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Jewish Dublin Private Walking Tour with Optional Transfers
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From €417 per person
Portobello was once known as Little Jerusalem - Dublin’s Jewish Quarter, a neighbourhood full of schools, shops, bakeries, butchers, and synagogues. This private walking tour takes you back into that world, guided by a 5-star licensed history expert who knows it inside out.
You’ll trace the full arc of Jewish life in Ireland: from the earliest records of Jewish people on the island, through the waves of immigration fleeing pogroms in Eastern Europe, to the community’s role in the War of Independence and the shadow cast by World War II and the Holocaust.
Along the way, you’ll see an old synagogue, the Irish Jewish Museum, and the 140-year-old kosher Bretzel Bakery on Victoria Street - also the location of the family home of Chaim Herzog, the sixth President of Israel. It’s a walk through a side of Dublin that most people never discover.
Optional private car transfers are available, with pickup and drop-off at your accommodation in Dublin.
Meet your guide outside Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin, Dean St, The Liberties, D08 W3X7. Don’t go inside - it’s a meeting point only, and staff aren’t involved in the tour. (10 min)
St. Patrick’s Cathedral area - a good starting point to explore the complex history of religion in Ireland, before diving into the Jewish story. (50 min)
The streets of Portobello - your guide walks you through the former Jewish schools, shops, bakeries, butchers, and businesses that made Little Jerusalem what it was in the 20th century. (30 min)
The full Jewish-Irish story - from the first record of Jewish people in Ireland, through Eastern European immigration, to the War of Independence and World War II. You’ll stop at the Bretzel Bakery on Victoria Street and see the former home of Chaim Herzog. The tour ends at the former synagogue, now home to the Irish Jewish Museum. (60 min)
Optional private car transfer - if you’ve booked this option, a licensed driver picks you up and drops you back at your accommodation. The estimated round-trip transfer is about 1 hour. (30 min)
Meeting point: Outside Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin, Dean St, The Liberties, Dublin, D08 W3X7. Please wait outside - it’s a meeting point only.
The Bretzel Bakery on Lennox Street has been trading for over 140 years and is still going strong. It’s one of the oldest bakeries in Dublin and has been kosher for much of its history. The connection to Chaim Herzog - who went on to become the sixth President of Israel, having been born on nearby Victoria Street in 1918 - gives this stretch of Portobello a history that extends well beyond the neighbourhood itself. Your guide covers the Herzog family story in detail.
Portobello today looks very different from the community it was in the early 20th century. At its peak, the Jewish Quarter extended through the streets around Clanbrassil Street and the South Circular Road, with its own infrastructure of schools, synagogues, butcher shops, and bakeries. Most of that community had moved on or emigrated by the mid-20th century, but the streets and some of the buildings remain, and your guide knows which doorways and corners carry the most history.
The Irish Jewish Museum on Walworth Road is worth pausing for. It’s housed in a former synagogue and contains photographs, documents, and personal artefacts that trace the history of the Jewish community in Ireland from the earliest records to the present. Admission is free, and it’s one of those small but genuinely affecting collections that stays with you.
Ireland’s relationship with Jewish people during World War II is a complicated chapter that this tour addresses directly. Ireland maintained neutrality during the war, and its policies on Jewish refugees were restrictive. The tour covers this period honestly, alongside the stories of the Jewish-Irish individuals who played significant roles in the War of Independence, including Robert Briscoe, who later became Lord Mayor of Dublin.
The optional car transfer is worth considering if your accommodation is on the north side of the city or further from this part of Dublin. The Portobello and Liberties area is a good 20-minute walk from most city-centre hotels, and if you’re arriving at the meeting point rather than walking from nearby, the transfer option makes the logistics much easier.