For my working friends, this is some of the options. Below is the list of places reported by Air Lingus Travel.
In the city there are two good choices to stay near the pubs; Shelbourne and Westin.
You should go to the Guinness factory tour if not interested in the entire history, just go directly to the top. It is a 360 degree bar overlooking the city. For Whiskey tours, Jameson’s is popular and Brenda liked Teeling’s. Jameson’s is close, small and interesting
The Temple Bar area in the city is the best pub crawl. Dozens and walking distance. Of course, if you swing a cat in Dublin, you will hit a pub.
For others to visit while there;
O’Donoghues is one of our favorites. Although good, no better than several others. Don’t make a special trip to any pub. You will realize after 5 or so that they are pretty similar. If you go, ask if he Old Man is still around. His son has been taking over due to his Dad’s health. The Old Man will talk with you like a friend and recommend a place for dinner. My bet is that he didn’t make it thru the corona.
Kehoe’s Pub is a popular one for us and it is located in good area, Grafton Street, for walking and shopping. Ask the what the upstairs was used for originally. Ask if they will show you the keg room. Nothing special, but Todd and I have been there.
The Brazen Head is recognized as the oldest and one to visit for most tourist. Although, we have never returned.
There are several good places to eat. For a good steak, we like FX Buckley’s. Take a recommendation, there are several good steak and seafood places.
Two dinner clubs we have tried…
https://www.johnniefoxs.com A few miles out of town. An interesting pub and show. You can go for dinner or catch the dinner and show. Just the dinner is my preference.
The Celtic Nights Dinner and Show is pretty good and saves the drive out of town. https://celticnights.com We liked the show better here than Johnnie’s. Try the Arlington Hotel basement for the show. https://www.arlington.ie/celtic-nights/
On my personal trip, I rented a car at the Dublin airport and drove to Waterford, then to KilKenny, then to Northern Ireland to see Belfast. When we got to Dublin, I turned the car in. It is pointless to try to drive or park in the city.
You could travel to Northern Island, Not much to the city of Belfast, but loads of history. Belfast has two good points of interest; the Titanic Museum and I recommend the London Cab Tour to the real history. The Giant’s Causeway is a very interesting park to visit. Most tour groups cover the three.
There are several tour operators that will run you up there and back. I highly recommend the operator that takes the smaller 14 passenger bus. You will get in and out of places much faster.
The Waterford Castle is an interesting place, ahttps://www.waterfordcastleresort.com, and I thought the food was good as well. The town has an small interesting museum and the crystal factory is cool. Although, we only spent time in the store which is crazy.
We spent the day at Killiney park. Hiked to the top, lunch in the city. Enjoyed that better than the town of Bray on coast.
We’ve visited Bray where Bono lives. There is O’Toole’s pub, but not too much to see. They have the beach and a number of pubs along the shore.
I enjoyed Howth by the sea. You can take an Uber up, walk a bit, have lunch. Just a small fishing village. They have one of the Beshoff Bros Fish N chip’s chain there. Considered a pretty good fast food place for Cod. You will see them in the City. There is a nicer place by the water. I’ve gone up on the weekend
We enjoyed KilKenny, the castle, and the Left Bank Pub. If you go in, wonder upstairs. The place is huge and has completely different environments.
The Cliff’s of Moher is one we did not do. We would like to make to make the trip over to the coast one visit.