St. Patrick’s Day (17th March) is the national holiday to celebrate Saint Patrick, one of the patron saints of Ireland. People from all over the world come to Dublin to attend the St. Patrick’s festival, which lasts for 5 days, and to get a glimpse of its highlight - the parade on St. Patrick’s Day. The official St. Patrick’s festival web page presents all events and further information.

Dublin (Irish: Baile Átha Cliath) is the largest city in Ireland and the capital of the Republic of Ireland. It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region. Founded as a Viking settlement, the city has been Ireland's primary city for most of the island's history since medieval times. Today, it is an economic, administrative and cultural centre for the island of Ireland, and has one of the fastest growing populations of any European capital city.

There are many tourist attraction in and around Dublin: museums, galleries, historical buildings,  castles (e.g. Dublin Castle or Malahide Castle) and abbeys, celtic and other heritage sites, old districts, traditional pubs with live music, the Guinness Brewery, The Old Jameson Distillery, Phoenix Park (one of Europe’s largest enclosed city park is even bigger than Hyde Park in London and Central Park in New York), nice hiking/walking trails along the coast, and so forth.

For further information on all the touristy things you can do in Dublin have a look at www.dublin.iewww.dublintourist.com, www.tourist-information-dublin.co.uk or www.visitdublin.com. You also can get a so-called DublinPass to get free entrance or reduced prices for many tourist attractions.

Along Dublin’s coast there are nice areas to walk or just stroll along the sea front - like Howth Head and lighthouse or the costal walk from Bray to Greystones.

Just a short drive from Dublin City towards the south is the national park Wicklow Mountains located. Beside hiking trips and nice scenery with lots of lakes (irish: lough) Wicklow Mountains is also worth a visit because of Glendalough - one of the most popular places in Ireland. It is a 6th century monastic site with a round tower, stone churches and lots of decorated, celtic crosses.