Dublin's pub crawl scene is legitimate. There are two main products running nightly: the backpacker crawl starting at The Living Room on Cathal Brugha Street, ending at Copper Face Jacks on Harcourt Street, and the literary crawl departing The Duke on Duke Street. Actors perform Beckett between rounds. A quiz follows. These are not the same night. Choose based on what you actually want from the evening.
Temple Bar is the tourist end: overpriced pints, trad music for visiting stag groups, and a street that is genuinely full from 6pm onward. For the actual Dublin night out, Harcourt Street and Camden Street in the south inner city are where the clubs and late bars concentrate. Leeson Street, running off St Stephen's Green, is the strip for smaller late-bars and has been a local institution for decades.
A pint of Guinness in Temple Bar runs €7 to €9. The same pint on Camden Street is €5.50 to €7. Club entry on Harcourt Street runs €5 to €15, with the bigger venues at the top end on Fridays and Saturdays. Shots in the late bars are €3 to €5. Budget €40 to €70 for a full evening including entry and four pints. Dublin is significantly cheaper than London for a comparable night but that gap has narrowed since 2022. Prices verified April 2026.
Thursday is the student and young professional night; the Harcourt Street bars fill from 10pm and the late bars on Leeson Street run well past 2am. Friday and Saturday are heavier with hen and stag groups, particularly in Temple Bar. Sunday is surprisingly active: traditional music sessions in pubs around Mulligan's on Poolbeg Street draw locals into the evening, though the clubs close earlier.
A two-hour walking tour that visits four historic pubs, including The Duke and The Old Stand. Actors perform excerpts from Joyce, Beckett, and Behan between stops. Includes a literary quiz and evening entry to Trinity College. Bring €15 for your first drink: it’s not included.
Check availabilityEurope’s longest-running pub crawl, visiting five bars and ending at a nightclub. Free shots at each stop, queue jumps, and a €5 club entry deal. The crawl starts at The Living Room and finishes at Copper Face Jacks. Hostels often hand out discount flyers: ask at reception.
Check availabilityReal pub crawls with a local guide. Live prices, ratings, and availability updated weekly.
Both main crawls price at €15 per person. The backpacker night includes free shots at each stop, queue jumps at venues, and a €5 club entry deal at Copper Face Jacks, which normally charges €10 and stays open until 2:30am. The literary crawl includes venue entry but not drinks: budget €15 extra for four pints at the historic pubs along the route.
Pints of Guinness in Temple Bar run around €7. Move to Camden Street and you are looking at €5–6 in the dive bars along the strip. The Brazen Head on Bridge Street Lower, trading since 1198, charges €6 a pint with folk music from 21:30. A full night from pre-drinks to last orders typically costs €50–70 all in, crawl ticket included.
Both crawls run nightly at 21:00, so day of the week matters less here than in most cities. Thursday student night at The Living Room brings €4 cocktails until midnight, making it the cheapest entry point. Fridays and Saturdays pull stag and hen groups into Temple Bar in volume: louder and more chaotic, which is either the point or the problem depending on your tolerance.
Upcoming events worth timing your trip around.
The backpacker crawl ends at Copper Face Jacks on Harcourt Street: cheesy pop, tables to dance on, and a room full of people who started the night in five different hostels.
Jacobs Inn Dublin, rated 9.0, sits north of the river within twenty minutes of Temple Bar and both crawl meeting points. Options are listed below. See our pick of the best party hostels in Dublin.
