Dublin with Young Kids

Caroline Bermingham-Firth, our Senior Director of Brand and Marketing knows a thing or two about Dublin - it is her hometown, after all! And with two young kids of her own, she knows exactly which places get the seal of approval from the little ones. Here, she shares her tried-and-tested tips for exploring Dublin as a family, with plenty of ideas for keeping little ones entertained.

Any parent knows that travelling with young kids is rewarding and stressful in equal measure. You can spend months planning a trip to create beautiful cultural memories for your children and then you realise what they tend to remember are a funny bit of graffiti they saw, a new ice cream flavour they tried or simply a great seat they managed to nab on the bus one day.

So when I’m asked to recommend things to do in Dublin with young kids, my hometown, I suggest starting with what appeals to my 5 and 3 year olds – hopping on the Luas, our local tram system, and getting a seat by the window. It runs both North to South (the Green Line) and East to West (the Red Line) so it covers getting to a lot of fun places in Dublin easily.

The Red Line – East – George’s Dock

The EPIC museum describes itself as an emigration museum which on paper isn’t appealing to children but this museum kept my kids engaged for a lot longer than expected. It’s visually appealing, interactive and has an activity trail for children to follow and get rewarded with stamps (the best currency for young children!), it definitely has enough to keep children occupied while adults can actually take in the exhibitions which themselves are very well done. Outside the museum is the Jeanie Johnston tall ship, another option for adventure loving children who can go below deck and explore the ship in detail.

The Red Line – West – Heuston Stop

Heuston Station is one of the main train stations in Ireland, serving the main Dublin to Limerick and Cork routes. If you don’t fancy travelling that far out of Dublin, it is worthwhile hopping off here and taking a ten minute stroll to IMMA, the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Not only is it a fantastic art gallery, set in beautiful grounds the kids will love to run around, they have fantastic programming and often have interesting workshops and cultural events on for children.

The Green Line – North – Phibsborough

Dalymount Park is the home ground of Bohemians Football Club, one of the League of Ireland’s best teams – and one of the coolest clubs around. Known for creative collaborations and being a core part of the Dublin social scene, the matches are also the real deal. They’re genuinely great fun and often childrens’ tickets start at €8 for a top tier game!

The Green Line – South – Balally Stop

Many people head to the Balally stop for Dundrum Town Centre – a shopping complex which is great to pick up some new clothes but also for some fun play time with Funky Monkey soft play (best for 5 and under), Lane7 for bowling and darts, and Jungle Golf for mini golf. And last I checked there were approximately 40 places to eat there, almost all great with kids options.

The real gem in this area for kids is not in the Centre though, it’s 300m away in Airfield, a beautiful working urban farm where you can get up close to animals and local food growth initiatives. Throughout the school holidays there is always a great calendar of events for the whole family.