The 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin: the GPO Museum, Kilmainham Gaol, Glasnevin and the walking tour, in order

💡 The Short Version: The GPO Museum is €15 online (€17 at the door), closed on Sundays and public holidays, and it tells the story from the 1916 Rising to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Kilmainham Gaol is €8, by guided tour only, with tickets released 28 days ahead at midnight Irish time: book it first. Glasnevin’s Irish History Tour is €15 and Dublin’s Original 1916 Tour is €23. Order: the GPO Museum and the walking tour in the centre, then Kilmainham, then Glasnevin. Or book a tour: the Highlights and Hidden Gems walking tourad passes the GPO and is from €24.

The sites and what they cost

Prices are the adult rate in euros, from the operators. Each site tells its own part of the story, and none sells a combined ticket.

The General Post Office on O’Connell Street. Photo: ClaireWhi, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

• The GPO Museum’s online prices save €2 to €5. Seniors (65 and over) and students are €13 online and €15 at the door, children aged 14 to 17 are €12 and €13, and children aged 6 to 13 are €7.50 and €8.50. A family of two adults and two children is €40 online and €45 at the door. Under-6s are free. A free audio guide opens from a QR code, and a headset is €2.
• Kilmainham’s tickets are sold only by the Office of Public Works. See Kilmainham Gaol tickets.
• Glasnevin’s concession ticket is €13 and a family ticket is €45.
• Of these, only the GPO Museum is on the Go City Dublin Pass. See Dublin Pass: is it worth it?.

Tours worth paying for

Dublin’s Original 1916 Tour is run by the historian Lorcan Collins and his colleagues, and it is sold only on its own site. The operator asks that you book there and not through other sellers. A general walking tour on GetYourGuide is the other option. Prices are the operators’ own, and GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” price.

Dublin’s Original 1916 Tour

€23 · about 2 hours · Mondays to Saturdays 11:30, Sundays 13:00

The tour has run since 1996 and follows the sites of the Rising in the city centre at an easy pace. It meets at The International Bar, 23 Wicklow Street, Dublin 2. The public tours run from March to October on those days and times, and on Saturdays only in January and February. Private tours for up to 10 people run all year. Book at 1916rising.com.

The Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square. Photo: Sir James, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Highlights and Hidden Gems walking tour

From €24 · 2 hours · 4,055 reviews

Dublin: Highlights and Hidden Gems Walking Tourad is run by Original Dublin in English. It starts at 3 Crown Alley in Temple Bar, takes in Dublin Castle, Christ Church Cathedral, City Hall, the Ha’penny Bridge, the GPO Museum and O’Connell Bridge, and finishes at Trinity College. It is a general tour of the city, with the Rising as one stop. Cancel up to 24 hours ahead for a full refund.

What to see

The sites are in three parts of the city, so take them in this order.

1. The GPO Museum, O’Connell Street. The General Post Office was the headquarters of the 1916 Easter Rising, and the museum is inside it. It follows the story through the War of Independence, the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the Civil War to the Troubles and the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. The visit is self-guided, with public guided tours of 1 to 1¼ hours through the week. Specially researched tours cover the role of women and the Anglo-Irish Treaty, among other subjects. It is wheelchair accessible by lift, and the nearest Dublin Bikes station is Prince’s Street.
2. The walking tour. It starts at The International Bar on Wicklow Street.
3. Kilmainham Gaol, Kilmainham. The Office of Public Works says the gaol held leaders of the Rising, 14 of whom were executed by firing squad in the Stonebreakers’ Yard. The one-hour tour is the only way in. It is 3.5 km from the centre, reached by Dublin Bus 60 or the Luas Red Line to Suir Road.
4. Glasnevin Cemetery, Finglas Road. The cemetery calls itself Ireland’s National Cemetery. The Irish History Tour is outdoors and says Glasnevin bore witness to the Rising, the War of Independence and the Civil War. It also names the graves of Charles Stewart Parnell, Eamon de Valera, Countess Markievicz, Maud Gonne and Michael Collins. The ticket includes the Extra-ordinary Lives exhibition on the first floor of the Visitor Centre, about more than 20 people buried there. The O’Connell Tower climb is 198 steps, with the crypt of Daniel O’Connell below.

What to skip: the O’Connell Tower, unless you want the view, since the tour is the main reason to go. The GPO Museum’s guided tour, if you prefer the self-guided visit and the free audio guide.

The O’Connell Tower above the graves at Glasnevin Cemetery. Photo: William Murphy, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Practical information

• GPO Museum: Monday to Saturday 10:00 to 17:00, last admission 16:00. Closed on Sundays, public holidays and Christmas Eve. If the museum is at capacity, online bookers come first. Luas Green Line stops at O’Connell-GPO northbound and Marlborough southbound, and the Red Line stop is Abbey Street. Connolly Station is an 11-minute walk and Tara Street 10.
• Kilmainham Gaol: the Visitor Centre opens 9:30 to 17:15, the museum 10:30 to 17:15. Closed 24 to 27 December.
• Glasnevin: the grounds are open daily 9:00 to 17:00 and the Visitor Centre 10:00 to 17:00. The Irish History Tour runs Monday to Sunday at 14:30 and Friday to Sunday also at 11:30 in winter, and at 11:30, 13:30 and 14:30 daily in summer. The operator recommends booking.
• Sunday: the GPO Museum is shut. Kilmainham and Glasnevin are open, and the walking tour runs at 13:00 from March to October.

What to book before you go to Dublin has the closed days for every sight. Museums in Dublin covers the National Museum at Collins Barracks and the other free museums, and free things to do in Dublin lists what costs nothing. Dublin walking tours compares the guided walks, including the pub crawls. Dublin public transport has the Luas and bus fares. 3 days in Dublin builds the plan round the bookings. Where to stay in Dublin compares the areas.