Overview
Day 1
Leave the hotel on foot at 2.45pm. Given the large number of services to Dublin from many UK airports, flights are not included in the package. We begin with a walk around Merrion Square, with admission to No. 63, the first of several special arrangements on this tour. Fitzwilliam Square and the linking streets follow. This is an afternoon with some of the loveliest and best preserved Georgian streetscape to be found anywhere, with a commentary concerning design, materials, functions, history and social life.
Day 2
Seat of the British government for 700 years, the Georgian transformation of Dublin Castle resulted in a magnificent set of state apartments and halls. Dublin City Hall, with its striking rotunda, was built in the 1770s as the Royal Exchange, while the supremely elegant Bank of Ireland of 1729 was originally the Parliament House. Leinster House, the current parliament, was originally a private mansion. Now HQ of the Irish Georgian Society, the City Assembly House was the Irish Artists Society, the earliest such body in the British Isles.
Day 3
Explore buildings and precincts on the Northside. Henrietta Street is the most intact collection of early 18th-century aristocratic townhouses in Ireland, and we have special admission to a couple. Drive out to 18th-century Collins Barracks, encompassing the largest drilling square in Europe; time to see some of the galleries of the National Museum of Decorative Arts and History here. Newman House in St Stephen’s Green contains one of the finest sets of Georgian interiors and is reopening as a literary museum in 2019.
Day 4
To Northside again for a walk which begins with the grand General Post Office of 1818 in O’Connell Street (interior burnt in the 1916 Easter Rising) and leads to the Customs House, another great work by James Gandon. The campus of Trinity College consists of a quite remarkable set of buildings of the 18th and 19th centuries around lawns and cobbled squares. Finish at the hotel by 1.00pm.
Price, per person
Two sharing: £1,530. Single occupancy: £1,890.
Flights
Several airlines link Dublin with many UK and other airports so flights are not included in the tour. You are free to choose flights which are the most convenient for you.
Included
Hotel accommodation; breakfasts, one lunch and two dinners with wine, water, coffee; travel by private coach; all admissions; all tips; the services of the lecturer and tour manager.
Accommodation
Conrad Dublin: Recently refurbished with modern décor this 5-star hotel is located opposite St Stephen’s Green. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout.
How strenuous?
A good level of fitness is essential. You will be on your feet a lot, walking and standing around in the city centre, where coach access is restricted. The tour would not be suitable for anyone with difficulties with everyday walking and stair climbing. Two of the four days involve no coach travel. Average distance by coach per day: 3 miles.
Are you fit enough to join the tour?
Group size
Between 10 and 22 participants.
Travel advice
Before booking, please refer to the FCDO website to ensure you are happy with the travel advice for the destination(s) you are visiting.
