Visitor Centres in Dublin
THE 5 BEST Dublin Visitor Centres
Visitor Centres in Dublin
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Visitor Centres • Points of Interest & Landmarks
Visitor Centres
What travellers are saying
- redecoWarren, MA9,429 contributionsThe Customs House stands proud over the Quayside of the River Liffey. Dating to 1791, the Customs House represented the British domination of the Irish through taxation. The IRA burned the building in 1921 in order to destroy tax records. This magnificent classical architecture was completely restored after the revolution. Today, the building houses the Irish Department of Environment, Heritage, and Local Government.
A Visitor Center with a historical audio tour is available for a fee. I opted to enjoy the exterior. Very impressive.
Enjoy!Written 12 October 2024This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews. - urbanguyRichmond, VA5,104 contributionsThis official visitor center was great. All the "paper" you would need to go to any part of Ireland, and, of course, Dublin "stuff."
Abby, who was working the desk there was extremely helpful!Written 7 October 2023This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews. - Maddi R1 contributionI wanted to add a positive review about the genealogy services and to counter some of the negative comments I've seen about what they offer.
I'm an amateur who has been continuing my great-grandmother's research into my family's genealogy for almost 10 years. Our Irish ancestors have been the most difficult to track down and verify, so my mom and I were thrilled to find this service before traveling to Ireland. I was a little nervous about the price after reading some of these negative reviews, but I'd like to say that the session was incredibly worth it, and we're glad we paid for 80 minutes. We opted for a zoom session.
I’ve seen other visitors complain about the center 'simply sitting you down in front of Ancestry' or searching certain family history websites. The thing is, these websites aren’t just research tools for laymen, they are databases that contain many vital records that experts know how to navigate better than the average enthusiast.
Our session did begin with our genealogist searching ancestry but it went so far beyond that. The genealogist we spoke with introduced us to additional resources I wouldn't have found on my own, with access to a variety of Irish records. She expertly cross-checked between multiple sources and was a wealth of knowledge on what records to specifically search for, based on when Ireland started recording births as well as baptisms, whether certain records were known to be destroyed, and so on. She also provided a very clear list of next steps we could take to try and discover more with the data we currently have. She emailed every single resource, link, and screenshots of any potentially helpful information she found, and made sure we knew where to go from there. She genuinely seemed to care.
She was able to decipher a mother's Irish surname we've been puzzling over for decades, that ended up being very rare. She was able to confirm that our family surnames were, indeed, common in the county we believed our immigrant ancestor came from. She was able to tell us which parish they likely belonged to. And, she told us where we could upload our ancestry DNA information to potentially find more matches in Ireland (and sent instructions)!
I’ve also seen other visitors complain that sessions felt like a ‘rip off’ because the genealogists weren’t able to help them. If you are looking into this experience expecting a guarantee, rather than support from an expert to enhance your chances of finding more information, then maybe you should forego genealogy services, because that’s not how they work.
It's important to know going in that if you don't have your ancestors' approximate birthdays and parents' names, they probably can't do much for you; research can only go so far. That isn’t the center’s fault, it’s the nature of genealogy. We came to the session with that information for one ancestor, but also another for whom we only knew the birth year and a potential mother's name. Our genealogist spent a lot of time on both and genuinely seemed to want to get concrete information for us. I really appreciated the thoroughness.
Yes, the session essentially consists of a genealogist searching records for you, but they have so much historical and practical expertise to search and cross-check in ways that the layman can't. We really enjoyed learning from her and even though our lack of surviving records meant we weren't able to make any huge discoveries, I learned so much that I can apply to my family history work moving forward. I'm excited to see if the next steps she gave us lead to anything new!!Written 16 August 2024This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews. - JANE MGlasgow, UK424 contributionsAs title says when I visited here to get information on all I could about tours, guides, where to visit etc in this lovely city they were very helpful and informative about where I should go, how to get there and what to do once there. I did know a few things as looked at the good old internet before I went but was lovely to get more information from local people.Written 29 March 2017This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
- Peter bBirmingham, UK801 contributionsIn all the years of visiting Dublin and walking in Pheonix park we never knew this centre was here. We took the 99 bus near Houston station which does a circular run up the park to the centre and back. The centre is free and informative. There's a lift to the upper floor and toilets in the cafe next door.Written 30 November 2023This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
- GeraldineM53Dublin, Ireland190 contributionsGreat walk 'n talk tour of Dublin's fascinating Dockland area by this company. Tour guide (Joseph) very friendly and an absolute mine of information - he went from history, engineering, geography, to leprosy and stories about the people who shaped this part of Dublin. All very interesting and great value for money - nearly 2 hours of non-stop talking!Written 26 July 2014This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
- Lolly’s LookNew York City, NY14,902 contributionsThe Dublin Tourist Office is a good source for maps, information, directions and itinerary planning. They can help you out.Written 11 December 2018This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
- stratégique cLondon, UK3 contributionsMiles was just amazing! You have to do it 200 %. It is more complex than you think. And an amazing experience. It is a must to do!!! We had the chance to see a game after the "class". And we are not just in love with that amazing sport. It should be an international sport. Those athletes are amazing!! Thank you again for the super experience. We will always remember you!!Written 20 August 2023This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
