Tips for Visiting the Guinness Storehouse
/You don’t have to spend much time in Dublin before you notice groups of people carrying around bags with pictures of the famous black gate or a tall glass with a frothy head on it. You can tell those people are among the 1.5 million people who visit The Guinness Storehouse at St. James’s Gate every year. This makes the home of the black stuff one of the most popular attractions in Dublin.
Entry into the guinness storehouse includes a pint with a view of the brewery
With it being so popular, it is almost always busy. With that in mind, here are a couple of tips to make your visit to Guinness easier and more enjoyable.
It is Not Just for Beer Lovers
This first tip is more of an encouragement to not skip a visit to the Guinness Storehouse than a tip about your visit. As a beer drinker who fell in love with Guinness year ago, I make the journey to St. James’s Gate almost every time I am in Ireland even if it is not with a group. My wife is a selective beer drinker, but still enjoys coming to the Storehouse to check out all of the exhibits about different parts of the Guinness story. With exhibits on the Guinness family and their relationship with the city of Dublin to the shipping and advertising of Guinness around the world, there is something to peak everyone’s interest.
Many of the exhibits are fun and interactive, so even if you are not into the floors on the brewing process there will be something fun for you to do and come away having learned something. One of my favorite exhibits is the advertising floor where you can take pictures of ourself inside some famous Guinness ads you will see around Ireland.
One of the many life sized guinness ads in the storehouse
Book your Tickets Online Ahead of your Visit
Every time I have been to the Guinness Storehouse, I have walked up to see a line down the outside of the building. This is generally the line of people who showed up without purchasing their ticket online. You can skip the long line and go right in for your self guided tour if you buy your ticket ahead of time online. If you have your itinerary planned out well enough, you can even buy tickets before you leave for Ireland to make sure you get a spot on the day you are making space for a visit to the storehouse. The button below will take you to the visit page of the Guinness Storehouse where you can purchase your ticket.
Visit on a Weekday in the Morning
The other advantage of buying your ticket online before hand is that tickets costs are different depending on the day of the week and the time of day you are planning your visit. If you plan on visiting on a weekday before noon it will be cheaper than visiting at 2pm on a Saturday. I looked at a random weekday in May. If you booked tickets before 11:00, it would cost €20. After 11:00 tickets went up to €26. I looked on the following Saturday and tickets were €26 before 11:00 and €30 for the afternoon. Depending on how many tickets you need to purchase, planning for the morning on a weekday could save you a lot of money.
The Guinness Academy is Worth the Extra Money
On your visit to Ireland, you may drink many pints in many different pubs around the country. Rarely will you get the opportunity to learn how to properly pour a pint of Guinness and then have the chance to give it a go yourself. That is where the Guinness Academy comes in. For an extra €12 a ticket, you can learn how to pour a proper pint of Guinness and then give it a go yourself. I think it is well worth the price, and will add to your experience the next time you order a pint on the rest of your trip. As a bonus, it will also make you watch the bartender every time you order a pint of Guinness when you get home…
Plan to Visit other Things Near the Storehouse
If you are like most people staying in Dublin, your hotel will be down off of Grafton Street or somewhere near the Dublin Spire on O’Connell Street. That is a long, but very doable, walk or journey on public transit down to the Storehouse. To make the most out of that journey, try planning other things near the storehouse and make a full day of that part of Dublin. Some potential options include:
Take a walk in Phoenix Park, one of the largest inclosed city parks in Europe. While you are there, the Dublin Zoo might be worth a visit.
Use your OPW Heritage Card at Kilmainham Goal. If this is on your agenda, I would book ahead for both this and the Guinness Storehouse and watch your time at each.
Pop into the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks. This is a great museum filled with exhibits from Ireland’s recent past. If this is of interest, I recommend looking at what is on offer at the time you are going and pick and choose what you want to see. The whole museum would take you the better part of a day.
I will add that if mobility is a concern, you may want to look into the Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour. These buses will drop you right in from of some of Dublin’s popular attractions including the Guinness Storehouse. Even taking the LUAS (Dublin’s light rail), the Guinness Storehouse is a little bit of a walk from the stop in front of Collin’s Barracks or Hueston Station. You will still be able to visit some of the great things around the Guinness Storehouse and you can save yourself some of the walking.
**Bonus Tip: Check Out Sensory Friendly Days
I included this last point as a bonus tip because I only learned about this while looking things up to write the post. The Guinness Storehouse has days which are specially marked as sensory friendly. I do not know anything about this first hand, but you can click HERE to visit Guinness’ accessibility page. On the bookings page you can see which days these are marked with a purple dot.
So there you have it. Five (maybe six) tips to help you plan your trip to the Guinness Storehouse, a truly can’t miss stop on your trip to Ireland. If you have been to the storehouse before, what other tips or suggestions would you add to this list?
If you will be visiting Guinness for the first time, what are you excited about? What other questions do you have? I look forward to hearing from you in the comments!
Until then, Happy Travels!