Must-see in Dublin: a first-timer's guide

A brief history Dublin was founded as a Viking longphort on the Liffey in the 9th century and became the base of English rule in Ireland for 700 years. Georgian building in the 1700s gave it the brick terraces and elegant doors; the 1916 Easter Rising and the War of Independence made it the capital of a free state. Since the 1990s it has grown into a young, expensive, tech-driven city that still runs on conversation. 10 must-see attractions 1. Trinity College and the Book of Kells — the 9th-century illuminated gospels and the Long Room library. 2. Guinness Storehouse — seven floors on the black stuff, ending in the Gravity Bar view. 3. Dublin Castle — seat of British rule, with state apartments and the Chester Beatty Library next door. 4. Kilmainham Gaol — the prison where the 1916 leaders were executed; book well ahead. 5. St. Patrick's Cathedral — Ireland's largest church, where Jonathan Swift was dean. 6. Temple Bar — cobbled nightlife quarter, best for daytime galleries and weekend food markets. 7. National Museum of Ireland, Archaeology — bog bodies and Celtic gold on Kildare Street. 8. Phoenix Park — one of Europe's biggest city parks, with a wild fallow deer herd. 9. EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum — interactive telling of the global Irish diaspora. 10. Howth cliff walk — a coastal loop and seafood lunch 25 minutes out on the DART. Tip: pubs with a snug and no TV usually have the best live trad sessions.