Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, part of the Wicklow Mountains range. Dublin is the largest city by population on the island of Ireland; at the 2022 census, the city council area had a population of 592,713, while the city, including suburbs, had a population of 1,263,219.
Typical weather
1981–presentCity Rhythm
measuredOpening hours, by kind of place
median across mapped venuesVital absurdities
measured · the Anti-AwardsSame time system
by rhythmWhat to do each season
2winter
cool, damp, mild for latitude; mean 5.6-10.8 °C across the range, coldest month February (avg min 4.1 °C at Merrion Square); snow infrequent; long grey spells
- the literary-indoor economy dominates: theatres (Abbey, Gate), the National Library, the Book of Kells at Trinity
- pub culture shifts fully indoors; traditional-music sessions continue but the cobbled-street life of Temple Bar thins
- Guinness and Jameson distillery tours carry the visitor economy
summer
mild-warm, long days; mean 13.4-15.2 °C, July avg max 20.1 °C; urban heat island gives Dublin the warmest summertime nights in Ireland (July avg min 13.5 °C); extremes rare but record 33.1 °C (18 July 2022, Phoenix Park)
- top attractions sell out: the source explicitly warns to book the Book of Kells in advance
- the Grand Canal and Royal Canal towpaths, St Stephen's Green and Phoenix Park fill
- Bloomsday (16 June) and the festival season activate Joycean literary geography
- outdoor drinking returns; pub beer-gardens in use
What it is known for
Important moments in a year
St Patricks Festival
- citywide parade
- street crowds
- tourist peak
Bloomsday
- Joycean literary pilgrimage
- period costume in the streets
Temple Bar Tradfest
- traditional-music sessions across pubs
Dublin Fringe
- experimental performance across the city
Dublin Theatre Festival
- international theatre programme
On the record
source-trackedIn July 2010, Dublin was named as a UNESCO City of Literature, joining Edinburgh, Melbourne and Iowa City with the permanent title.
Dublin has a significant literary history and produced many literary figures, including Nobel laureates William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, and Samuel Beckett.
It is also the location of key and notable works of James Joyce, including Ulysses, which is set in Dublin and includes much topical detail.
Dublin's sheltered location on the east coast makes it the driest place in Ireland, receiving only about half the rainfall of the west coast.
Ringsend in the south of the city records the lowest rainfall in the country, with an average annual precipitation of 683 mm (27 in).
Due to the urban heat island effect, Dublin city has the warmest summertime nights in Ireland.
The 2016 TomTom Traffic Index ranked Dublin the 15th most congested city in the world and the 7th most congested in Europe.
Pubs: it's reckoned that Dublin has over 600.
Dublin's top attractions sell out in summer. Buy tickets online in advance if you know you want to see something, especially for the Book of Kells where even early arrivals may find all the day's slots are filled.
Guinness has been brewed at the St. James's Gate Brewery since 1759.
Cuisines such as Indian and Chinese were slow to appear as Dublin only had small ethnic communities, but they now have a good presence especially north of the river. Chinese food in Ireland has become something of its own thing, with the omnipresent "Spice Bag" an idiosyncratic new food of 21st century Ireland.
As of 2018, Dublin was listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) as a global city, with a ranking of "Alpha minus".
The method behind this atlas — 196 pp. Not published yet.