Romantic Dublin: Quiet Rooms and Boat Rides

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Dublin’s romantic register is quiet rather than grand. The city’s great contribution to the evening is a small dark room with wooden partitions in it, where two people can talk without raising their voices, and the fact that the famous pubs are the loud ones is the most useful thing to know before you pick where to sit.

The quiet rooms

The Long Hall, 51 South Great George’s Street, has been licensed since 1766 and its interior dates from 1881: a long carved counter, gold-leaf partitions, ornate stained glass and bevelled mirrors, filmed for Phil Lynott’s “Old Town” in 1982. It has no music. That is the reason to go, and it is an unusual thing to be able to say about a Dublin pub.

Kehoe’s on South Anne Street, The Stag’s Head off Dame Lane and Mulligan’s on Poolbeg Street are the other Victorian snug-and-partition rooms, all within fifteen minutes of each other.

Cost, because it decides where you sit: a pint runs €5.00 to €6.20 in an ordinary Dublin local against €7.00 to €9.00 in Temple Bar, on Grafton Street and in the St Stephen’s Green hotel bars, with The Temple Bar Pub recorded at €10.95 in April 2026. All four rooms above sit just outside the expensive band.

Across the bay, and back on the train

Dublin Bay Cruises run from Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dún Laoghaire and Howth. The Dún Laoghaire to Howth crossing is the one to take, about an hour, standard fare around €25 with the range running roughly €25 to €35. Book online; the boat only sells at the pier if it has not filled. Sailings at dublinbaycruises.com .

Cross one way and come back by DART for €2, so the afternoon is a loop rather than a there-and-back. At the Howth end, a bowl of seafood chowder at the harbour is about €8 to €12 and the cliff loops leave from the village if you want to walk any of it off.

Two piers and a sea wall, all free

  • Dún Laoghaire East Pier, out to the harbour light and back, which is what the whole town does on a Sunday.
  • The Great South Wall from Ringsend, roughly 4 km into Dublin Bay on an eighteenth-century sea wall that was the longest in the world when it was built, finishing at the red Poolbeg Lighthouse. Exposed in any weather, and unlike anywhere else you can walk to from a capital city.
  • Killiney Hill at dusk, 25 minutes south on the DART, for the obelisk and the long view over Killiney Bay, with the Vico Road walk round into Dalkey afterwards.

Gardens, for the hour before dinner

The Iveagh Gardens sit behind the National Concert Hall, three minutes from St Stephen’s Green and far quieter: a sunken lawn, a cascade, a maze and a rose garden. Merrion Square has the Oscar Wilde statue and the Georgian doors, and the National Gallery of Ireland is on its west side, free and warm, holding Caravaggio’s The Taking of Christ and a Van Gogh. That last one is the best rainy afternoon in the city and it costs nothing: nationalgallery.ie .

Dinner, at both ends of the scale

Dublin holds seven Michelin stars. Chapter One on Parnell Square under Mickael Viljanen and Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud on Upper Merrion Street both hold two, as does Liath in Blackrock. Bastible in Portobello, Variety Jones on Thomas Street, D’Olier Street and Forest Avenue in Ballsbridge hold one each, Forest Avenue newly starred in 2026. These book out weeks ahead: chapteronerestaurant.com .

At the other end, The Winding Stair at 40 Ormond Quay Lower sits above the bookshop with the Ha’penny Bridge in the window, open daily 12:00 to 22:30, run by Elaine Murphy’s restaurant group since 2006. Gallagher’s Boxty House in Temple Bar has been doing boxty for more than thirty-five years, in the most tourist-priced quarter in Ireland, which is worth knowing before the bill arrives.

Where to base yourselves

The Merrion on Upper Merrion Street is the five-star Georgian option with Patrick Guilbaud downstairs: merrionhotel.com . The Westbury sits just off Grafton Street. Brooks Hotel on Drury Street is a four-star boutique with a private cinema and a whiskey bar, and joined Small Luxury Hotels of the World in 2026. To see all three neighbourhoods priced together, compare Dublin rates on Booking.com , and if you want something booked and timed rather than improvised, browse Dublin experiences on GetYourGuide .

The verdict

The best evening here is not expensive. Iveagh Gardens at five, the DART to Killiney for the light going, and The Long Hall after, in that order, for about six euro and two drinks. Save the two-star dinner for the last night, when you already know the city well enough to walk home from it.

If the weather turns, take the boat across the bay instead and let a day out of town absorb the afternoon. The wider city runs through in the Dublin overview .