Dublin Pass

A sightseeing pass that gets you into 30+ sights around town

The Dublin Pass (www.dublinpass.ie) is a great bargain for hard-core sightseers.

Though you'd be hard-pressed to cram enough sights into a single day to get much value from the one-day version of the Dublin Pass, the two-day or three-day pass can be a good investment.

The Dublin Pass looks as if it costs quite a lot—€55 for two days, €65 for three days, etc.—until you start adding up the price of individual tickets, which in Dublin can be quite surprinsgly steep at the the most popular of the major sights.

For example, if you visit Christ Church Cathedral (€6), St. Patrick's Cathedral (€5.50), Dublinia (€7.50), the Guinness Storehouse (€14.40), the Dublin Writer's Museum (€7.50), and the Old Jameson Distillery (€13) you would spend about €54 in seperate tickets.

That's just €1 shy of the price of a two-day Dublin Pass—meaning anything else you popped into would be, essentially, free.

What's more, you often get discounts in the gift shops and other little perks.

Even at some top sights where admission is already free to all you still get the perks, such as a free museum book and 10% off in the excellent cafe at the Chester Beatty Library, or free postcards, 20% off a museum book, and 10% off at the cafe in the National Museum of Archaeology.

Other Dublin Pass benefits

• You can skip any long ticket lines and just saunter right in.
• If you validate it at the airport, you get a free ride from the airport into town on the Aircoach (€7 value).
• Free Dublin guidebook.
• Various discounts at museum gift shops and cafes.
• Discounts on popular Dublin activities, including walking tours, theme dinners, Liffey cruises, and even tickets to plays at the famed Abbey Theatre.

Dublin Pass 2012 prices

• 1-day pass: €35 ($48)
• 2-day pass: €55 ($76; online at Viator for $73)
• 3-day pass: €65 ($89; online at Viator for $86)
• 6-day pass: €95 ($130; online at Viator for $126)