In July 2023, we took our four-year-old and two-year-old to Dublin, Ireland to visit our friends! I was 7-months-pregnant, so fatigued easily, so the trip was mostly enjoying with our friends and letting the kids explore and eat good food! I consolidated our favorite family-friendly spots that our hosts took us to, in case you only have one day in Dublin, Ireland with toddlers.

Itinerary for 1 Day in Dublin, Ireland

1. Enjoy brunch or coffee + pastries at at Bread 41 in Dublin:

Head over to Bread 41 to get your morning meal in! You can either make a reservation at the restaurant (see link here) for a proper brunch or stand in line at the bakery for coffee and pastries. The line, although usually long, goes quickly. There are a few spacious tables that work well for families. We loved an assortment of savoury and sweet items, but I especially liked the chocolate brownie treat that my four-year-old picked out.

2. Stroll through Malahide Castle & Gardens in Dublin:

We enjoyed perusing the Malahide castle and gardens with our young kids. They have a Butterfly house, as well as large areas that are suitable for the kids to run around to exert energy. We did not go inside the castle, but admired it from the outside. All in all, it was a family friendly place that our kids loved!

3. Visit St. Patricks Cathedral:

St. Patricks Cathedral is beautiful, and the grounds outside have a fountain and a kids playground to run around. Again, we simply viewed the cathedral from the outside because we were short on time and our children were not in the mood, but I heard the interior was lovely as well. They liked the outdoor area to run around, as always.

4. Visit Phoenix Park in Dublin:

Visiting Phoenix Park and seeing deer so close up was a highlight of our trip! You drive into the park and scope the area to see if you can get a glimpse of a herd of deer. We spotted a group of deer and people within 5 minutes of driving into the park. The deer that we found all had antlers; which was amazing, but we tried to be extra cautious. My friend said she had previously interacted with a herd of deer that did not have antlers.

There were people feeding the deer vegetables. We didn’t have any fresh produce like that, and with such young kids, I didn’t want to attract more attention from the deer to come towards us. After he insisted tremendously, we allowed our son to feed the deer certain leaves that other people were feeding them. Similar to any time in such close proximity to wild animals, I would suggest to present caution.

5. Burgers at Bunsen Burger in Dublin:

We enjoyed the burgers at Bunsen Burger. it felt like a cross between our American favorites of Five Guys and In n’ Out. I also recommend splurging with a Vanilla milkshake alongside the burger and fries. Our two-year loved it as well!

6. Ice cream at Murphy’s and stroll through Grafton Street in Dublin:

We wanted to spend a little bit of time seeing the city life of Dublin, so we visited Grafton Street. It wasn’t always easy to manage the kids in the area, we for a quick stop, it was fine. We also grabbed ice cream at Murphys, which the whole family enjoyed.

Overall, we had a quick weekend trip to Dublin, and enjoyed seeing the highlights! The biggest challenge for us to get the country side during this trip was our children’s motion sickness, and it would have been convenient if we had been able to do a road trip. One day we hope to return to see the country side as we learn to manage our kids motion sickness.

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