Sips & Trips with Molly

It might be 10 euro for a pint of Guinness, but my goodness it does taste good in Dublin. Me and my boyfriend in April 2025 did a tour of Cardiff for my sisters wedding, Dublin & the Highlands in the space of 10 days and it was one of the best trips we ever did.

Dublin was on both of our bucket lists and it worked out cheaper to fly from Dublin to Glasgow so we fit 48 hours of time in the city. There’s so much to do within the little time, I popped what we did below to give you some guidance!

How We Got There

We ended up flying from Cardiff to Dublin for literally something like £45 – it was also during England’s Easter holidays but the Welsh schools were still open so it was cheaper and quieter to fly. The flight itself only took about 50 minutes because the wind was on our side.

You can get buses from the airport to the centre of Dublin for I believe around 9 euros and it was super easy to book. One thing to note of, when you get into the city coaches basically drive around the river so it’s almost like a loop. With the number of stops and traffic lights this part takes ages so something to be aware of. I think if we were to go next time as a group we’d probably take a taxi – maybe!

One thing to note, the queue for security took quite long on the way out of Dublin so something to prepare for!

Where We Stayed

We got a cracking deal at this guesthouse called Tipperary Guest House for something like 50 euro pp per night but compared to how expensive other places were this was great. It was around a 20 minute walk into the centre and we had the Deluxe King Room which was so spacious and the bed was so so comfy. The staff are also really helpful and gave us some amazing advice for what to see within the city.

Day 1 – ish

Flights are pretty good getting into Dublin so if you have a morning or early afternoon flight, you have a good section of the afternoon to get out and explore. Walk along the River Liffey for beautiful views of the city before you get into the hustle and bustle of the main area.

Naturally, you might want to head to Temple Bar which we did. It’s such an iconic part of Dublin that it’s just a great place even to get a picture as it gets so so busy! There is music surrounding the venue with traditional Irish Music. The bar is bigger than what you expect as you follow it inside around the corner so plenty of space to take it all in. As a previous non-Guinness drinker, it tasted unreal here.

Some other popular areas of Dublin to visit as you get your bearings are: Trinity College, St Patricks Cathedral and Pheonix Park.

Day 2

We decided to visit the Guinness Storehouse at around 10am as the whole experience takes a few hours. The venue is enormous but filled with such wonderful insight into the history of the brand, it’s ingredients, advertising and their sustainability pledges. It was a lot more immersive than I imagined it would be which made it better than some other brewery tours I have been on.

As a present, I chose the Guinness Academy where we learnt how to make out own pints for 34 euros per person and it was such a fun experience. I used to pour Guinness in my old pub job but it felt more special doing it at the home of the drink. We got chatting to one of the managers, Dave Walk, absolute legend if you ever meet him. He kindly gave us a free stoutie ticket which meant a lovely picture of our faces on a pint and it was so so much fun. Thank you Dave! We ended the tour at the bar at the top of the building with panoramic views of the city, we were lucky enough to grab a table at the front and the sun was shining which really made things that bit better. 4 pints later and a tipsy Molly & Jacob had to get to our Irish Dancing lesson.

Through Get Your Guide, we booked an Irish Dancing lesson. Having 4 pints of Guinness really helps your confidence I will tell you that much. Set in this grand venue, there was around 40 people ready for the class but split into two groups. You have traditional Irish Dancers and a musician taking you through the steps and you get to dance to iconic Irish music. We met a lovely couple and ended up going to another bar after, but it was so much fun to get involved – Jacob’s high kick was something of magic.

We truly didn’t realise how big Dublin was, we got many steps during our 48 hours our feet were in bits before all our hikes in Scotland! Crossing to the other side of the city, we found the Spire of Dublin which was created to celebrate the innovation of the city. Round here you will find lots of shops, opulent buildings and the famous portal where we got to interact with people from Poland I believe it was!

Day 3 – ish

It’s the last day, but there’s still time to make the most of Dublin. We always go on free walking tours wherever we visit (don’t worry we always tip) and the one in Dublin was one of the best ones we have ever been on.

Yes we dragged out suitcases along the cobbled streets in hiking boots because we are saving space for the flight!

The duration was around 1-2 hours and we covered a lot of history of Dublin, and saw lots of cathedrals, Trinity College and ended up at Chester Beatty Library which is now a public institution! It is one of the best museums in Europe, has free admission and hosts lots of historic manuscripts from across the world. We sadly didn’t have time to see it as we had to get our flight, but will be going back!

Sláinte!

So, sláinte, which is cheers. We did many of that with the amount of Guinness’ we had. Dublin for sure should be on your list of destinations to visit for your next city visit.

We loved our time in Dublin, 48 hours really isn’t enough to see it all, it’s such a beautiful city. However long you stayed in Dublin, I hope some of my tips helped you make the most of your time there!