Ways to Celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Dublin

While it’s fun to visit Dublin at any time of the year, the Fair City is never livelier than during the annual St. Patrick’s festival. On March 17, the whole city comes together to celebrate Ireland’s national holiday. Here’s how to experience St. Patrick’s Day like a Dubliner.

• Don something green and head to Dublin city center, where crowds gather to cheer on the floats, marching bands, and Irish dancing troupes in the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade. 

• Take a tour of the Guinness Storehouse to learn how the famous stout is made before sinking a pint of the black stuff in the rooftop Gravity Bar. 

• Experience the legendary craic during a bar crawl around historic pubs in Temple Bar and Dublin city center, many of which were frequented by revered Irish writers.

• Tour the Jameson, Teeling, or Pearse Lyons distillery, and taste-test various triple-distilled Irish whiskeys.

• Tap your toe to live music, watch Irish dancers perform, and listen to aseanchaí (storyteller) tell their tales during a traditional session in an Irish pub.

• Escape the city entirely for a day trip to the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland, a UNESCO World Heritage Site; Blarney Castle in County Cork; or the Neolithic Newgrange monument, a UNESCO-designated, 5,200-year-old passage tomb in County Meath.