The Best Bars for St. Patrick's Day in Dublin

Toner's on Baggot Street is one of Dublin's last surviving Victorian grocery pubs — a format where the front of the establishment sold provisions and the back was licensed. The snugs, the dark wood, and the shelving that still holds a few tins of provisions make it one of the most atmospheric pub interiors in the city. On St. Patrick's Day the Baggot Street crowd fills every corner, but the pub's size and multiple rooms mean you can always find a space. The Guinness is poured by people who have been doing it for a long time.

Order: Pint of Guinness in the back snug — the correct pour takes two minutes and arrives at exactly the right temperature

Kehoe's has been largely unchanged since the mid-20th century — the wooden snugs, the back parlour, and the Victorian bar fittings all survived the modernisation impulse that stripped many of Dublin's Victorian pubs of their character. It sits just off Grafton Street, which makes it technically tourist-adjacent, but the crowd on St. Patrick's Day is mixed enough between residents and visitors that it remains a genuine pub rather than a museum. The whiskey selection runs to 80-plus Irish labels.

Order: Redbreast 12 neat or a pint of Smithwick's — both are the right choices in this setting

Fallon's in the Liberties dates from 1604 in some form and has been serving the neighbourhood's working-class community for most of the intervening centuries. On St. Patrick's Day it attracts the area's residents — the Liberties is one of the oldest parts of Dublin and maintains a strong community identity — along with visitors who've read their history and made the short walk from the Guinness Storehouse. The prices are honest and the atmosphere is the real thing.

Order: Pint of Guinness — the most appropriate choice in a pub this close to St. James's Gate, served correctly

The Back Page is Dublin's best sports pub in the modern sense — craft beer selection, excellent food, multiple screens that show GAA as prominently as Premier League, and a crowd that treats sport as a reason to be in a good bar rather than a cheap one. On St. Patrick's Day they screen the parade coverage and the day's GAA matches, making it the right place to watch the occasion unfold while drinking something better than the standard offerings. The Irish craft beer selection is the best in the city outside specialist venues.

Order: Whatever Irish craft stout they're featuring for the day — they always have one lined up for St. Patrick's Day specifically

Grogans is Dublin's most storied bohemian pub — writers, artists, and the city's intellectually restless have been drinking here since the 1970s. The walls are covered in artwork from regulars, the prices remain some of the most honest in the city centre, and the Guinness is poured with the patience the drink has always required. On St. Patrick's Day it fills with exactly the kind of crowd you'd expect from a place that has been cultivating its reputation for half a century.

Order: Pint of Guinness — the only drink that feels correct in this room and served as it should be

The Stag's Head is the pub that photographers use when they want to illustrate what a Victorian Dublin bar looked like — the mahogany bar, the stained glass, the mosaic floor, and the stag's head trophy that gives the bar its name have all been here since 1895. On St. Patrick's Day it receives a heavy tourist load but manages it with the efficiency of a pub that has been dealing with crowds for over a century. The trad music session in the back room runs from early afternoon.

Order: Pint of Guinness in the back room during the trad session — the combination is as Dublin as it's possible to get

The VCC sits in Temple Bar but operates as a different world from the street outside — a reservations-only speakeasy that has been one of Dublin's best cocktail bars since 2008. On St. Patrick's Day they run a dedicated Irish whiskey cocktail menu alongside the regular programme, and the intimate setting means you're guaranteed a table and genuine service rather than the chaos outside. The room holds about 60 people and the cocktail menu changes completely for the occasion.

Order: The seasonal Irish whiskey cocktail — they design a new one specifically for St. Patrick's Day each year

Nine Below is Dublin's most focused cocktail basement — a low-lit room on Fleet Street with a tight menu of precisely executed drinks and a whiskey selection that covers every major Irish distillery alongside a serious selection of independents. On St. Patrick's Day they typically feature a tasting flight of pot still whiskeys from the great distilleries — Midleton, Teeling, Redbreast, Green Spot — served alongside cocktails built to complement each one. Reservations essential.

Order: The Irish whiskey tasting flight if available — or any drink built around Green Spot, which they source directly

Mulligan's on Poolbeg Street is the pub that serious Guinness drinkers make a pilgrimage to, and on St. Patrick's Day it becomes the most concentrated version of itself. The bar has been operating since 1782 and has built a reputation for the best Guinness pour in Dublin — a claim that is contested regularly but that the pub's consistent quality makes difficult to argue with. The setting is austere and the conversation is the entertainment. There is no other bar in Dublin more appropriate for this day.

Order: Pint of Guinness — the only drink worth ordering here on any day, and the best version of it available in the city