Things to do in Dublin with the kids!
A couple of months ago, I booked a (very) last-minute trip to Dublin with our 2 youngest children before they went back to school. My husband was working, and my stepdaughter had gone back to school a little earlier, so I decided to make a short solo trip with our 1 and 6 year olds!
Yes, I am crazy.
Or am I? Because actually, aside from the usual parenting things, it was a great trip, and the travelling part was totally stress-free! More on that later, but for now, here’s what we got up to, and some things I would definitely recommend to fill a couple of days in beautiful Dublin!
So… here are Olivia’s favourite things that we did in Dublin, with some quotes from her as we go:
1. EPIC - The Irish Emigration Museum
“It was really fun, and also I had fun learning”
This was Olivia’s favourite place that we went to in our 3 days in Dublin! And probably mine, too. When you enter, you get handed a passport that you stamp as you travel through each room of the museum.
As a British person, there are areas of the museum that could be a little uncomfortable, but I’ve never been one to be full of English pride and am well aware of our sometimes shocking history. The stories are told in child-friendly ways, the museum is interactive all the way through, and it was a fantastic experience. We spent a whole afternoon here and loved it!
2. Dublin Zoo
“I loved seeing the red pandas and I loved the little play area, it was really fun there and I loved seeing all different types of animals.”
Next on her list is Dublin Zoo! This was our first stop, straight from the airport. It’s easy to get to as the airport bus goes straight to Heuston Station. From there, it’s about a 20 minute walk up to the Zoo past Phoenix Park.
The Zoo had a huge range of animals as well as a decent play area and a nice area where you could rest and eat! The food was reasonably priced for a day out like this, and there was lots to see. The Zoo itself was fairly quiet as it looked like most of the schools had gone back when we went in early September!
3. The Irish Rock ‘n’ Roll Museum Experience
“I loved it when I got to play the drums for about one whole minute and it was really fun”
We booked a tour at the Irish Rock n Roll Museum Experience and it was fantastic! I was the only person with children, everyone else was an adult, but the tour guide, Brian, made it a fantastic experience for Olivia, who was very quick to get my phone out and start taking hundreds of photos!
We stood in the same room that the band U2 (among many other Irish legends) used to play in, and Olivia had a chance to try out the drum kit.
The tour wasn’t suitable for strollers, but Éloïse was happy to be carried or to walk around holding hands. This was a really fun experience!
4. Chester Beatty Library
“I loved doing some colouring there, it was so fun and I really liked it ”
We would say this one was actually a better family attraction than Dublin Castle in terms of being child-friendly! The library was really interesting and we enjoyed looking around, but a great touch was the quiet relaxation spaces available upstairs. I managed to get the baby off to sleep and just relax for a moment while Olivia made use of the colouring pages and pencils.
5. Everything else
As well as everything above we went to Dublin Castle, the Ha’Penny Bridge, Trinity College, and shopping in the town centre. None of these are really child-friendly, but they were good to kill a bit of time and tick off the list of things to see!
