A first date needs three things from a venue. Two people have to be able to hear each other, both have to be free to leave without ceremony, and there has to be something to look at or talk about if the conversation stalls. Much of the city center fails the first test on a weekend night, when the pubs around Temple Bar are at their loudest.
The Iveagh Gardens, Clonmel Street
The Iveagh Gardens are 8.5 acres of lawns and paths behind the buildings between Clonmel Street and Upper Hatch Street, close to the National Concert Hall. Ninian Niven laid them out in 1865, and the Office of Public Works reopened them to the public in 1992 after a long restoration. The cascade falls over a rockery built with stones from all 32 Irish counties, and there is a small maze modeled on the one at Hampton Court. A sunken lawn in the grounds is one of only two purpose-built archery fields in Ireland.
Buildings almost completely surround the gardens, so they are easy to miss and usually quieter than St Stephen’s Green next door. Entry is free. That removes the question of who pays, and a slow circuit of the paths allows half an hour of conversation before anyone decides on a drink.
The Long Hall, South Great George’s Street
The Long Hall has held a license since 1766, although the interior dates from 1881, when the publican Patrick Dolan finished a refurbishment in high Victorian style. The long room has mahogany woodwork and chandeliers and is split in two by an arched partition, and the pub takes its name from a narrow hallway snug that ran parallel to the back bar.
The snugs are enclosed booths off the main room. The pub is a short walk from the Iveagh Gardens, so a walk and a drink combine easily, and an early evening visit avoids most of the weekend crowd.
Irish Film Institute, Eustace Street
The Irish Film Institute is in Temple Bar, in a building first put up in the early 18th century as a Quaker meeting house. It has 3 cinemas, the Irish Film Archive and a café bar that serves food from lunch through the evening. The institute operates as a cinema club, which lets it screen films that have not been through the national censor.
With a film, the hardest part of a first date, deciding what to talk about, is settled in advance. Eating in the café bar before the screening leaves the evening open, and over a drink afterwards both people have the film in common.
La Peniche, Mespil Road
La Peniche is a restaurant on a restored cargo barge moored on the Grand Canal at Mespil Road, between the Baggot Street and Leeson Street bridges. The evening dining cruise passes through working lock gates and under 18th-century bridges on its way toward Charlemont and back, with a sitting at 6pm and another at 9pm.
A full dinner cruise is a large commitment for a first meeting, since neither person can leave until the barge returns to its mooring. It makes more sense once two people know they enjoy each other’s company, and the cruise is one of the more memorable second date ideas in the city. For a first date, lunch on board is the shorter version of the same setting.
Howth Cliff Path, Howth Head
The Howth Cliff Path Loop starts and ends at the railway station in Howth village, about 35 minutes on the DART from Connolly. The loop is 7.8km with about 130m of climbing, and it takes around 2 hours. Along the way there are views across Dublin Bay to Lambay Island and Ireland’s Eye, and gray seals are sometimes visible below the cliffs.
A walk keeps two people side by side for 2 hours and finishes back in the village. The harbor has seafood restaurants and pubs within a few minutes of the station, so the date can finish with a meal or at the platform.
The International Bar, Wicklow Street
The International Bar is one of the oldest family-run pubs in Dublin, and its current owners are the sixth generation of the Donohoe family to run it. The Comedy Cellar has run there every Wednesday since 1988, and it gave early stage time to comedians including Tommy Tiernan and Dylan Moran. On Monday nights a separate club in the basement, running since 2022, puts 25 to 30 comedians on stage for 5 minutes each.
A comedy show provides something to react to together, and there is a show on most nights, which makes the International a reliable fallback when another plan falls through.
National Gallery of Ireland, Merrion Square
General admission to the National Gallery of Ireland is free. Its best-known painting is Caravaggio’s The Taking of Christ, painted in 1602. Dr. Marie Lea-Wilson bought what turned out to be the lost Caravaggio at a Scottish sale in 1921, when it was thought to be by Gerard van Honthorst, and gave it to the Jesuits in Dublin in the early 1930s. A conservator identified it in 1990, and the Jesuit community lent it to the gallery indefinitely in 1993.
In front of paintings, two people trade small opinions that risk very little. Free entry means the visit can last 20 minutes or 2 hours without either person feeling a ticket went to waste.
Poolbeg Lighthouse, Great South Wall
The Great South Wall is more than 4km long, from Ringsend into Dublin Bay, and it was finished with large granite blocks in 1795. At its end is the red Poolbeg Lighthouse, begun in 1762 and finished in 1768, then redesigned and rebuilt in 1820. It is painted red to mark the port side for ships entering the bay.
The shorter walk from the car park on Pigeon House Road is about 3.4km and takes around 40 minutes. The longer route from Sandymount Strand takes about 2 hours, and the wall is exposed to wind off the bay the whole way. Bring a warm coat. The walk itself costs nothing.
Order of a First Evening
The free and flexible places make the better first dates. A plan that starts in the Iveagh Gardens and moves to the Long Hall a short walk away can end after 30 minutes or continue until closing, and no one has to explain the choice. The barge and the Howth loop each require a fixed block of time, from a 2-hour walk to a cruise that only ends when the boat is back at its mooring. Those are better kept for a second or third meeting, when both people already know the evening is worth the commitment.
