Dublin's Viking Heritage - Which Tour to Choose!

Recently a good friend of mine from Australia came to visit me in Dublin. He is a real history buff but Ireland has never been one of his specialties, so he was quite blown away to find out that Dublin had a rich Viking history. The first thing he wanted to do was check out the Viking Tours Dublin had to offer. We headed down to the tourist office and collected what seemed like hundreds of leaflets. There are hundreds of Viking Tours Dublin likes to rave about. We then headed straight for tripadvisor and read a bit about what people had to say about them. There are bus tours and walking tours available when it comes to Viking themed tours, but having lived in the very city centre of Dublin for a number of years now I decided to be decisive on this one (for once). The reason I chose to only look at the walking Viking tours Dublin offers is because so much of Dublin’s Viking history is inaccessible by bus. A lot of Dublin’s Viking remains are off the beaten path and in pedestrianized areas such as Temple Bar. For example the remaining section of Dublin’s Viking wall next to the City Council’s offices, you wouldn’t be able to see a thing from a bus. Or even a quiet amble down Fishamble Street, one of Dublin’s original Viking Streets would be a highlight of a Viking tour, but once again not possible on a bus. The next beautiful day we have (or alternatively his last day in Ireland if we don’t see any sun) we are going to go for a walk around the old Viking and Medieval area of Dublin!

Walking Tours in Dublin

Dublin is a fantastic city for walking. The best way of seeing the real Dublin is to take one of the many walking tours on offer in this city.

There are of course a few options for seeing the city. If you want just a brief overview of what the city has to offer then a bus tour would be perfect for you. If, however, you want to delve more deeply into the history, culture and character of the city, really the only way to do this is to take a walking tour.
There are a number of reasons for this. The first is that much of Dublin's hidden character is found in her pedestrian areas. The most obvious example of this would be Temple Bar. Temple Bar is considered the cultural heartland of Dublin. It is the only area of the city which still has her medieval street map intact. The narrow little cobbled lanes and alleyways of Temple Bar make it one of the most charming areas of the city and as it is almost entirely pedestrianised it means that bus tours cannot access the area. It is quite possible to do Temple Bar without a guided tour, however, it is such an intricate area that without a guide you will miss a lot of the little hidden gems in the area. Yes, you will find the Temple Bar itself on the main drag, you'll be able to find most of Temple Bar's most famous pubs, however I challenge you to find Rory Gallagher's guitar, it is hidden in plain sight.
Without one of Dublin's excellent walking tours 99.9% of tourists would never be able to locate it, even if they specifically went in search of it. Another hidden gem in Temple Bar is Isolde's Tower. Named after the famous Irish Princess from Myth and Legend, Isolde's tower is the beautifully preserved foundation of one of the city's medieval towers which made up part of the complex of medieval walls and gates that used to be all around the city.

Walking tours are also the most effective way of finding all the statues and memorials around the city. Oscar Wilde's memorial is hidden away in a little corner of the park at Merrion Square, Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott is tucked away on the pedestrian Harry Street and the memorial to the Magdalene Laundries in right in the heart of  St Stephen's Green.

There are several walking tours of Dublin on offer. They run every day of the week, some even run twice a day. The easiest way to find out about everything that is on offer is to visit one of Dublin's tourists offices when you get in to the city.