This guide follows a line across central Dublin, from the River Liffey to St Stephen's Green, through six places: O'Connell Bridge, City Hall, Christ Church Cathedral, St Patrick's Cathedral, the Fusiliers' Arch and the National Museum of Ireland on Kildare Street. Between them they cover a thousand years of the city, from Viking Dublin to the Easter Rising, and all six are stops on our scavenger hunt.
O'Connell Bridge
The bridge that links O'Connell Street with the south side was first built in the 1790s to a design by James Gandon and named Carlisle Bridge. In the late 1870s it was rebuilt and widened by the engineer Bindon Blood Stoney, and in 1882 it was renamed after Daniel O'Connell, the 19th-century politician who campaigned for Catholic rights. The result is unusual: the bridge is about as wide as it is long, so it feels more like a square over the river than a bridge.
At its north end stands the O'Connell Monument by John Henry Foley, unveiled in 1882; look closely at the bronze figures and you can see bullet holes from the fighting of 1916. On the bridge itself, look for a small brass plaque to a 'Father Pat Noise': it is a hoax, fixed to the parapet by pranksters in 2004, and it has become a small sight of its own.
Dublin City Hall
On Dame Street, at the top of Parliament Street, stands City Hall. It was built between 1769 and 1779 as the Royal Exchange for the city's merchants, after a design competition won by the English architect Thomas Cooley, and it has housed Dublin City Council since the 1850s. The Corinthian portico faces down Parliament Street towards the river, which was deliberate: it was the grand view of its time.
Inside, the round entrance hall under a dome is lined with statues of Irish figures, including Daniel O'Connell, and the floor carries the city's coat of arms and its Latin motto, which says that the obedience of citizens makes a happy city. City Hall played a role in Irish history too: rebels occupied it in 1916, and in 1922 the body of Michael Collins lay in state here.
Christ Church Cathedral
Christ Church is the older of Dublin's two medieval cathedrals. It was founded around 1030 under the Norse king Sitric Silkbeard, in what was then the Viking town, and rebuilt in stone after the Anglo-Normans arrived in the 1170s. What you see outside is largely the result of a thorough restoration in the 1870s by the architect George Edmund Street, paid for by the whiskey distiller Henry Roe, which also produced the covered bridge over the street to the Synod Hall.
Inside, look for the tomb with a knight's effigy known as Strongbow's tomb, linked to the Norman leader who conquered Dublin; the original was smashed in the 16th century and replaced. The crypt, which runs under the whole church, is one of the largest medieval crypts in Ireland and Britain. Its best-known exhibit is a mummified cat and rat, found stuck in an organ pipe, where the cat apparently chased the rat and both became trapped.
St Patrick's Cathedral
A few minutes south, St Patrick's is the largest church in Ireland and the national cathedral of the Church of Ireland. It stands beside the site of a well where, according to tradition, St Patrick baptised converts. The present building dates mainly from the 13th century, but it was in poor shape by the 1800s and was restored in the 1860s with money from Benjamin Lee Guinness, of the brewing family.
Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver's Travels, was dean here from 1713 until his death in 1745, and he is buried in the nave next to Esther Johnson, his close friend Stella. You can see his epitaph, which he wrote himself, and his pulpit. Also inside is the Door of Reconciliation: according to the story, in 1492 the Earl of Kildare cut a hole in it and put his arm through to shake hands with his enemy, the Earl of Ormond, which is said to be the origin of the phrase 'chancing your arm'.
Fusiliers' Arch
At the north-west corner of St Stephen's Green, facing the top of Grafton Street, stands a granite arch opened in 1907. It commemorates the soldiers of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers who died in the Second Boer War in South Africa, and the names of the dead are carved on the underside of the arch. Some Dubliners, opposed to the war, nicknamed it Traitors' Gate.
The arch was modelled on the Arch of Titus in Rome. During the Easter Rising of 1916, rebels held St Stephen's Green, and the stonework still shows marks from the shooting. Walk through it into the park, where a lake, a bandstand and several monuments make it a pleasant break from the shopping streets.
National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology
On Kildare Street, next to Leinster House where the Irish parliament sits, the archaeology branch of the National Museum opened in 1890 in a building by Thomas Newenham Deane and his son. Its domed rotunda is modelled on classical examples and the doors and floors are richly decorated.
The collection is the best place to see Ireland's ancient treasures: gold ornaments from the Bronze Age, the Ardagh Chalice and the Tara Brooch, the Broighter Hoard with its little gold boat, and finds from Viking Dublin. The most striking room is Kingship and Sacrifice, where Iron Age bog bodies, preserved for over 2,000 years in Irish peat, are shown with care and context.
How to see them in one walk
Start on O'Connell Bridge, walk along the south quays and up Parliament Street to City Hall, then continue west along Lord Edward Street to Christ Church Cathedral. Head south down Patrick Street to St Patrick's Cathedral and its park, then walk east via Kevin Street and the streets around St Stephen's Green to the Fusiliers' Arch. Finish at the National Museum on Kildare Street, on the other side of the Green.
See Dublin with World City Trail
Our Dublin scavenger hunt turns the city centre into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops, from the Parnell Monument to the Irish Whiskey Museum. All six places in this guide are stops, along with the Parnell Monument, the Spire, St Andrew's Church and the Irish Whiskey Museum.
If you prefer a different format, there is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Dublin.
Play the Dublin scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Dublin →
Play the outdoor escape game in Dublin →
Facts checked in October 2026.