Dún Laoghaire

The harbour town that faces the Irish Sea

Dún Laoghaire is a Victorian harbour town about twelve kilometres south of Dublin city centre. Its defining feature is the harbour itself — two granite piers built in the early nineteenth century, each 1.3 kilometres long, enclosing a protected anchorage that was once the main mail boat terminus for the crossing to Holyhead in Wales. The mail boat still runs, as the Stena Line ferry, and the piers that took thirty years to build remain in daily use by walkers, joggers and anyone who wants to be close to the Irish Sea without getting wet.

The town behind the harbour is prosperous, handsome and particular about its quality. Dún Laoghaire has the highest density of independent bookshops in Dublin’s suburbs, a weekly farmers’ market, excellent cafés and restaurants, and the Lexicon library — a recent building that is one of the most architecturally significant public buildings of the past decade in Ireland.

The pier walk

The East Pier is the more popular of the two — it has a bandstand at its midpoint, a café kiosk near the end, and at the very tip, the weather station that has been recording conditions since the 1840s. The walk out to the end and back is about 2.6 kilometres and takes 30–40 minutes at a leisurely pace. The views from the pier end cover the full sweep of Dublin Bay, from Howth Head to the north to Bray Head to the south, with the Wicklow Mountains behind.

The West Pier is quieter, less maintained, and generally preferred by locals who want to avoid weekend crowds. It also has an older lighthouse at its tip and tends to attract birdwatchers — the rocks around the pier base are good for turnstones and purple sandpipers in winter.

A walk out the East Pier, across the short connector to the West Pier near the ferry terminal, and back along the West Pier is about six kilometres and a genuine morning activity, particularly with stops for coffee at the Forty Foot café on the East Pier.

The Forty Foot

The Forty Foot is a sea bathing place at the base of the East Pier, cut into the granite rocks at Sandycove, about ten minutes walk from the town. It has been in use since the eighteenth century and is open year-round. Swimming is free and the water temperature ranges from about 8°C in winter to 17°C in summer — cold by any measure. The Forty Foot appears in the opening pages of James Joyce’s Ulysses, and a plaque commemorates the connection. It is primarily used by cold-water swimming enthusiasts and has an established year-round community of regular bathers.

The nearby Martello Tower at Sandycove, where Joyce briefly stayed in 1904, now houses the James Joyce Museum with a small collection of Joycean artefacts and the rooms as they appeared in that era.

Dublin Bay cruises

The Dublin Bay cruise from the city centre to Dún Laoghaire is one of the underused pleasures of a Dublin visit. It runs seasonally from Sir John Rogerson’s Quay in the city centre, takes about 70 minutes, and crosses the full width of Dublin Bay with views of the coastline from the water. The return journey by DART from Dún Laoghaire back to the city takes 25 minutes — so you can do a pleasant hour-long outward journey by sea and a quick return by train.

The Dublin Bay cruise from city centre to Dún Laoghaire is the standard version. The alternative is the cruise from Dún Laoghaire northward across the bay to Howth, which covers the full sweep of the bay and is a more scenic route if you plan to spend time in Howth rather than return to the city.

The Lexicon Library

The Lexicon is Dún Laoghaire’s public library, opened in 2014 on the harbourfront and designed by Carr Cotter Naessén Architects. It is a striking building — a copper-clad form on multiple levels with sea-facing windows and roof terraces — and is routinely listed among the most impressive contemporary public buildings in Ireland. Entry is free, and the upper reading room with harbour views is one of the quieter places in the Dublin area to sit and think.

Getting to Dún Laoghaire

The DART stops at Dún Laoghaire station, about five minutes walk from the pier entrance. Trains from Connolly Station take 25 minutes; from Pearse Station (south city centre) about 20 minutes. Trains run every 10–15 minutes at peak times. A single fare is around €3.80.

Dún Laoghaire is a natural step on the south coast DART sequence: city centre, Dalkey (two stops south), Dún Laoghaire (two stops back north). The DART coastal day out guide plans the sequence in both directions, with timing for each stop.

Combining with Dalkey and Killiney

Dún Laoghaire, Dalkey and Killiney are three adjacent DART stops and can comfortably be combined in a single coastal day. A natural sequence is: Dún Laoghaire pier walk in the morning, DART to Dalkey for lunch, then a short walk or one more DART stop to Killiney for the hill view in the afternoon. The bray-greystones route extends this further south if you want a full day on the DART south coast.

For a day trip without a car, this coastline is the clearest demonstration of how far the DART extends your range without the need to drive.