The city's best recurring trad sessions, pub quizzes, live music and GAA screenings — neighbourhood by neighbourhood. From Smithfield's heartbeat to the Merrion Row heritage trail. Updated weekly.
Dublin goes full Edwardian for six days of readings, pub crawls and theatrical performances across the city. The unmissable hub is Davy Byrne's on Duke Street — the "moral pub" from Ulysses, still pouring Burgundy and Gorgonzola since Leopold Bloom stopped in. The James Joyce Centre runs the main programme. Dress the part or at least raise a glass.
The truest trad heartbeat in the city. No tourist pressure, just people who mean it.
at The Cobblestone · 77 King St North, Smithfield
The most argued-about pub in Dublin — which is how you know it's the most loved. Sessions seven days a week, starting earlier at weekends. No stage, no PA, no cover charge. The musicians sit in the corner and the whole pub listens.
at Mulligan's of Stoneybatter · 8 Arbour Hill, Stoneybatter
Quieter neighbourhood local with a proper Thursday session. No tourists, no amplification. The kind of pub you tell your friends about and then regret telling anyone.
Tourist-heavy but the sessions are real — just get there before 8pm if you want a seat.
at Oliver St John Gogarty's · Anglesea St, Temple Bar
Multiple sessions daily, spread across two floors. The ground-floor afternoon session is the more relaxed one; evenings get louder and more tourist-facing. Named after the surgeon-writer who rented the Martello tower with Joyce in 1904.
at The Temple Bar Pub · 47–48 Temple Bar
As photographed a pub exterior as there is in Ireland. Inside the sessions are genuine, the Guinness is well-kept and it's the sort of place you end up for three hours when you planned to stay for one.
at Ha'penny Bridge Inn · 42 Wellington Quay
The upstairs room is one of the better-kept secrets on the quays. Tuesday and Thursday sessions, smaller crowd, easier to get a seat, longer sightlines to the musicians.
Where The Dubliners began. The Georgian pubs here carry the weight of Irish music history.
at O'Donoghue's · 15 Merrion Row
The Dubliners started here in the early 1960s. Ronnie Drew, Luke Kelly, Barney McKenna — that's who played this corner. Sessions still happen most evenings, and the framed photos on the wall are worth arriving early just to study.
at Toner's · 139 Lower Baggot St
W.B. Yeats is said to have been brought here by Oliver St John Gogarty — the only pub he ever visited. Mid-week and Friday sessions, no cover, proper Victorian interior with the old snug still intact.
The southside's local circuit — less touristed, longer sessions.
at Devitts · 78 Lower Camden St
One of a handful of pubs in Dublin running trad seven nights a week. The Friday and Saturday sessions are packed by 20:00 so arrive before the nearby restaurants empty out. Sunday afternoon is the relaxed one — good light, less noise, easier to follow a conversation between tunes.
at The Bleeding Horse · 24 Upper Camden St
One of Dublin's oldest pub names (mentioned in a Carleton novel from 1845). Sunday afternoon session with a mixed group of players, casual atmosphere, pub food available. Good option if Devitts is already standing-room only.
The northside's trad circuit, anchored around the city-centre grid above the Liffey.
at The Celt · 81–82 Talbot St
Regular trad most evenings on Talbot Street, close to Connolly Station. Convenient for anyone coming in from the suburbs or catching a late train home after a session. Good Guinness, no attitude.
at Walshs of Stoneybatter · 6 Stoneybatter
Monday and Wednesday pub quizzes, cash prize, teams of up to six. The questions lean toward general knowledge with a light sports section. Fills up fast — arrive by 19:30 to get a table with a sightline to the board.
at The Back Page · 10 Phibsborough Rd
The best GAA pub on the northside. Every Leinster and All-Ireland Championship match on the big screen, seating reserved for match days if you call ahead. The full back four of GAA pubs: Back Page, Walshs, McGowans, The Hut.