Ireland Travel Diary: A Week in Dublin, Kilkenny & Howth
It’s funny that every time I’ve gone to Ireland, it hasn’t really been my idea. The first two times were stopovers before and after my trip to Portugal on Aer Lingus flights. This summer, one of my best friends wanted to celebrate her birthday abroad, and she had a friend who’d recently married an Irishman and moved to Dublin. It’s always nice having someone local to show you around, so she decided on Ireland.
I picked up a few new things about life here. Even if the bus driver sees you waiting, you still have to stick your arm out to flag a bus down, or it won’t stop. Guinness is everywhere, along with endless merchandise, so much that it's practically a religion. In summer, the sun sets late, and there's still light out past 10 p.m. The weather changes constantly, dark clouds one minute, sunny skies the next. Even if the forecast says rain, it usually just spits for a moment and clears.
I packed really light for this trip and left my Fujifilm XT-20 at home. Lately, I’ve been lazy about taking photos when I travel, but I still managed to capture some decent shots on my iPhone. So here’s my photo diary from a week in Ireland in late June.
Dublin
I already wrote a Dublin city guide a few years ago, so check that out if you haven’t already. The information still holds up as far as I know.
I do have some new recommendations for food and drinks: Dada, Beanhive, Jay Kay's Cafe, KC Peaches, The Pepper Pot Cafe, Hyderabadi Kitchen, 37 Dawson Street, and Books Upstairs.
I probably should’ve done more of the classic tourist things like visiting the Book of Kells and the Guinness Storehouse, but they still didn't appeal to me. I also thought about stopping by the Oscar Wilde House, but skipped that too.
European cities are made for flâneurs, and it's more fun to browse vintage shops, listen to live music in pubs, and stumble into random things, like the Portal on O’Connell Street. I only knew what it was because something similar was used in a murder plotline on the show Elsbeth. It’s a live video feed linking Dublin to Portals in other countries, where people can wave and interact live through the screen visually, but we can't hear each other.
Olivia Rodrigo Concert in Marlay Park
Here’s a fun manifestation story. When Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS World Tour was announced, I really wanted to go. I even did a couple of visualizations of being there. She was coming to Toronto in late March 2024, and both shows sold out instantly, but I still thought I might find a way in. The concert venue was only a few blocks away, and a neighborhood friend and I even went to the box office, hoping for last-minute tickets. Nope, completely sold out, and scalper prices were ridiculous. We ended up standing outside, hearing more of the crowd screaming than Olivia singing. It was sad.
I remember thinking, But I visualized this. It’s supposed to manifest. I really wanted to see this tour for GUTS specifically, and who knew when she’d tour again. When Netflix released her concert special later that year, I figured that was the closest I’d get and moved on.
Fast forward to my Dublin trip in 2025. My friend had specific dates in mind: June 22 to 29. She felt good about them for some reason. While researching things to do, she messaged me that Olivia Rodrigo was performing in Dublin on June 24. I had no idea she was still touring. It turned out she was doing a festival run for GUTS (Spilled), her deluxe album, and had added four standalone concerts between festivals, with Dublin being one of them.
The Dublin concert at Marlay Park was, of course, completely sold out again. But this time, I felt certain it would work out. The manifestation was finding me. I started scripting exactly what I wanted: that my friend and I would be there, the weather would be perfect, we’d sit on the grass drinking beers, have the best time, and even snag some cool merch.
I bookmarked the Ticketmaster page and checked it often, hoping some last-minute tickets would appear. When a VIP ticket popped up for resale, I was surprised the price wasn’t inflated. There were only two ticket types at Marlay Park: VIP (€153, right near the stage) and general admission (€112, farther back). A few days later, another VIP ticket became available, so I grabbed it for my friend too. I later learned that Ireland actually has laws preventing ticket resales above face value. If I’d tried to get seats this close to the stage in Toronto, resale prices easily would’ve been around a thousand dollars per ticket.
The GUTS (Spilled) concert felt completely different from the original tour. Olivia leaned fully into rock star mode with hot leather outfits, edgier visuals, and no backup dancers, just her band tearing it up on stage. As you might know, I’m big on rock music, so this show was more my speed. She played a similar set later in Glastonbury.
And while I didn’t get to see Chappell Roan as the opener for the Toronto shows, Beabadoobee opened in Dublin, and I’ve been a fan of hers for years. A local all-girl band called Florence Road also performed, and I’ve been listening to them a lot ever since.
This manifestation took over a year to unfold, but it reaffirmed that you really can’t control when or how things will happen. It would’ve made logical sense for me to go to the Toronto concert since it was literally steps from my house, but having the universe deliver an even better concert experience in Dublin was magical.
Kilkenny
The train to Kilkenny is only about an hour and a half from Dublin. It’s a charming medieval town that's small enough to explore on foot in a day or two.
We stayed at The Club House Hotel, Kilkenny's oldest hotel that was recently renovated. From there, it was easy to walk to Kilkenny Castle. Locals gathered on the estate's sprawling green lawns to play various sports, including one I've never heard of before and later learned was hurling, Ireland's national sport.
Of course, we wandered some more through the cobblestone streets, ducking into book stores and charity shops. As for food, Petronella has a charming historic vibe and delicious Irish dishes. Aroi Asian Fusion has decent Pad Thai. If you want to try Irish fast food, visit Supermac's in the city center. Also, Tesco's a novelty for us, even their bland Meal Deals with weird-tasting chips.
What I like trying in other countries is living like the locals, and doing the kinds of things I’d do at home. We poked around Essie May, a holistic boutique, and learned about their yoga classes. The next morning, we joined one with a few middle-aged and senior women who complained about their backaches and leg pain as we got into poses. It was a cozy way to end our time in Kilkenny before catching the train back to Dublin.
Howth
Howth is such an easy day trip from Dublin. Just take the DART train from the city center, and it's only half an hour to this seaside village. From there, it’s a short walk to the cliffs.
The Howth Cliff Walk is stunning, the stuff of movies. WB Yeats stayed here and wrote about fairies. The trail winds along the edge of the peninsula with views of the Irish Sea, the green hills, and the lighthouse in the distance. It can get windy and a little muddy. Dramatic gray clouds and misty rain come and go, but it only adds to the experience. After the hike, we rewarded ourselves with fish and chips back down at Wrights Findlater Howth.
The only thing I didn't get to experience in Ireland this time was walking behind a flock of sheep. I don't know when I'll be back, but since Ireland has a way of pulling me in, maybe next time I’ll stay in a castle, explore more of the wild countryside, and finally follow those sheep down a winding road.