Things to do in Dublin

Two to three days. One for the Book of Kells at Trinity, the National Museum and Grafton Street. One for the Guinness Storehouse, Kilmainham Gaol and the Liberties. A third day for Howth Head walks (30 minutes north by DART) or Glendalough monastic site in the Wicklow mountains.

The Long Room of Trinity College's Old Library — 200,000 leather-bound books on dark oak shelving in a single 65-metre barrel-vaulted hall. Combine with the Book of Kells display next door. It looks like a film set; Star Wars actually filmed there in Jedi Library form.

Stoneybatter on the north side for the indie cafés and craft beer scene; Portobello along the Grand Canal for Patrick Kavanagh territory and Bernard Shaw pubs; Smithfield and the Liberties for street art and the old distilleries. Temple Bar is a one-pint-and-leave situation.

A pint of Guinness in a back-street pub like John Kavanagh's (The Gravediggers) by Glasnevin Cemetery — the city's most authentic pour. Boxty (potato pancakes) at Gallaghers in Temple Bar. A full Irish breakfast with white and black pudding the morning after. Irish whiskey at the Palace Bar.

Walk the centre — Trinity to Smithfield is 20 minutes. The two Luas tram lines (red and green) cover the rest. The DART suburban train runs along Dublin Bay and is the easiest way to Howth or Dún Laoghaire. There's no Metro despite decades of talk.

The Marsh's Library on St Patrick's Cathedral grounds — Ireland's first public library, opened in 1707, with the original dark oak bookcases, cages where you used to be locked in with the rare books, and a peaceful walled garden. Five minutes from Christchurch, barely on any tourist list.