Is EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum worth visiting?

Yes — it is one of the best-designed museums in Dublin. The 20 interactive galleries trace the 10 million people who left Ireland over the centuries, with strong personal stories, genuinely engaging technology, and no heritage-kitsch. Allow 1.5 to 2 hours. Book online for a small discount and to skip any queue.

How much does EPIC Museum cost in 2026?

Online adult tickets run approximately €16–€18. Children (5–14) cost around €7–€9. Family tickets are available. The Jeanie Johnston combo (EPIC plus a tour of the tall ship moored 200 metres away) costs approximately €25–€30 for adults and offers the best value if you plan to do both.

How long does EPIC Museum take?

Allow 1.5 to 2 hours for the museum alone. Add 50–60 minutes for the Jeanie Johnston guided ship tour if you purchase the combo. The museum does not have a hard exit time and you can take as long as you wish in the galleries.

What is the Jeanie Johnston?

The Jeanie Johnston is a replica of an original 19th-century 'coffin ship' — the vessels that carried hundreds of thousands of Irish emigrants to North America during and after the Great Famine. The original Jeanie Johnston sailed between 1847 and 1858 carrying 2,500 passengers without a single fatality, which was exceptional. The replica moored on Custom House Quay offers 50-minute guided tours of the hold, cabins, and deck.

Who should visit EPIC Museum?

Irish diaspora visitors — particularly Americans, Australians, and Canadians of Irish descent — consistently give EPIC the highest satisfaction ratings of any Dublin museum. But it works equally well for visitors with no Irish heritage who want to understand why Irish culture and names appear across every English-speaking country on earth. Older children (10+) will engage well.

Is EPIC Museum suitable for children?

Yes, from about age 8. The multimedia approach — large touch screens, audio stations, cinematic installations — keeps children interested better than traditional display-case museums. Under-5s will be bored by the content but the interactive elements can hold attention briefly.

Where is EPIC Museum and how do I get there?

EPIC is in the CHQ Building on Custom House Quay in the Dublin Docklands, about a 20-minute walk from Trinity College or 10 minutes from O'Connell Bridge. The Luas Red Line stops at Connolly (then 10 minutes' walk). The no. 151 bus stops nearby.

EPIC Irish Emigration Museum guide: tickets, what to expect and verdict

Why 10 million people left Ireland — and what happened to them

Ireland has a population of approximately five million people. An estimated 80 million people worldwide claim Irish descent. The gap between those two numbers is the subject of EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, which opened in 2016 in the Victorian CHQ building on Custom House Quay in the Dublin Docklands.

It is one of the few museums in the world whose subject is departure rather than arrival, and it handles a painful story — centuries of famine, colonial dispossession, and economic necessity that sent generation after generation of Irish people to America, Australia, Britain, and beyond — with remarkable skill. Twenty themed galleries trace the emigrants themselves: the Famine ships, the building of American railways, the Irish in British politics, the diaspora writers and musicians and athletes who shaped culture far from home.

What the galleries cover

The museum is arranged in 20 themed rooms across two floors of the brick CHQ warehouse. You move through them in a broadly chronological order, though the experience is more thematic than strictly linear.

Early galleries deal with the pre-Famine emigration — the Scots-Irish who went to the American colonies in the 18th century, the transportation of convicts to Australia, the economic migration of skilled workers to Britain. This context matters: the Famine intensified an existing pattern rather than beginning it from scratch.

The Great Famine galleries are the emotional centre of the museum. The installation showing the scale of the population collapse — Ireland’s was the only population in Europe to decrease in the 19th century — uses light and sound more effectively than text panels. Individual stories carry the statistics: names, townlands, destinations, outcomes. Some visitors find these rooms very affecting.

Later galleries follow the emigrants themselves. There are galleries on the Irish in American politics (nine US presidents have claimed Irish heritage), Irish writers abroad (Joyce in Trieste and Paris, Beckett in France, F. Scott Fitzgerald), Irish involvement in independence movements in South America and Australia, and the diaspora musicians whose influence runs from folk music to rock and beyond.

The Champions Gallery at the end lists the verified Irish-descended figures who shaped their adopted countries. It is extensive and includes people you would not expect.

The technology

EPIC is the most technologically ambitious museum in Dublin and one of the best in Ireland. Large touchscreen family trees allow visitors to explore connections. Audio stations play excerpts from letters, speeches, and songs. A cinematic installation recreates a journey aboard a famine vessel with period-authentic detail. The standard of production is consistent throughout and the narrative voice is honest — emigration was largely forced, not romantic.

The Jeanie Johnston

Moored 200 metres from EPIC on Custom House Quay, the Jeanie Johnston is a full-scale replica of a 19th-century three-masted barque. The original vessel made 16 transatlantic crossings between 1847 and 1858, carrying over 2,500 emigrants — and, extraordinarily, not a single death. Other ships of the same era were losing 10–20% of passengers to disease and starvation in the holds. The Jeanie Johnston’s survival rate was due largely to its captain’s insistence on better ventilation and a ship’s doctor on every voyage.

The Jeanie Johnston Tall Ship Irish Famine history tour takes about 50 minutes and covers the hold where emigrants slept, the family cabins, and the ship’s remarkable story. The guide brings individual passenger histories. It is a good complement to EPIC’s interior focus — the contrast between reading about the crossings in the museum and then standing in the hold where they happened is considerable.

The EPIC Museum and Jeanie Johnston combo ticket is the most efficient way to do both and saves money compared to buying separately.

Booking and practical details

EPIC Museum entrance tickets are available online and at the door. There is rarely a significant door queue — online booking saves a small amount and guarantees entry. Adult tickets are approximately €16–€18; children €7–€9.

EPIC is open daily 10:00–17:00 (last entry 16:00). The museum is in the CHQ Building, Custom House Quay, in the Docklands — a 20-minute walk from Trinity College along the north quays. The Luas Red Line runs to Connolly Station (10 minutes’ walk from EPIC). If you combine it with a broader Docklands visit, the area has good restaurants along the quay that make a natural lunch stop.

Pairing with the Great Famine story

EPIC covers emigration broadly; for a deeper focus on the Famine specifically, the Great Famine walking tour with fast-track EPIC tickets combines a guided walk through the Famine memorial sites along the quays with EPIC entry — a strong combination that gives the exterior monuments meaning before you go inside.

The Great Famine guide covers the Famine in detail, including the National Famine Memorial, the Famine statues on Custom House Quay, and the historical context that EPIC builds on. The National Museum of Ireland guide is the natural companion for the broader sweep of Irish history, including the period before the Famine.

For visitors whose primary reason for coming to Ireland is genealogical, EPIC can connect you to the Irish Family History Centre upstairs in the same building, which offers personal research assistance — a service that EPIC’s own displays will have pointed you toward.

Frequently asked questions about EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum guide

How much does EPIC Museum cost in 2026?
Online adult tickets run approximately €16–€18. Children (5–14) cost around €7–€9. Family tickets are available. The Jeanie Johnston combo (EPIC plus a tour of the tall ship moored 200 metres away) costs approximately €25–€30 for adults and offers the best value if you plan to do both.
How long does EPIC Museum take?
Allow 1.5 to 2 hours for the museum alone. Add 50–60 minutes for the Jeanie Johnston guided ship tour if you purchase the combo. The museum does not have a hard exit time and you can take as long as you wish in the galleries.
What is the Jeanie Johnston?
The Jeanie Johnston is a replica of an original 19th-century 'coffin ship' — the vessels that carried hundreds of thousands of Irish emigrants to North America during and after the Great Famine. The original Jeanie Johnston sailed between 1847 and 1858 carrying 2,500 passengers without a single fatality, which was exceptional. The replica moored on Custom House Quay offers 50-minute guided tours of the hold, cabins, and deck.
Who should visit EPIC Museum?
Irish diaspora visitors — particularly Americans, Australians, and Canadians of Irish descent — consistently give EPIC the highest satisfaction ratings of any Dublin museum. But it works equally well for visitors with no Irish heritage who want to understand why Irish culture and names appear across every English-speaking country on earth. Older children (10+) will engage well.
Is EPIC Museum suitable for children?
Yes, from about age 8. The multimedia approach — large touch screens, audio stations, cinematic installations — keeps children interested better than traditional display-case museums. Under-5s will be bored by the content but the interactive elements can hold attention briefly.
Where is EPIC Museum and how do I get there?
EPIC is in the CHQ Building on Custom House Quay in the Dublin Docklands, about a 20-minute walk from Trinity College or 10 minutes from O'Connell Bridge. The Luas Red Line stops at Connolly (then 10 minutes' walk). The no. 151 bus stops nearby.