Dublin · Bookshops
The Best Bookshops in Dublin
Dublin reads. It always has. These are the eight rooms we send every literary friend to, in the order we'd visit them ourselves. Skip the chains entirely.
The places we recommend to friends.
Quick Answer
Start at Hodges Figgis on Dawson Street, walk five minutes to Ulysses Rare Books on Duke Street, finish at Sweny's Pharmacy for a lemon soap and a chapter of Ulysses read aloud. That is a perfect Dublin literary morning. Pair it with the 3-day Dublin itinerary, or read the wider country through our Literary Ireland edition.
- No. 01
Hodges Figgis
Dawson Street
The Dublin bookshop. Four floors, every section serious, the Irish writers' table on the ground floor is the best curation in the city. Joyce shopped here. So does everyone else. Allow an hour, not twenty minutes.
- No. 02
Gutter Bookshop
Cow's Lane, Temple Bar (and Dalkey)
Independent, beautifully curated, and the staff actually read the books they shelve. The literary fiction wall is unmatched. The Dalkey branch is the prettier of the two if you have time.
- No. 03
Sweny's Pharmacy
Lincoln Place
Not a shop, a shrine. The chemist Leopold Bloom visits in Ulysses, run by volunteers who read the book aloud daily. Buy a bar of lemon soap on the way out. Ten minutes from Trinity.
- No. 04
Ulysses Rare Books
Duke Street
First-edition Yeats, Beckett, Heaney behind glass. The kind of room that smells correct. Even if you aren't buying, the window display is worth the walk.
- No. 05
Chapters Bookstore
Parnell Street
Ireland's largest independent. The basement second-hand floor is where Dubliners actually shop. Three euro paperbacks, a brilliant Irish poetry section, no algorithm in sight.
- No. 06
Books Upstairs
D'Olier Street
A literary café upstairs, a thoughtful indie below. Hosts the best small readings in Dublin. Sit upstairs with a coffee and the latest stinging fly journal for an hour.
- No. 07
The Last Bookshop
Camden Street
Pre-loved, packed, slightly chaotic, exactly right. The €5 table near the door yields the trip's best souvenir. Ten-minute walk from St. Stephen's Green.
- No. 08
Marrowbone Books
The Liberties
The newest of the lot. A small, opinionated room run by two ex-Hodges staff. The poetry shelf is the best-edited in the city.
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