I don’t know about you but sometimes when we travel we get a bit museumed out. We can only see so many things in a short period of time before all the sites start to overwhelm our brains. So when we were on a 5 day trip to Ireland I gave my kids the choice to see the Guinness Storehouse or the Book of Kells. They looked at the two websites and picked the Guinness Storehouse because it seemed like it would be more fun. I’ll have to come back to Dublin one day and check out the book of Kells and see if they were right, but we had a really great time at the Guinness Storehouse so I think they made the right choice.
What is the weather like in Dublin in November?
We were in Ireland in November and people warned me about the weather in November but the day of our visit to the Guinness Museum totally taught us all about the weather in Dublin Ireland inn November. We walked from our hotel (we were staying at the Grafton hotel) through a giant downpour! It was about a 25 minute walk and we stopped for breakfast along the way. (By the time we finished the museum the rain stopped and later that day we headed out to the Cliffs of Moher and it alternately poured and glowed with abundant sunshine along our whole drive.)
Why we visited the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin
Learning about beer at the Guinness Storehouse is also learning a bit about Ireland’s history. Of course we visited the Temple Bar when we were in Dublin. But one of my kids asked if the Temple Bar was the oldest pub in Dublin. So then we found the Brazen Head and went to visit it but it was so crowded we couldn’t find a table. So we googled if that was the oldest pub in Ireland and we found Sean’s Bar which we managed to visit on our trip back from the Cliffs of Moher. Because of pub culture in this country it seemed like we should definitely also learn about the origins of Ireland’s famous beer.
What can kids do at the Guinness Storehouse?
Kids are allowed in the Guinness Storehouse but they can not do some of the experiences. We just bought the family ticket for the regular 90 minute experience (it is a self-guided tour which is helpful if you are short on time and still want to visit). We almost got the tour with the Stoutie with our faces printed on it but we had other things to get to that day and couldn’t chance waiting and I wasn’t sure if the kids could go in the area where we would get the Stoutie either. With kids and museums, we get to museums as close to opening as possible because they are always less crowded as a rule-the Guinness Storehouse opened at 9:30am when we visited and there was even a bit of a small lineup (and a few other groups with kids as well). We just showed up and bought our tickets on-site but if you know you are going to go, you can get them in advance on the website and when I last checked you can change your booking up to 24 hours before you visit which is helpful if plans change too. (and this could change as well so make sure you read all the print if you book.)
Our guys were 14 when we went so they could read and interact with the exhibits and found them interesting. If we had younger kids they might not appreciate this museum as much but sometimes when you are seeing a city for the first time with kids in tow they need to come along. There are lots of interactive spaces, bright lights, and at the end they can get a bubbly soda and a view of Ireland that is included with the tour. Apparently people usually take about 90 minutes to visit this museum but we managed to breeze through it pretty quickly and we had the Gravity Bar all to ourselves. Even just being in this space for a bit felt like it was “worth it” for a visit.
Now whenever I see Guinness Beer here in the USA, I remember our visit to the museum, the torrential downpour we had getting to the museum and the coolest breakfast ever at a place called Beanhive (they have a vegetarian version of an Irish breakfast as well as incredible coffee art!)that we ate at on the way.
(In Dublin we also went to the Epic Irish Emigration Museum which was a literally epic museum as well. Dublin is one place with a direct flight from Seattle and that’s one of the reasons why we booked this trip.)
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)
One thought on “When your kids choose the Guinness Storehouse over seeing the book of Kells in Ireland and you really don’t blame them”
Comments are closed.