Dublin

Ireland's oldest university (1592) is home to the Book of Kells — an illuminated Gospel manuscript created by Celtic monks around 800 AD that is the supreme masterpiece of medieval calligraphy. The Long Room library above it holds 200,000 ancient books.

The most significant building in Irish political history — the prison where the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were executed, including James Connolly (tied to a chair, too wounded to stand). The guided tour is among the most powerful museum experiences in Europe.

Ireland's largest cathedral, built in 1191 on the site where St. Patrick supposedly baptised converts — Jonathan Swift (author of Gulliver's Travels) was Dean here from 1713 to 1745 and is buried in the nave.

Dublin's finest Georgian square — four sides of intact 18th-century brick townhouses with coloured doors, where Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats and Daniel O'Connell all lived. A reclining statue of Wilde in the park corner is the city's most photogenic monument.

Ireland's most celebrated restaurant, in the basement of the Dublin Writers Museum — a Michelin-starred interpretation of Irish cuisine using Wicklow lamb, West Cork fish and seasonal Irish produce elevated to an extraordinary standard.

A popular Dublin brasserie on the Ha'penny Bridge — Irish breakfast, chowder and traditional Irish stew made with lamb and root vegetables, served in an exposed-brick converted warehouse overlooking the River Liffey.

Dublin's most acclaimed burger restaurant — a deliberately minimal menu (one burger, one size, three sauces) served with fresh-cut fries in a small dining room where every component is made from scratch each morning.

A seafood restaurant on Howth harbour — lobster, crab claws and the day's fresh fish catch served with brown bread and Irish butter, overlooking the fishing boats that supplied your plate that morning.

Dublin's most famous fish and chip shop — open since 1913, serving battered cod and thick-cut chips in newspaper-style wrapping from a small hatch. The Taoiseach and U2 have all been regulars.

Dublin's finest Victorian pub interior — a long mahogany bar, etched glass mirrors, carved wood partitions and gas-lamp fittings unchanged since 1880. Pours the best pint of Guinness in Dublin according to a consensus of locals.

A Temple Bar-area pub that has been the literary hub of Dublin since the 1940s — Flann O'Brien, Patrick Kavanagh and Brendan Behan were regulars. The ornate Victorian interior remains exactly as they left it.

The world's largest Guinness visitor experience — housed in the original 1904 fermentation plant at St. James's Gate, with a self-guided tour through the history and brewing of Guinness, ending at the Gravity Bar with 360° Dublin views.

Dublin's most storied café — a Grafton Street institution since 1927, with Harry Clarke stained glass windows, mahogany booths and a menu of Irish scones, raisin bread and filter coffee that sustained James Joyce, Samuel Beckett and Frank McCourt.

Ireland's most spectacular natural wonder — 214m vertical cliffs stretching 14km along the Atlantic coast in County Clare, where the ocean crashes against the base and puffins nest in the rock face. One of Europe's great dramatic landscapes.

A dramatic coastal cliff walk north of Dublin — the 6km loop around Howth Head passes through heather moorland, past cliff-nesting seabirds and above secluded coves, with views of Ireland's Eye island and the Wicklow Mountains.

A Stone Age passage tomb older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids (3200 BC) — precisely aligned so that the rising sun at winter solstice illuminates the inner chamber for 17 minutes. Entry is by guided tour only from the visitor centre.

A 6th-century monastic settlement in a glacial valley in the Wicklow Mountains — twin lakes, a round tower, the ruins of cathedral churches and 2,000 acres of mountain valley that has changed little since St. Kevin founded his hermitage here.