Docklands, Smithfield & Glasnevin
The Northside, in three unrelated pieces: EPIC's emigration story in the glass-and-steel Docklands, Smithfield's cobbled square and whiskey warehouses turned distillery tours and the city's most genuine trad-music pub, and Glasnevin Cemetery three kilometres further out, where the whole story of independent Ireland is buried under one roof. Less postcard-pretty than the southside, and where Dubliners will send you for an honest pint.
Who it's for: Emigration and diaspora travellers — EPIC is built for exactly that story. Trad music seekers who've heard Temple Bar is a tourist version and want the real thing. History travellers doing the full 1916-and-independence arc, which really ends at Glasnevin rather than the GPO.
Things to know
- Glasnevin is genuinely out from the centre — plan it as its own trip (bus or a short taxi) rather than squeezing it into a Northside walking day with Smithfield and the Docklands.
- The Cobblestone's trad sessions are the real thing precisely because they're not staged for visitors — go to listen, not to talk over the music, and expect a proper pub crowd rather than a tour group.
- Smithfield's Horse Fair, held the first Sunday of March and September, draws ongoing criticism from animal welfare groups and Gardaí — worth knowing about if you happen to be in the area on those dates.
- Collins Barracks (National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History) is free and usually the quietest of Dublin's national museums — a good wet-weather option between Smithfield and the Docklands.