Gay Dublin Dublin City Guide

Curation by Yasmina Rodríguez, words by Laura Tucker

Full of cordial characters who’ll win you over with their lilting accents and rust-tinted beards, Ireland’s capital Dublin is an alternative city break that will embrace you with charisma like no other. A small city with an outsized reputation for multiculturalism and hedonism, where centuries of heritage fuse with breath-taking natural landscapes and the odd stag do, Dublin is bound to leave an impression. Boasting a cosmopolitan outlook with old school charm, this mercurial city quietly embraces progressive culture, gradually shedding its conservative past. Despite the presence of Catholic orthodoxy, Gay Dublin is out and proud, having legalised gay marriage by popular vote in 2015 and playing host to tonnes of queer events throughout the year. In June there’s Pride month centred on Merrion Square, or alternatively come during May for the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, a celebration of famed gay literary legend Oscar Wilde and gay accomplishments in theatre. Other events include the LGBTQ+-focused Gaze Film Festival and Béar Féile where otters, bears, admirers and friends come out en masse to crown Mr Ireland Bear. For your ultimate Dublin gay travel guide, look no further.

The best hotels in Dublin

Book early — Dublin’s best rooms move fast, particularly around June’s Pride celebrations on Merrion Square. Of the city’s top addresses, four stand apart. Just off Grafton Street, The Westbury is the perennial benchmark for five-star luxury in the capital — a member of The Leading Hotels of the World, its 205 rooms adorned with an impressive private art collection including works by Sir John Lavery. Unwind over Afternoon Tea in The Gallery, and make time for a tableside martini in The Sidecar, the hotel’s 1930s-inflected cocktail bar. Signature restaurant WILDE, with its abundance of indoor greenery and glamorous setting, completes the picture.

For bold, contemporary architecture and the energy of the Docklands, Anantara The Marker on Grand Canal Square is the definitive design-forward choice. Its striking geometric façade sets the tone for an interior of considered modern luxury, backed by a 23-metre indoor infinity pool in the Anantara Spa — named Dublin Spa of the Year by Irish Tatler — alongside a rooftop bar delivering 360-degree views from the Dublin Mountains to the bay. On leafy Adelaide Road, The Wilder Townhouse is an intimate Residents’ Only boutique hotel where a Victorian red-brick shell has been filled with cheeky, design-led personality and individually conceived rooms — and it sits conveniently close to the city’s queer social heartland. For true opulence, The Merrion — four restored Georgian townhouses opposite Government Buildings — houses Ireland’s largest private art collection and the two-Michelin-star Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud, all wrapped in a tranquil, high-society atmosphere that is difficult to rival.