Ninety seconds on Dublin Castle
Three layers of Dublin share one site here: a Viking defence bank, a Gothic chapel and the Georgian State Apartments. Two of them, the dig and the chapel, open only to the guided tour, so book it.
The castle stands on the site of a Viking settlement. In the Viking Excavation, a stone-covered defence bank from Viking Dublin survives inside the circular walls of the thirteenth-century Powder Tower.
Beside it you see a section of the medieval curtain wall, a postern gate and the steps that once led down to the moat. The River Poddle, diverted to fill that moat, still flows under the castle grounds. Part of the early town wall survives too, with the archway that let the moat pass beneath it.
Rebuilding in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries turned the medieval bastion into the Georgian palace whose rooms you walk through upstairs.
The Chapel Royal, a Gothic Revival building by Francis Johnston, was the place of worship for the viceregal household. Look up at its vaulting, its fine plasterwork and its carved oak galleries. Look too for the coats of arms of every viceroy, which run around the chapel until the last one fills the very last space.
The State Apartments fill the south range of the Great Courtyard and were built for the viceroy's court. St Patrick's Hall is the grandest of the rooms, and every president of Ireland since 1938 has been inaugurated there.
Dublin Castle is closed to visitors while Ireland hosts the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, so check before you plan around it. When it reopens, visitor reception is in the State Apartments on the Upper Courtyard; book online ahead or buy one of a limited number of tickets there on the day.
Leave your bag in one of the free lockers before you start, and keep cash, cards and passport on you. A self-guided ticket covers the State Apartments and the exhibitions at your own pace. The audio guide is a free download in English over the castle's Wi-Fi, so bring your own earphones.
The guided tour starts below ground in the Viking Excavation, entered from the lower courtyard opposite the Chapel Royal. It then crosses to the chapel and finishes upstairs in the State Apartments.
Take the guided tour if the Viking dig or the Chapel Royal is why you came: both are open only to tour groups. Tours run daily between 10:00 and 16:30. If you only want the state rooms, the self-guided ticket and the audio guide are enough.
Prams and buggies are not allowed in the museum rooms of the State Apartments, and staff store them while you visit. The Viking Excavation is reached by stairs only; ask at reception about access to the Chapel Royal.
Turn your flash off indoors, because the collection is light sensitive, and leave the selfie stick in your bag: sticks are banned inside every building. Pass holders still collect a ticket at the desk, and a Go City Dublin Pass covers the self-guided visit only. Wear shoes with grip for the uneven stones of the Upper Courtyard.
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