Dublin is definitely a pub city and what constitutes a cool bar here will differ from one drinker to the next. There are upmarket, trendy cocktail bars, dingy dive bars, hipster pubs, live music bars, traditional pubs and even what are affectionately known as 'old-man pubs'. With such variety in Dublin pubs and bars the lines defining these types have become blurred, for example the old-man pub is now considered quiet cool, hipster-ish even, for being old-man pubs in the first place, while many live music bars might well be considered dive bars too...the city is a veritable cocktail of pub styles & character and it's oh so tasty!
Some brief recommendations include;

  • Sweeney's and Whelan's for regular, great live music and a relatively young crowd,
  • Darkey Kelly's for a nice mix between older and younger locals in an authentic setting
  • Anseo, The Bleeding Horse, and Cassidy's for your hipster fix
  • The Cobblestone and O'Donoghues for 'less-touristy' traditional Irish music
  • And Fibber Magees for heavy metal, nu-metal and the like.