We Loved Dublin But Not the Guinness Brewery Tour

By John Roberts

My wife is a McDaniel, so it was high time we finally made it to Ireland.

The residents of Dublin seemed to always be smiling. I think they're on to something.

We decided to tack on a side trip to Dublin ahead of Colleen's work visit to London. It was a perfect opportunity to check out the capital of the Emerald Isle. St. Patrick's festival was under way, and it was my 47th birthday. However, we weren't sure what to expect. We usually do tons of planning before traveling to any place, but this was a last-minute decision, so we hoped to hit a few highlights and get familiar with Ireland while planning to return again someday (of course). 

Being there for just two days, we aimed to make the most of our time. 

The city has just over a half-million residents and is much smaller than I expected. We found the people to be especially friendly and helpful. Our Airbnb hosts were great and helped us plan our public transportation use and recommended spots we might like to see and bars we should check out. Taking the tram into the city center on our first day, a lady actually completed the transaction at the ticket kiosk for us when we asked what stop to get off. Dublin is very walkable, compact and with great public transportation options. 

So, during our limited time in town, we were able to cover all the highlights and actually passed by many of them several times. 

We were excited for the Guinness brewery tour. It was disappointing, however. In my estimation, it's nothing but a tourist trap -- expensive with massive lines everywhere. What you get for about 16 euros is a trip through a crowded, barely interesting museum, not a working brewery, and one pint of Guinness. I suppose we're used to the tours in the United States -- most let you in free and give you up to three beers (I'm looking lovingly at you Coors Brewery in Golden, Colorado).

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Dublin's Luas tram system very efficient and easy to navigate. Our trip, which ran along almost a full length of the route cost 4.60 euro per person one way. Surprisingly, the city and bar scene shuts down early (last call at 11 p.m. on weeknights and midnight on weekends). Our favorite, the Temple Bar area, was loaded with pubs and was especially festive during the St. Patrick's Festival, which runs March 14-17. Live street music and dancing spread throughout the city, and the locals and tourists were filled with spirit and adorned in green.

We got to hit many of our top sights using the Dublin Bus hop-on hop-off city tour, which covers the complete area. We hit a museum, Trinity College, Dublin Castle and went past the zoo, war memorial. The cost is 16 euro per person and gives yours two days of bus use -- service runs 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Now that we know our way around, we are looking forward to visiting again and using Dublin as our home base while we take a couple day trips to the countryside.

Thanks for reading.

Happy travels, 

JR