When I booked a weekend in Dublin with 9 other girls in one of the coldest months of the year I knew I could leave my camera at home as we’d probably be spending most of our time in the pubs of Dublin, and apart from doing a hop-on, hop-off bus trip around Dublin to at least see some of the city (although we didn’t actually get off!) we did indeed spend a lot of time in Irish pubs in Dublin drinking beer, chatting, listening to live music and attempting to Irish jig!
Talking of live music in Dublin, Ireland is all about its live music and that is what makes the pubs and bars in Dublin so fun!
So if you’re going to Dublin and you’re stuck with where to go for a drink first and you want to make sure you spend your time and your Euro’s in an awesome pub then here are 5 of the best Pubs in Dublin for live music and a good craic!
Best Pubs in Dublin for Live Music!
Keep Reading for the Best Pubs in Dublin for Live Music that I found on my weekend trip to Dublin!
The Temple Bar
I’m starting with the most obvious pub in Dublin!
The Temple Bar in Dublin is pretty iconic and popular these days, it’s most certainly the most popular pub in Dublin for tourists and not a local Irishman’s (or women’s) pub, and the price of drinks reflect this (€17.00 for a double Jameson and coke is all I’m saying!).
But visiting The Temple Bar in Dublin is a lot of fun and as soon as you see its twinkling lights from the outside and feel the atmosphere once you’re inside you’ll realise why it’s so popular and one of the best pubs in Dublin.
Temple Bar is actually quite a big place with a lot of different rooms. We visited on a Friday evening, it was pretty packed but they had some great live music on. My friend who went before said it was a lot better during the day as they still have live music playing but it isn’t as busy so I would definitely recommend a few daytime beers there if you’re looking for the best Irish pub in Dublin for live music during the day because it is definietly one of the best pubs in Dublin for live music.
Note that Temple Bar is actually a District which I didn’t realise until we arrived and asked for directions to Temple Bar and someone told us we were in Temple Bar, meaning the area, but we meant the actual bar, which has the same name, so don’t get confused! But if you’re visiting Dublin on a budget, there are many free things to do in Dublin in the Temple Bar District!
I mentioned the price of drinks above, a pint is about €7.50 which isn’t too bad but they seem to really get you on the mixers to go with spirits, however for some unknown reason lemonade there is free! So if you get a vodka and lemonade, you only pay for the spirit!
The Temple Bar is very popular for being the best pub in Dublin for live music and for tourists to visit!
O’Connell’s Bar
This bar was right next to our hostel – Abbey Court (I would recommend staying there, it was a good hostel for the price and in a great location) so we popped into O’Connell’s Bar for breakfast/lunch on our second and main day in Dublin, we ended up staying for a good 2 hours and then headed back in there later on for a drink before dinner but we never made it out to dinner and instead stayed for 5 hours, no joke!
It resembles quite a homely Irish pub when you first walk in but if you walk a bit further it then turns into quite a modern bar/restaurant/pub over 2 floors with lots of booth seating.
One of the main reasons for staying was because we found cheap drinks in Dublin here so that’s good and the staff were really friendly. On a Saturday night, they do karaoke which we caught the start of and let’s just say it was interesting!
O’Sullivan’s Pub
This pub was just across the river from our hostel is O’Sullivans, it’s famous for its Irish Coffee (hot coffee, Irish whiskey, sugar and cream!), and this is exactly how we found it.
When we bought our tickets for the hop on hop off bus included was a free Irish Coffee at this pub and it was delicious! It’s also a typical Irish pub, it was nice and quiet in there on a Saturday day time, the barman was hungover (standard!) and generally, it just had a good atmosphere!
A really good authentic Dublin pub to go to I think and later on they have live music as its on this list of best pubs in Dublin for live music!
The Brazen Head
Admittedly we didn’t make it to this pub but I wish we had.
Recommended to me by the lovely Weekend Candy and just up the river from the Temple Bar district, The Brazen Head is officially Dublin’s oldest pub dating back to 1198 which is pretty impressive if you ask me!
It’s also famous for it’s live music and food and the reviews on TripAdvisor are pretty tip top so I would add this to your list of best pubs in Dublin for live music to visit!
The Celt Bar
We stumbled across this pub, quite literally, late on Saturday night and I’m so glad we did!
The Celt Bar is only quite small and it was very busy and sweaty at 11:00 pm but I felt like I could have been in a pub in a small local town like you see on P.S I love you while on a road trip around Ireland, rather than having the streets of Dublin outside and I feel like that’s most peoples aim when they go to Ireland these days, a nice pub, a great atmosphere and perhaps the chance of seeing your Irish Gerard Butler (although we didn’t!).
There was a live band playing and they have live music every night of the week, the guys playing when we were there were only young but extremely talented. So make sure you pay it a visit if you want to go to one of the best pubs in Dublin for live music!
I hope this post helps you out and gives you some ideas of where to start so you spend those Euro’s and your time in a pub that you’ll enjoy!
There is a lot more to do in Dublin than just visiting the pubs though, check out Dublin’s Best Attractions in this post!
- For more of my Ireland posts see:
- Helpful Tips To Prepare You For Your Ireland Road Trip!
- 10 Places You Must Visit on the West Coast of Ireland!
- 3 Day West Coast of Ireland Road Trip Itinerary!
- How to Spend Half a Day in Limerick, Ireland.
Emma Hart | Paper Planes and Caramel Waffles
Wednesday 15th of March 2017
Oh Dublin is just so much fun for a night out. I definitely agree with you on The Temple Bar, it's a tourist trap but definitely worth a visit. And the free lemonade totally explains why my vodka and lime seemed so reasonable. I'm not even sure of the places I went when I was there in December but I think it's very hard to find a bad pub in Dublin :)