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Explore Dublin & Pour Your Own Pint
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From €31 per person
Most visitors to Dublin make it to the Guinness Storehouse. Far fewer make it to The Liberties - the oldest working-class neighbourhood in the city and the place where Arthur Guinness actually built his brewery. This 2.5-hour walk takes you there, through cobblestone streets that most tour buses miss entirely, with a local National Guide bringing the history of the Dubliners who shaped this community to life.
The route is more varied than a standard brewery tour. You’ll step inside historic churches, wander through graveyards, and walk around the old Dublin city walls and gates - centuries-old remains that rarely make it onto anyone’s tourist itinerary. There’s street art, there’s Thomas Street (one of the most historically significant streets in The Liberties), and there’s a stop at the Guinness Gates where your guide takes photos of the group.
The finish is in a cosy local pub, where you get a proper hands-on pint-pouring lesson. There’s a specific technique involved - the right glass, the right angle, the two-stage pour - and once you’ve done it right, you’ll notice the difference for the rest of your trip. You leave with a certificate and a vintage Polaroid photo, and you drink the pint you poured.
Meeting point: Look for the purple umbrellas outside the Grand Canal Harbour Offices, next to Harkin’s Bar.
Look for the purple umbrellas at the Grand Canal Harbour Offices. It sounds simple but the meeting point next to Harkin’s Bar is specific enough that a few people walk past it. The Grand Canal area is quieter than the city centre, so if the umbrellas are out, you’re in the right place.
The Harry Clarke stained glass window inside the church is worth your full attention. Clarke was one of Ireland’s most significant early 20th-century artists and his stained glass work is extraordinary up close. It’s the kind of thing you’d normally queue and pay to see in a museum context. Here it’s a stop on a walking tour. Slow down when you get there.
The Liberties is changing fast. New restaurants and cafés have been opening in the neighbourhood over the past few years, gradually shifting what’s available in an area that was primarily residential for most of its history. Your guide will have the current read on what’s worth going back for after the tour.
Don’t rush the pint-pouring lesson. The two-stage pour takes longer than you think - there’s a rest period built into it - and the temptation is to hurry through to drinking it. The guide will walk you through the technique properly, and it’s worth paying attention. Once you know how it’s supposed to work, a badly poured pint will bother you for the rest of your holiday.
The old city walls stop is one of the most historically significant moments on the route and one that most people don’t expect to find in the middle of a modern city. Dublin’s medieval boundaries are largely gone, but the sections around St Audoen’s are genuinely intact. Your guide will give you the context that makes the scale of it register.