St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin
The day of all days to be in Dublin….the day I’ve been waiting to experience since moving here almost a year ago…
ST. PATRICK’S DAY!
Or, Paddy’s Day, as the Irish call it.
(And just a PSA for all fellow Americans…it’s not St. Pat or St. Patty’s Day. It’s PADDY, with D’s. And saying/spelling it otherwise is a bit of a pet peeve for many Irish people. It’s OK, I was guilty once too.)
Although it involved a lot of crowds and a lot of chaos, it was something that every avid traveler should try to experience at least once in their life. Ya know, just for the craic!
So, prior to the day, my Irish coworkers warned me that St. Patrick’s Day made the city centre craaaaaazy busy, especially in Temple Bar. And they were right. But more on that later…
We started off the day with a delicious brunch at San Lorenzo’s. Not only was the food unreal, but it was also conveniently located right on the parade route.
After stuffing my face with chocolate-caramel-peanut butter french toast (yep, you read that right), we headed to The Mercantile bar to grab some beers before the parade rolled through. Although it was absolute madness outside considering we were right in the Temple Bar area, The Mercantile wasn’t very packed and the barmen were really nice.
Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade
The parade rolled by at about 1pm and I have to say, I wasn’t all that impressed. Maybe I’m biased because I’m used to overly extravagant Mardi Gras parades, and when I think of parades I think of huge floats, bead throwing, marching bands and crazy crowds. Even parades besides the Mardi Gras ones, EVEN OUR ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADES BACK HOME, include all of these things.
Other than the marching bands (which were all American ones, ahem!), this parade didn’t have much in common with the parades I’ve come to know and love from home. Huge floats were traded in for odd, single-manned constructions, bead throwing traded in for no throwing of anything at all, and crazy crowds traded in for un-cheering families scattered with a few drunk tourists (at least where I was standing).
After the parade, instead of flooding into Temple Bar with what seemed like the rest of the world, we opted for a more local scene. We headed to one of my favorite areas of bars – South William Street. With lots of bars having outside seating, the street turned into a small block party of sorts. It was less crowded, less messy, and a great place to spend the afternoon.
Temple bar on St. Patrick’s Day
But, eventually, I had to face the inevitable. My friends had come to Dublin for only a few days and were determined to see the wretched famous Temple Bar. And although I warned them about the insanely overpriced drinks and the fact that it would be even more crowded today than usual, they insisted.
Well, we arrived to the Temple Bar area and HA! I was right. It was absolute carnage. Drunk Irish teenagers, I’m talking 13-14 year olds, huddled in mobs down the street. There were so many tourists everywhere, you could barely even get to the main square, let alone get within a 20-foot radius of THE Temple Bar bar, the most famous of them all. There was trash, food, and even human fluids (yep…) all over the streets. As the night progressed, it got so crowded that the police put up barricades and weren’t letting any more people even get IN to the square.
We bypassed the chaos and went around the edge of the Temple Bar area to get to the other side to check out one of the more decent bars there, The Porterhouse. Of course, that too was madness, but it was more bearable. Although we did enjoy the crowd and the live Irish music for a while, it ended up being too much and we eventually headed back to the William Street area to enjoy the rest of the evening.
What to know for St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin
So, my first St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin was an overall success! Here are some things I’ve learned from having done it once that I’d like to pass on to you, my dear readers, to help you out for YOUR first Paddy’s Day in Dublin:
- Don’t go to Temple Bar. Just don’t do it. Just don’t put yourself through it. Well, unless you like drunk people, puke, crowds, obnoxious tourists, and over-priced drinks. There are WAY better areas of Dublin to hang out.
- Prepare to be slightly underwhelmed. Not that I didn’t have a great time or anything, but, Paddy’s Day is a bit like New Year’s Eve. Although it’s usually a fun night, it’s always over-hyped so much and never as fun/epic as it’s planned to be. At least that’s been my experience…
- If you book reservations early enough, you can end up having an AMAZING brunch before heading out to the parade. San Lorenzo’s, Whitefriar Grill, Brother Hubbard, Brasserie Sixty6…they’re all amazing and near enough to the parade route.
- DON’T wear the leprechaun hats that all tourists seem to wear…specifically American tourists. You’ll 100% get ridiculed by Irish people behind your back.
- Try to interact with locals! If you take my advice from #1, you’ll surely meet some friendly Irish folk. Irish people will stay far away from Temple Bar, but that doesn’t mean they’re not out having a few drinks. After all, most people are off of work that day. So check out other areas of town and your sure to find buzzing pubs with a more local crowd.
Even though it was crazy and crowded, we still had an absolute BLAST celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin. I feel like it’s something everyone has to experience at least once!
