The Dublin Private Walking Tour

About This Tour

This is a private tour built around you - your pace, your questions, your interests. With 711 five-star reviews, it’s one of the most trusted walking tours in Dublin, and it’s not hard to see why.

Your guide is a licensed local who knows the city deeply. Because the tour is completely private - just your group - you get their full attention for the whole three hours. The route covers the landmarks that genuinely deserve their reputations: Trinity College, St Stephen’s Green, the Oscar Wilde Memorial, Temple Bar, the Ha’penny Bridge. But the real value is in what most visitors never get to: the laneways with unexpected stories attached, the buildings that look unremarkable until someone tells you what happened there, the smaller details that turn a city walk into something you’ll actually carry with you.

History buffs, literature lovers, families, first-timers - the guide adapts to all of them. No script, no crowds, no pressure to keep up.

What’s Included

• Private guided tour (your group only)
• Umbrellas provided
• Local tips and tricks
• Suitable for all ages, family friendly
• Experienced and licensed tour guide
• Photo opportunities throughout
• Rest/toilet breaks as needed
• Restaurant, pub, and shop recommendations

What’s Not Included

• Gratuities

Itinerary

1. Claddagh Records and the Claddagh ring - an iconic spot for music lovers and a genuinely local piece of Irish culture. (10 min)
2. Wall of Fame - celebrating famous Irish musicians including U2, Phil Lynott, Van Morrison, Sinead O’Connor, and The Cranberries. (10 min)
3. Temple Bar - history of this famous area, the pub established in 1840, and a walk through the iconic cobblestoned quarter. (15 min)
4. Ha’penny Bridge - the history behind this landmark, plus the Liffey river and the socioeconomic story it tells about Dublin. (15 min)
5. Bank of Ireland / Former Irish Parliament - College Green’s three-sided plaza at the centre of Dublin. The Bank of Ireland building served as Ireland’s Parliament House until 1800; Trinity College stands to the east. (15 min)
6. Trinity College - Ireland’s oldest university. Stroll through the campus and hear its history and current life. (15 min)
7. Molly Malone’s life and folklore, the famous Dubliners song, and St Andrew’s Church. (10 min)
8. Grafton Street - one of Europe’s busiest shopping streets, home to Brown Thomas and a constant stream of street performers, musicians, and poets. St Stephen’s Green sits at the top. (15 min)
9. St Stephen’s Green - Dublin’s central park, home to swans, ducks, and natural wildlife. (15 min)
10. The Famine Memorial by Edward Delaney - a sculpture of thin, struggling figures commemorating those who suffered and died during the Great Famine. (15 min)
11. Tone Wolfe statue - widely regarded as the father of Irish Republicanism, located in front of the famous Shelbourne Hotel. (10 min)
12. The Department of the Taoiseach - a walk through the Georgian area, its architecture, and its history. (10 min)
13. Leinster House - formerly the ducal residence of the Duke of Leinster, now Ireland’s parliament building since 1922. (10 min)
14. Oscar Wilde Memorial Statue and his 18th-century home in Merrion Square Park - a beautiful example of Georgian urban design in Dublin. (15 min)

Meeting point: Google Maps - 8 Cecilia Street, Dublin.

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
• This is a private tour, available in English and Italian

Local Tips

The route covers a lot of ground across Dublin’s two very different sides. Temple Bar and the quays have the medieval layers - narrow streets, the old Parliament, the bridges with centuries of stories attached. Merrion Square and the Georgian streets to the south feel like a different city entirely: wide, symmetrical, planned. Having a guide who connects those two worlds in a single walk is what makes the three hours feel coherent rather than scattered.

Cecilia Street, the meeting point, is right in the heart of Temple Bar. If you’re coming by public transport, buses along Dame Street drop you within a two-minute walk. The DART stops at Tara Street, also close. If you’re driving, parking in Dublin city centre is expensive and limited - public transport or walking from your hotel is a better call.

Umbrellas are included, which matters. Dublin weather is famously unpredictable, and a light shower is entirely possible on any given day regardless of what the forecast says. The fact that you don’t need to carry your own means you can pack light.

The itinerary is a guide, not a contract. Because this is a private tour, your guide will read your group and adjust. If you want to linger at Trinity College or spend more time in St Stephen’s Green, that’s possible. If you have specific questions about Irish history or literature, bring them - this is exactly the format where those conversations happen naturally.

Ask for restaurant and pub recommendations at the end of the tour. The guide’s local knowledge doesn’t stop when the walk does, and they’ll have specific, current suggestions based on what you’ve told them about your interests over the three hours - not just generic tourist spots.

Nearby on IrelandMe

• Trinity College Dublin - Ireland’s oldest university and home to the Book of Kells, with grounds you can walk through freely when a tour isn’t in session.
• Merrion Square - The Georgian square where Oscar Wilde’s childhood home still stands, with a park open to the public and some of Dublin’s best-preserved 18th-century architecture.
• Ha’penny Bridge - The cast-iron pedestrian bridge over the Liffey built in 1816, one of the most photographed spots in Dublin and a stop on this tour.