Top Photo Spots in Dublin

Top Photo Spots in Dublin - Best Places to Take Photos in Dublin

Are you traveling to Dublin, Ireland and hoping to take some great photos while there?  If you enjoy architecture, history and of course those awesome Irish pubs, then you are in for a treat!

This town is full of incredibly nice people, wonderful things to point your camera at, and great beer.  Well, maybe you don't care about the beer, but it's there if you need it!

This list is not in any particular order, but it's a collection of spots I photographed and enoyed during my visit there.  Let me know your thoughts and if you have any additions, be sure and add them in the comments section if you like!

1.) The Temple Bar

When I found out I was heading over to Dublin, Temple Bar was the first place that came to mind.  To me, it represents the city.  It's historic, beautiful, and serves great beer.  :)  I arrived on a Saturday evening, and walked over for dinner to that area and guess what I found out?  This place is crowded on Saturday nights!  (go figure)

So, I made sure to get up early on Sunday morning, so that I could shoot it without all the crowds.  It worked out great.  Of course, if you spent a long time there on Saturday night, that does make it a little harder to get there on Sunday morning....

2.) The Temple Bar District

The Temple Bar (#1 above) sits right at the heart of the Temple Bar District, and is the heart of it in my opinion.  The entire area is full of shops, pubs, restaurants, and more.  It's really cool and a great spot to hang out, whether you bring the camera or not.  Of course, I brought the camera, but hey, I'm addicted to this stuff.  I recommend a morning photo walk here too, but that's because my preference is to have places to myself.  Sunday morning is perfect for that, because all the tourists are still in bed, and besides, folks don't head out to bars on Sunday mornings anyways.

3.) The Guinness Brewery (and this incredible waterfall!)

Ah, The Guinness Brewery!  This place rocks!!  I shot around Dublin all Sunday morning, until it started to rain.  At that point, I took a cab over to the Guinness Brewery and went on my tour there (self-guided).  It's not very expensive, you can take all the time you want, it's very interesting, and it ends with a free pint in their SkyBar with a 360 degree view of the city.  It's all good!  Plus, they don't mind you walking around with a tripod.  It's well worth the visit, just be sure and leave yourself plenty of time for it (I spent ~3 hours there, but I was taking a LOT of pics).  This waterfall sits on the ground floor and is one of the first things you see.  It's pretty awesome to see an indoor waterfall.

4.) Along the River Liffey

The River Liffey cuts through the middle of town, and is right next to the Temple Bar District.  In other words, it's very convenient to pop over here and enjoy the flowing water and the sights.  I walked up and down the river, quite a ways in each direction, and shot all sorts of things.  There are several bridges you can use to cross, in case you find something interesting on the other side.

5.) Christ Church Cathedral

This is a huge church and I stumbled upon it accidentally, but I am glad that I did.  I was walking back from the Guinness Brewery and decided to detour through here.  I love shooting in churches, especially in Europe.  They are just beautiful, and this one is no exception.  And of course, they were totally cool about the tripod, so I just had to wait out a few tourists, and it was all mine!

6.) St. Patrick's Cathedral

While I am talking about churches, how about St. Patrick's?  This cathedral is a monster and has a beautiful garden to shoot in as well.  Here's a tip for shooting in churches (which are usually full of tourists): plan to arrive a little before closing time, preferably on a day early in the week.  I arrived here about 30 minutes before they closed, and it was a Tuesday afternoon.  The last few tourists were wrapping it up, and so I had a little while to get all my brackets before they closed.  Then I wandered and shot in the gardens, until they closed that.  Then I took a cab to the next stop, #7 below.

7.) The Samuel Beckett Bridge

I love this bridge - it looks like a harp to me.  It's along the River Liffey, so if you are wandering there as I mention in #4 above, you are likely to encounter it.  Take your time here, as there are interesting things to shoot in this spot (for example, that rounded building is cool!) as well as some cool perspectives you can get here.  Note that this bridge is for cars and pedestrians, unlike many of the other bridges along the River Liffey, which are pedestrian only.  In other words, just pay attention and remember they drive on the left side of the road here!!

8.) Trinity College

Trinity College is a nice little spot.  It's a quick shoot, really.  Plus, it turns out they don't allow tripods there, which I found out upon exiting while carrying my tripod with my camera attached.  Luckily, I had already spent 45 minutes here, shooting to my hearts content.  I never saw a sign that said no tripods.  Really.

9.) St. Stephen's Green

This is a city park and although it is not very large, I thought it was beautiful.  This arch sits at the entrance (well, at least from the direction I entered) and since it was just past sunrise, I was very happy with the light.

10.) Grafton Street

Shooting street scenes in Dublin is something that I just really enjoyed.  Grafton Street is one such street.  It's a busy shopping street and though I could care less about shopping, these places tend to offer up interesting scenes.  I caught this one at a coffee shop - just couldn't resist the bike leaning there!

Well folks, that's it!  Hope you enjoyed this list and this little tour of the best places to take photos in Dublin, Ireland!  Let me know if you have any other ideas in the comments field, and have a great time in this wonderful Irish town!