Dublin Mythology and Folklore Tour with Irish Stories and Legends

About This Tour

This tour is unlike anything else on offer in Dublin. Forget timelines of kings and battles - this is a two-hour journey into Ireland’s storytelling tradition, and into how those stories have genuinely shaped the course of Irish history and made Dublin the city it is today.

In Ireland, storytelling isn’t a pastime. It’s a high art form that has changed things in ways history books rarely capture. Your guide walks you through the evidence of that across two hours, from the streets of Temple Bar north across the Liffey and through corners of the city that most visitors never find.

Groups are capped at 25 people, which keeps things intimate and means you’ll actually hear every word.

What’s Included

• Guided walking tour of Dublin covering Ireland’s mythology, folklore and storytelling tradition

Itinerary

1. You start in the very centre of Temple Bar, outside The Old Storehouse Pub on Crown Alley. The tour works through most of the Temple Bar area on the way to Grattan Bridge.
2. From there you explore sites on both sides of Dublin’s famous waterway.
3. Grattan Bridge - one of the city’s best-loved bridges straddling the River Liffey, known for its ornate seahorse-adorned lamps connecting Parliament Street to Capel Street.
4. A stop outside one of the city’s oldest churches to explore its role in some of Dublin’s secret stories and the bodies held in its crypt. The tour also takes in the grounds of the old Newgate Prison and Green Street Courthouse - a forgotten corner of the city with an important and too-often untold role in Irish history.
5. One of Dublin’s most impressive facades and arguably the most significant building in the country. You’ll explore the pivotal role Irish mythology plays in shaping modern Irish identity.
6. The tour finishes at the foot of Oisín Kelly’s famous Children of Lir statue in Parnell Square.

Meeting point: Outside The Old Storehouse Pub, Crown Alley, Temple Bar

Good to Know

• Wheelchair accessible
• Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
• Service animals allowed
• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
• Tour conducted in English; maximum 25 people per group

Local Tips

Come with questions, not just a camera. Your guide genuinely wants to dig into this stuff, and the small group size (max 25) means there’s room for real conversation. If you’ve read anything about Irish mythology beforehand - even just the basics about the Tuatha Dé Danann or the Children of Lir - you’ll get far more out of the tour.

The Children of Lir statue is worth a long look. Oisín Kelly’s sculpture in Parnell Square is one of Dublin’s most quietly powerful pieces of public art. Most people walk past it without stopping. By the time you finish the tour, you’ll understand exactly why it stands where it does and what it represents - and that changes how you see it.

Grattan Bridge is one of Dublin’s most photogenic spots. The seahorse lamps along the railings are a favourite with photographers, particularly in the evening light. If you want a shot without other tourists in it, crossing early on a weekday morning is your best bet.

This tour pairs well with an evening in Temple Bar. You’ll start and finish in the area, so it makes sense to plan dinner or a few pints nearby afterwards. The Old Storehouse itself is worth a visit if you’re into traditional Irish music - they’ve been running sessions there for years.

Green Street Courthouse is easy to overlook. Most visitors to Dublin never find it. It’s one of those corners that feels genuinely off the tourist map, and the history attached to it - particularly its role in trials connected to Irish political history - is more interesting than anything you’d read in a standard guidebook.

Nearby on IrelandMe

• Dublin Highlights and Hidden Gems Walking Tour - covers many of the same streets from a historical angle, great for building on what you’ve heard here
• Dublin Literary Pub Crawl - storytelling of a different kind, with actors bringing Ireland’s literary giants to life across four Dublin pubs
• Dublin Irish Whiskey Museum Guided Tour with Tasting - another great story of Irish culture’s rise, fall, and revival, told across four rooms with a tasting at the end