Planning a music weekend in Ireland: practical itineraries for Dublin, Galway and Cork

The three obvious choices for a music weekend do different things. Dublin has the most of everything, the widest range of ticketed shows, and a trad scene you have to seek out slightly. Galway is the easiest city in the world to find a session in, has one strong independent venue for ticketed gigs, and is small enough to walk end to end; it is the right choice if sessions are the point. Cork is somewhere between: a serious independent scene, early-evening sessions that let you do two things a night, a converted church you will not forget, and one gigantic jazz weekend in October.

All three are reachable by rail from each other. Dublin to Cork and Dublin to Galway are each around two and a half hours by train from Heuston station; Cork to Galway involves a change at Limerick Junction or a bus. Belfast, which has a weekend of its own in our Belfast guide, is about two hours from Dublin Connolly on the Enterprise. None of these cities needs a car.

• Any ticketed show you actually care about. Mid-size venues sell out at weekends, and the homecoming shows in December sell out fast. See our tickets guide.
• A bed. Dublin is expensive every weekend; Galway and Cork are expensive on festival weekends and bank holidays, and sold out during the Galway Arts Festival and the Cork Jazz Festival.
• Nothing else. Sessions and pub gigs do not need booking, and leaving most of the weekend unplanned is the point.

Then open Explore, set the dates to your weekend, pick the county, and look at the shape of it: the ticketed shows on each night, the free badges, the session start times. The city pages (Dublin, Galway, Cork) do the same thing with a bit more context. Follow the venues you are considering and you will be notified if anything changes.

Base yourself anywhere between Smithfield and Camden Street, south or north of the river; everything in this itinerary is walkable from that stretch.

Friday: arrive, drop bags, and start at The Cobblestone in Smithfield, where there is usually a session going from mid-afternoon. Stay for an hour or stay for the night. If there is a ticketed show you have booked at the 3Olympia, The Academy or Button Factory, the walk from Smithfield across the river is fifteen minutes. Afterwards, The Workmans Club on Wellington Quay or The Grand Social on Liffey Street usually have something free on in the bar.

Saturday: an afternoon session at Devitt’s on Camden Street from 14:00, then the evening at Whelan’s a few doors down, where there is a gig most nights and the building turns into a club afterwards. If you would rather sit down, a show at Vicar Street on Thomas Street or the National Concert Hall on Earlsfort Terrace is a twenty-minute walk in either direction. Our Dublin venues guide explains which room suits which night.

Sunday: a slow morning, then back to The Cobblestone for the Sunday session from the early evening, which is one of the best regular things in the city. The last trains to Cork and Galway leave Heuston in the evening; check the time before you settle in.

Base yourself in the city centre or the West End. Everything is within ten minutes on foot. Read our Galway guide for the geography; the short version is that the Latin Quarter (Quay Street, High Street) is the early, lively, visitor-heavy side of the river and the West End (Dominick Street, Sea Road) is the later, local side.

Friday: off the train, bags down, and over to An Púcán near Eyre Square for the 18:00 session. Dinner in the Latin Quarter. Then down to The Kings Head or the Quay Street pubs for the bands as they start around nine, and across Wolfe Tone Bridge to finish the night at The Crane Bar on Sea Road, where the session runs from 21:30.

Saturday: a walk along the prom to Salthill and back, and if you time it right, into O’Connor’s on the seafront for an evening session. Or stay in town for a ticketed gig at Róisín Dubh, which is where the touring bands play, and come out afterwards to Monroe’s across the street, which will still be going. Saturday in the Latin Quarter pubs can be one-in-one-out by ten, so if you want a seat by the musicians, go at the listed start time.

Sunday: the gentlest day. An Púcán runs a Sunday evening session from 18:00; The Crane and the Quay Street pubs usually have something from the afternoon. If you have an evening train, you can do one more session and still make it.

Base yourself on the island or around MacCurtain Street on the north side; both are walkable to everything. Cork’s special feature is the early session, which lets you do a session at half six and a gig at nine without choosing. Our Cork guide has the full map.

Friday: start at Sin É on Coburg Street for the session from 18:30, with The Corner House a few doors away as an alternative. Dinner on MacCurtain Street. Then over the river to Cyprus Avenue if you have booked a band, or to Crane Lane Theatre on Phoenix Street if you have not, where there is live music most nights and often no door charge. Finish at An Spailpín Fánach on South Main Street, where the late session runs from 21:30.

Saturday: an afternoon around the English Market and the lanes, an early session at The Oliver Plunkett from 18:00, and then a show at Live at St Luke’s, the converted church on the hill, if there is one on; it is the room most visitors remember. Otherwise Cork Opera House or the Everyman for a seated show, or Fred Zeppelins on Parliament Street for a loud one.

Sunday: a walk out to Marina Market in the docklands, which often has free music at weekends, and back for the Sunday session at Sin É or The Gables on Douglas Street in the evening.

• Arriving at a session an hour after the listed start on a Saturday and expecting a seat. Go at the start.
• Reading “doors 20:00” as the band at 20:00. At a club venue the headliner may be two hours later; see our tickets guide.
• Planning four things in one night. Two is right. The best nights happen when you stay where you are.
• Treating a free session as a free night out. Buy drinks; that is how the musicians get paid.
• Assuming a bank-holiday weekend is like any other. It is busier, dearer and better, and it needs booking.
• Trusting a listing over the venue for a show tonight. Our data is a nightly snapshot; the venue is live. Here is how our listings work.

If you have more than a weekend, the obvious extension is the west: Clare for sessions (Doolin, Ennis, Miltown Malbay), Sligo for the Hawk’s Well and the county’s trad tradition, or west Cork for De Barra’s in Clonakilty and the coast road to Bantry. Our festival season guide will tell you which weekends to aim for, and the first-timer’s guide to sessions will tell you how to behave when you get there.