the best pint. They’ll argue about it for hours, usually in a place that doesn’t even serve Guinness. I’ve had good pints in all sorts of places — old pubs, new ones, pubs I can’t remember the name of, and one funeral home, but that’s a - [The Day I Got Locked in St Stephen’s Green](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/the-day-i-got-locked-in-st-stephens-green/) - I don’t tell this one on tours. Not because it’s embarrassing — though it is — but because it doesn’t fit neatly between the statues and the shopping tips. You can’t go from explaining Daniel O’Connell to “by the way, I once spent a night locked in the park.” But it happened. And yes, it - [Where to Pee in Dublin (And Not Get Judged or Arrested)](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/where-to-pee-in-dublin-and-not-get-judged-or-arrested/) - This one’s important. People don’t ask it on the tour — too polite — but you can see it in their eyes about twenty minutes in. Happens just after the second bridge, when the wind hits and the coffee kicks in. Where can you go? I mean actually go — without buying a €5 latte - [James Joyce for People Who’ll Never Read Joyce](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/james-joyce-for-people-wholl-never-read-joyce/) - You don’t need to read Ulysses to talk about Joyce in Dublin. Most of us haven’t. Including a fair few English lit grads who pretend they have. I’ve skimmed bits, sure. Tried to get through it once in my twenties. Gave up after the second breakfast description. Doesn’t matter. You can still walk the city - [The Bridges of Dublin (And the One I Always Forgot to Mention)](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/the-bridges-of-dublin-and-the-one-i-always-forgot-to-mention/) - I gave walking tours of Dublin for years. Not fancy ones — the kind where you start outside a coffee chain and end up next to a bin explaining to someone from Utah why James Joyce is on the ten euro note. The Liffey always came up. You had to talk about the river. It - [Temple Bar Isn’t a Bar – A Local’s Guide to Dublin’s Most Misunderstood District](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/temple-bar-isnt-a-bar-what-it-actually-is-and-why-youll-either-love-it-or-regret-it/) - Think Temple Bar is just one pub? Think again. A retired Dublin guide explains its history, tourist traps, and what locals really think of the area. - [Things I Couldn’t Say On the Tour (But Can Say Here)](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/things-i-couldnt-say-on-the-tour-but-can-say-here/) - Retired Dublin guide spills the wildest tourist tales: ghost hunters, Bono myths, statue gropers & more. The stuff he couldn’t say (but now he can). - [Where to Drink in Dublin If You Hate Tourist Pubs (But Still Want a Pint)](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/where-to-drink-in-dublin-if-you-hate-tourist-pubs-but-still-want-a-pint/) - There’s nothing wrong with wanting a Guinness in Dublin. In fact, it’s practically law. But if you’ve just landed off the airport bus, wandered into Temple Bar, and paid €9.20 for a pint while a lad with a man bun sings Wonderwall, you might be thinking: “This can’t be it.” Good news: it isn’t. Bad news: you’ll need - [What the Hell Is the Spire? And Why Did We Spend €4 Million on It?](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/what-the-hell-is-the-spire-and-why-did-we-spend-e4-million-on-it/) - There are some things in Dublin that make sense. The Liffey. The GPO. The unspoken national law that you never, ever sit upstairs on a bus unless the bottom one’s full.And then there’s The Spire. A 120-metre stainless steel needle sticking out of O’Connell Street like someone lost a game of giant Jenga. You see it ## Pages - [About Me,](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/about-me/) - Retired Dublin tour guide spills the real stories behind Dublin’s pubs, landmarks & tourist myths. No TripAdvisor fluff — just honest Irish insider insight. - [Contact](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/contact/) - I'm no longer a Dublin tour guide...but I do like to help where I can. Feel free to drop me a line for a recommendation: declan@tourist-information-dublin.co.uk ## Categories - [Uncategorized](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/category/uncategorized/) - [Dublin](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/category/dublin/) - [Valencia](https://www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk/category/valencia/)