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Áras An Uachtaráin
The residence of the Irish president is a Palladian lodge that was built in 1751 and enlarged a couple of times since, most recently in 1816. It was home to the British viceroys from 1782 to 1922, and then to the governors-general until Ireland cut ties with the British Crown and created the office of president in 1937. Queen Victoria stayed here during her visit in 1849, when she appeared not to even notice the Famine.
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Arbour Hill Cemetery
Just north of Collins Barracks, this small cemetery is the final resting place of all 14 of the executed leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising. The burial ground is plain, with the 14 names inscribed in stone. Beside the graves is a cenotaph bearing the Easter Proclamation, a focal point for official and national commemorations.
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Ark Children's Cultural Centre
Aimed at youngsters between the ages of three and 14, the Ark is enormously popular - and perpetually booked out. The centre runs activities aimed at stimulating children's interests in science, the environment and the arts, and has an open-air stage for summer events.
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Bank Of Ireland
Facing Trinity College across College Green, this sweeping Palladian pile was built to house the Irish parliament and was the first purpose-built Parliament House in the world. The original building, the central colonnaded section that distinguishes the present-day structure, was designed by Sir Edward Lovett Pearce in the first half of the 18th century.
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Belvedere House
Great Denmark St runs northeast towards Mountjoy Sq and passes the 18th-century Belvedere House at No 6. This has been used as the Jesuit Belvedere College since 1841, and one James Joyce studied here between 1893 and 1898, describing it later in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man .
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Bram Stoker Dracula Experience
Abraham (Bram) Stoker (1847-1912) was born and raised at 15 Marino Cres, in the pretty seaside suburb of Clontarf, so it makes perfect sense that the local fitness club should be home to a museum dedicated to the author's life and, particularly, to his most memorable creation. The sight of Dublin's suburbanites struggling to fend off the effects of age and gravity on a Stairmaster may be scary enough, but Bram Stoker's imagination was just that little bit more extreme.
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Campanile
Through the Regent House entrance of Trinity College, past the Students Union, are Front Sq and Parliament Sq, the latter dominated by the 30m-high Campanile, designed by Edward Lanyon and erected from 1852 to 1853 on what was believed to be the centre of the monastery that preceded the college. Students who pass beneath it when the bells toll will fail their exams, according to superstition.
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Casino at Marino
No, not that kind of casino; perhaps it's the images of blackjack and slot machines that make so many visitors overlook this bewitching 18th-century architectural folly, which is a casino in the Italian sense of the word, as in a 'house of pleasure' or summer home. Off Malahide Rd, it was built for the Earl of Charlemont (1728-99), who returned from his grand European tour with a huge art collection and a burning passion for the Italian Palladian style of architecture. He appointed the architect Sir William Chambers to build the casino, a process that spanned three decades and was never really concluded because the earl frittered away his fortune.
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Chester Beatty Library
Book of Kells , shmells... the Chester Beatty Library is not just the best museum in Ireland, but one of the best in Europe. This extraordinary collection, lovingly and expertly gathered by New York mining magnate Alfred Chester Beatty (1875-1968) - a man of exceedingly good taste - is breathtakingly beautiful and virtually guaranteed to impress.
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Chimney
As part of the ongoing development of the Smithfield area, an old distillery chimney (nicknamed 'the flue with the view'), built by Jameson's in 1895, has been converted into Dublin's first and only 360-degree observation tower. A glass lift shuttles you to the top, where you get unique views of historic north Dublin. The commentary from the knowledgeable and humorous guide is excellent, which is a good job because Dublin's no oil painting.
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Christ Church Cathedral
Its hilltop location and eye-catching flying buttresses make this the most photogenic by far of Dublin's three cathedrals as well as one of the capital's most recognisable symbols.
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City Hall
One of the architectural triumphs of the Dublin boom was the magnificent restoration of City Hall, originally built by Thomas Cooley as the Royal Exchange between 1769 and 1779, and botched in the mid-19th century when it became the offices of the local government. In the 2000 restoration, the internal walls were cleared and the building was returned to all its gleaming Georgian glory.
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Croke Park & GAA Museum
Uniquely important in Irish culture, the magnificent stadium at 'Croker' is the fabulous fortress that protects the sanctity and spirit of Gaelic games in Ireland, as well as being the administrative HQ of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), the body that governs them. Sound a little hyperbolic? Well, the GAA considers itself not just the governing body of a bunch of Irish games, but the stout defender of a cultural identity that is ingrained in Ireland's sense of self.
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Custom House
Georgian genius James Gandon (1743-1823) announced his arrival on the Dublin scene with this magnificent building (1781-91), constructed just past Eden Quay at a wide stretch in the River Liffey. When it was being built, angry city merchants and dockers from the original Custom House further upriver in Temple Bar were so menacing that Gandon often came to work wielding a broadsword.
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Douglas Hyde Gallery
One of Trinity College's top treats for the discerning tourist, is the Douglas Hyde Gallery; its entrance is on Nassau St. This is one of the country's leading contemporary galleries, and hosts regularly rotating shows presenting the works of top-class Irish and international artists across a wide range of media. It's well worth checking out.
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Dublin Castle
The stronghold of British power for 700 years is principally an 18th-century creation that is more hotch-potch palace than turreted castle. Only the Record Tower survives from the original Anglo-Norman fortress built in the 13th century on Viking foundations. The most fascinating part of the castle is underground - a chunk of the old city walls and moat.
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Dublin Writers Museum
Memorabilia aplenty and lots of literary ephemera line the walls and display cabinets of this elegant museum devoted to preserving the city's rich literary tradition.
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Dublin Zoo
Established in 1830, the 12-hectare Dublin Zoo just north of the Hollow is one of the oldest in the world, and as thrilling or depressing as any other old zoo trying to drag itself into the 21st century.
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Dvblinia
Inside what was once the Synod Hall, added to Christ Church Cathedral during its late-19th-century restoration, this is a lively and kitschy attempt to bring medieval Dublin to life using models, music, streetscapes and interactive displays. The ground floor has wax models depicting 10 episodes in Dublin's history, explained in a choice of five languages through headsets.
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Farmleigh House
Situated in the northwest corner of Phoenix Park, this opulent house is the state's official B&B, where visiting dignitaries rest their very important heads - at least in theory. The truth is that after spending more than around €52 million on purchasing and restoring the house, it was used to provide accommodation for just three weeks in the first two years after it opened in mid-2001.
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Fitzwilliam Square
South of St Merrion Sq, the smallest and the last of Dublin's great Georgian squares was completed in 1825. It's also the only one where the central garden is still the private domain of the square's residents. William Dargan (1799-1867), the railway pioneer and founder of the National Gallery, lived at No 2, and the artist Jack B Yeats (1871-1957) lived at No 18. Look out for the attractive 18th- and 19th-century metal coal-hole covers. The square is now a centre for the medical profession by day and a notorious beat for prostitutes at night.
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Four Courts
Impossible to miss if you're up this end of town, James Gandon's (1743-1823) masterpiece is a mammoth complex stretching 130m along Inns Quay. Construction on the Four Courts began in 1786, soon engulfing the Public Offices (built a short time previously at the western end of the same site), and continued until 1802. By then it included a Corinthian-columned central block connected to flanking wings with enclosed quadrangles.
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Fusiliers' Arch
The main entrance to St Stephen's Green today is beneath Fusiliers' Arch, at the top of Grafton St. Modelled to look like a smaller version of the Arch of Titus in Rome, the arch commemorates the 212 soldiers of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers who were killed fighting for the British in the Boer War (1899-1902).
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Gallery Of Photography
This small gallery devoted to the photograph is set in a light and airy three-level space overlooking Meeting House Sq and features a constantly changing menu of local and international work. It's a little too small to be considered a really good gallery, but the downstairs shop is well-stocked with all manner of photographic tomes and manuals.
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Garda Museum
The Norman Record Tower, which has 5m-thick walls, houses the Garda Museum, which follows the history of the Irish police force. It doesn't have all that much worth protecting, but the views are fab (ring the bell for entry). On your right is the Georgian Treasury Building, the oldest office block in Dublin, and behind you, yikes, is the uglier-than-sin Revenue Commissioners Building of 1960.
