Christmas time has arrived in Ireland and especially in Dublin it’s everywhere to be seen! All over the city you can spot beautiful Christmas decorations and Christmas lights bringing festive atmosphere to the people. You want to know where you can find the best ones? We had a stroll through the city and found some of the most beautiful Christmas lights in Dublin.
Grafton Street and Brown Thomas
This may be a given, as Grafton Street is one of the main streets for Christmas Shopping in Dublin, but the Christmas lights hanging above the heads of busy shoppers make it an especially beautiful stop on your way around town. The many shops on the street add to the festive experience through decorating their windows – and luxury store Brown Thomas takes the cake with a stunning light display covering the whole storefront. So, take your time while walking Grafton Street this time of the year, enjoy the buskers singing and take in all the festive decorations it has to offer. And if you wonder, why there’s snow blowing through the street – that is coming from a Montblanc store in Anne Street.
O’Neills and Temple Bar
Not only stores are going strong with decorating their windows and facades. Irish pubs also offer some of the most extravagant Christmas decorations in Dublin. First, there’s Temple Bar: Always a tourist magnet and always decorated in some kind, it is especially beautiful during Christmas time. Thousands of lights adorn the front of the pub, a huge bow towers over the spectators and several decorated Christmas trees are lined up on the face of the pub. Truly a beautiful sight and always worth a stop, even if you don’t plan on going inside and join the many tourists visiting the pub.
A bit more traditionally decorated but also absolutely beautiful is O’Neills pub on Suffolk Street. Here, the whole front of the house is decorated in warm white Christmas lights, complementing the name of the pub in red lights.
Christmas at the Castle
Of course, a Christmas market is festively decorated with Christmas lights, Christmas trees and more. But Christmas at the Castle is certainly a special market in an extraordinary setting: The stalls for the market, as well as a tent for concerts and a carrousel are set up in the courtyard of Dublin Castle. For the occasion, you can even go inside the castle and visit the rooms where politicians meet to this day, as Dublin Castle is still actively used as a government building. And of course, all the rooms are decorated for Christmas, including the great ballroom, which looks like it is straight out of a fairytale with a huge Christmas tree at the center of it.
Henry Street and Arnotts
Ever since watching Miracle on 34ths Street or Home Alone 2, you’ve dreamt of visiting a toy store completely decorated with Christmas lights, trees and and a Santa? Not necessarily a toy store, but certainly a big store, Arnotts in Henry Street offers the perfect Christmas-movie-storefront you could wish for: A giant nutcracker in front of thousands of lights, garlands and a huge bow, all topped of with a writing saying “We believe”. After seeing this beautfiul decoration, we also believe in our Christmas mood being lifted.
Just have a stroll through the city to see the most beautiful Christmas Decorations in Dublin
At this time of the year, there’s barely a corner of Dublin not decorated for Christmas. So, just take your time when it gets dark in the afternoon and go for a stroll through the city. You might find some gems, where you might not even expect them. Some more areas we recommend to visit are Suffolk Street and the streets around it, the ticketed Dublin Winter Lights event at Merrion Square park, the Millenium Bridge, malls like the one at Stephen’s Green and some important buildings in the city center, which are all lit up by colorful projections. To find all of them, have a look at the website of Dublin Winter Lights.
