Since going to university, every year around Christmas me and my two best friends have taken a short girls trip to a new city, and this year we chose Dublin – a decision influenced far more than you’d think by one of my friend’s infatuation with Anthony Boyle. I think the off-chance that she would bump into him and put him in our carry on back to Manchester was the main reason that Dublin was our pick.

I wasn’t going to argue however, as it was my first time in Ireland and an opportunity to explore a city completely new to me. And though it didn’t disappoint, I think as a collective we need to start choosing a better time for a city holiday, as this one really tested our stamina. We were all exhausted for various reasons: dissertations, part-time jobs, the natural chaos of the family calendar at Christmas. And so having to get up at 4:00am to catch a flight that was also an hour delayed didn’t help us. I think each of us hit a point where we were walking around the city in a haze, performing on an empty engine, looking and only using half of our sight.

Even though I tried not to let it, I think that half-asleep daze sometimes affected my experience of the city. Saying that, there are so many reasons I can think of that I loved Dublin. One of my favourite things to do in a new city is just wander – find cute cafes, vintage shops, bookshops, places to eat. An aimless few hours allows you an insight into what it might be like to live in a city, just going about your day, running errands, getting coffee.

Of course, we wouldn’t be British tourists in Dublin if we didn’t do the Guinness Factory tour – also a choice heavily influenced by Netflix’s House of Guinness. The confession I do need to make here though, is that I’d never tried Guinness before. I’ve always been quite sure I wouldn’t like it, so I’m not exactly rushing to order one when I’m at the pub.

I do think the tour is pretty good value for money, there’s a lot of different parts to the tour, you get to do a tasting experience, but the best part of the ticket is the inclusion of a pint of Guinness that you get to enjoy (depending on your tastes) in the rooftop bar that offers a 360-degree view of the city. So, my verdict on Guinness: honestly the little taster you get within the tour wasn’t too bad, it was completely manageable, but the pint at the end just got worse and worse. I don’t think I’m a Guinness girl, and I’m ok with that.

However, I would like to point out that I was the only one of us to finish their pint. I am truly our strongest warrior.

The Guinness Factory, Dublin, 2025, photo taken by me.

The Guinness Factory Tour, Dublin, 2025, photo taken by me.

Guinness Factory rooftop bar, Dublin, 2025, photo taken by my friend.

I always think it’s fun if you have a few nights in a city to spend one of them seeing a film at an independent cinema. Maybe that’s just us being a lover of movies though, I imagine there are people who think that would be a waste of time. But I always think it’s nice to be able to look back on the film you watched and remember it in relation to how you felt in a specific place and time. We decided to watch Pillion, starring Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgard, at Dublin’s Lighthouse Cinema - a truly great movie-going experience, and one that I won’t forget in a rush. Looking back on it, it feels quintessential to that trip now, somehow. (If anyone is at all interested, I’ll link my Letterboxd review for the film here).

The morning after, we had a little bit of breakfast (pastries, of course) at my favourite café that we found in Dublin: WOO.cafe. It’s only small, and not directly in the centre of the city, but it was the nicest space we went to for coffee. It’s also attached to their own furniture store and they sell all the tableware that they serve things on in the café.

After coffee, we went to see the Book of Kells experience at Trinity College, which was one of my friend’s picks. I had only vague knowledge of this artifact, but my friend does a history degree so it was something we couldn’t miss. The Book of Kells is an illustrated manuscript containing the Four Gospels in Latin, which is thought to have been created around 800 AD. It has a tumultuous history and is regarded as a masterpiece of calligraphy.

Overall, it’s a great experience as you learn about the book through multiple mini-exhibitions, films and you also get to see the famous Old Library where Gaia, by Luke Jerram, an illuminated sculpture of the Earth, hangs from the ceiling. It truly is an impressive space, but just be mindful of the fact that they are currently in the process of removing a lot of books from the library for a conservation and development project. I didn’t find that this affected my experience however, the library is still breathtaking and the Book of Kells experience overall was very interesting – especially as someone who has studied a lot of religious texts and their historiography while at university.

Trinity College Dublin, 2025, photo taken by me.

The Old Library, Trinity College Dublin, 2025, photo taken by me.

My pick for the day was the MoLI (Museum of Literature Ireland), so it turned out to be a day heavily influenced by books. We also stopped by Books Upstairs, which is a really cute bookshop/café I’d heard about, where me and my friend both bought a blind date with a book. I wanted to go to the Museum of Literature, however, because I’ve studied so much Irish literature and Irish authors throughout my degree – I love Oscar Wilde, of course. But they have so many interesting little artifacts from novelists, playwrights and poets. The museum building is also an old university building that James Joyce attended while at University College Dublin. There is a photo of him and his classmates displayed in the museum that was actually taken by the tree in the gardens behind the building, which is still standing. Of course, being in Dublin, the museum’s biggest exhibitions were focused on Joyce – who I have to admit I don’t love. However, there was also a temporary exhibition on while we were there on contemporary Irish romance novels, and how the genre has flourished because of the influence of social media – or should I say the influence of Booktok – which was definitely a fun inclusion. The exhibition, ‘Happy Ever After’, devoted to the likes of Marian Keyes, Sally Rooney and Catherine Walsh is running until the 15th of February.

We also had to make sure we spent an evening at an Irish pub. We made our way to Temple Bar, took pictures of the Temple Bar pub and then swiftly walked past it, avoiding the crowds, to a slightly less crowded pub (though admittedly not by much), The Auld Dubliner. Pretty much any pub along Temple Bar was playing live music, and it was such an infectious atmosphere to be in. If we’d had slightly more energy we might’ve made a bit of a pub crawl out of it, but I just wanted to be anywhere that they were playing a fiddle.

I would advise those who don’t like crowded, small spaces to be aware that most of the pubs in the centre get very busy – but also that they are decorated for Christmas better than anywhere else I saw while in Dublin. It almost made up for the Christmas markets being quite depressing because they weren’t in their usual spot outside Dublin Castle.

The Temple Bar, Dublin, 2025, photo taken by me.

On our final morning, amidst the stress of finding a luggage drop and knowing that we were somehow going to have to make our way to the airport later, we visited the National Gallery of Ireland. I think this was where all of us really hit our limit, and our energy was so depleted we didn’t get to see all that we could’ve, or if we did we probably didn’t take it in very well. We had to go that morning, however, because I wanted to see a painting that they only display for one hour a week: ‘Hellelil and Hildebrand, the Meeting on the Turret Stairs’. Because of the colours in the painting, they can only show it for an hour per week so that it isn’t damaged by the light, but it’s a beautiful piece that feels even more special because of its tragic backstory and the fact that it’s only revealed for such a short time.

‘Hellelil and Hildebrand, the Meeting on the Turret Stairs’, National Gallery of Ireland, 2025, photo taken by me.

So, with a quick rush through airport security, an airport meal deal and a short nap on the plane, we made our way home. With those girls, I know that anywhere we are we’ll have fun, but with a few more hours of sleep under my belt, I would love to go again and explore Dublin a little more.

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