SANDEMANs new Dublin Tours

I took a walking tour with Cathal last weekend and was surprised to hear he was new! He knew the city and history very well and made sure to put a funny spin on most stories and even taught us how to greet each other in Irish.
I recommend the free walking tour if you’re interested in learning more about the history of Dublin and Ireland and want to meet some fellow travelers. They walk you around city center, Dublin Castle, Temple Bar, and Trinity College. Then once you’re done with the touristy places you can get actual local tips
Just don’t forget to tip!

This was a lovely tour presented by the very knowledgeable Alita. She’s very delightful and really enjoys giving the tour of her new hometown.
Our group learned a lot about the history of Dublin, government, pop and pub culture. The tour offers a stop at Dublin Castle, Temple Bar, Christchurch Cathedral, Trinity College, art posts on famous Dublin writers, artists and musicians; a great detailed history of the Easter Uprising and more.
It’s really worth booking and best of all it’s free and at your discretion to tip the guide. Get to know a bit of Dublin by a local.

Nos tocó Guille de guía y aparte de endulzarnos el oído con su acento argentino, compartió con nosotros su conocimiento sobre Dublín. Fue muy ameno y no se hizo duro aguantar el frío. Quizás echamos de menos alguna anécdota o historia más.

For a free tour, you really can’t complain. I also like that it’s just three hours and covers some interesting history and a fair number of sites. Tours are given in Spanish and English. Look for the folks with the red umbrella.
Now, if you have a soul, it’s not really free. Sandemans doesn’t pay the tour guides, so whatever you tip them is what they make. Still, it’s cheaper than most other tours and you take away quite a bit of knowledge.
They do a group photo at the beginning and e-​mail it to you.
I would have liked a little more walking and a little less time at each location. Our guide probably spent at least 10 minutes at each location, and no one really asked questions. Honestly, the tour is really more about history than actual sites.
Anywho, you see Dublin Castle and learn about the eight or so pivotal moments in Irish history, which is actually really interesting because as a free country, they’re relatively young. You also see the spot where U2 was discovered. You go to St. Stephen’s Green and learn how Dublin got it’s name (I’ll let you take the tour to find out). There’s a break in the middle where you can get tea or stop in a bar for 15 minutes. The guide makes sure to not leave without you.
At the end of the day, I’d recommend this tour, especially if you’re not doing any other tours in Dublin City Centre.

Great walking tour with Ciaran today.
I’m so glad we chose to do a walking tour on our first afternoon here, because so many places that we would have just walked past have fascinating stories behind them.
Ciaran gave a fantastic tour with a great balance between the historical and quirky, and gave lots of tips for visiting the rest of Ireland when we asked.
I really love that he covered so much history– he made it clear that any questions were welcome if we wanted to go a bit more in depth. If he had focused too much on one period we would of missed so much about modern day Ireland, and how Ireland even came into existence.
We also got a great run down on bars and things to visit, which felt like sincere and honest recommendations that we now have worked into our next couple of days here.

I had Conor as my guide, and since he was so awesome and with a touch more Irish history in his presentation and a bit more walking to some of the key sites would easily have given one of the best tours I’ve had, I’ve rounded up to a 5 (in reality, right now, he’s about a 4 – 4.5)… He spoke a mile a minute with an energy unrivaled by most people I’ve ever met. From the first moment as we stopped outside the Dublin Castle, I thought, «Well, I’m going to learn A LOT if he talks this fast.» (Unfortunately, however, as wonderful as he was and despite how fun the tour was, I will note that he talked about other tours he suggests (since he does others to Howth and has participated in ones to the Cliffs of Moher, etc. over his life), venues he thinks are worth visiting and other non-​Dublin-​history facts and tales as much as the history itself, so if you’re looking for three hours of history, well, you won’t get it… at least not with Conor unless you bombard him while walking from stop to stop.)
Conor was on the younger side, but had graduated college and used his interest in Irish history, business and acting to become a vivacious self-​employed tour guide with Sandeman’s (in other words, he gets paid by those on the tour, not Sandeman’s). His energy was wonderful, and he was truly inspirational in his ability to time his comments about Irish history with good, witty humor and simply to tell a good story. We didn’t walk a lot – both because we stopped every few blocks at spots good for a group to convene and then he talked for about 20+ minutes until we moved to the next spot. The spots themselves weren’t necessarily amazing or symbolic; specifically, I remember stopping at the Dublin Castle, the arch/​walkway of Jonathan Swift, on a side street in Temple Bar under an awning, and at City Hall. So… as others have said, if you’re hoping for a walking tour of the whole city, well, that’s not what this is; it’s more of a *talking* tour of the city and good, rather, for pure entertainment and for those who do NOT want to walk a lot. And, because it started raining, we actually ended our tour by sitting in the corner of the first floor of City Hall, Conor telling us [his version of] the Story of Oisín and Tir Na N-​Og. Again, he was an amazing storyteller – super inspirational and entertaining to the point at which I’d hire him to tell me bedtime stories each night if I could. But, again, I only learned a touch about Irish history. That said, after the history part was over, some folks tipped and left to do other things; after all, three hours for a tour is a long time. (FYI, most folks tipped € 10-​€ 20 per person, which was collected by handing directly to Conor, so if you’re hoping for the anonymity of a collection basket or hat, you won’t get it.)
Bottom line: Would I recommend the tour? For sure. If you can spare a few hours, or even if you leave early, it’s a good way to learn a little, be entertained a bit and just get a better intro to a city than you might otherwise get if you haven’t studied up before your visit.

La verdad que muy recomendable era la primera ves que lo hacia y genial nuestra guía Clara, de Zaragoza fue encantadora casi 3:30 hs explicando y luego diciendo dnd podíamos comer y salir de fiesta recomendable 100% además te explican la ciudad e historia y luego puedes ver las cosas mas tranquilas pero con conocimiento!!!

If you’ve only got a few days in Dublin to soak in the sights, and you wanna make the most of your limited time, this 3 – 4 hour tour of the main central historical points of Dublin centre is a very good idea. Apart from the chance to cram in an awful lot of history and sightseeing in a short stretch of time, this tour has the added benefit of being both free and quite social. It also finished up in O’Neils where you get a concession on the carvery lunch. I’ve been on the tour twice myself (largely because there was a lot of information on the tour, and i had forgotten most of it by the time i did the tour the second time!), and the weather was smashing both times.
On the downside, if you choose to do this tour in favor of going on a paid walking, bus or cycle tour, then prepare yourself for the constant plugging that goes on. It is a tour which is loudly and proudly «sponsored by Temple Bar pub, O’ Neil’s, Workman’s Pub Crawl… and pretty much anyone our company has a deal with… oh, and by your tips!!». Seriously, watch out for that last one. These guides clearly work for free, and count on tips, and they will plug for tips at the beginning and then again at the end… some people will have a problem with that. The other problem is that it being a free tour and run by staff who work for free, this means that the quality of the tour is impossible to guarantee. It depends on which tour guide you get, and whether or not that particular guide has had a good week! Also, if the tour is about to start, and it’s one of the young, student-​looking blokes… walk away immediately, and come back when the tour is being given by someone older and a bit more «I am not doing this for a laugh because i’m a fairy fucking Trinity student… i’m doing this because this money is paying my rent!!» They tend to have more charming charisma and are better story tellers!
But to be fair, if you do get a nice day, and a good guide, you could do a lot worse with 4 hours… and actually, yeah… the food in O’Neils is good, i gotta give them that!

Very average. Dublin has an amazing history dating back to early AD but our guide was easily distracted and tried to cover 2000 years of history. Would have been better off to focus on one particular period.

Meh. I’ve been on many free walking tours around Europe but this was my least favourite. I was disappointed too because I’m from Dublin. The guide was knowalagble but was not a very good story teller. He rambled on and was distracted easily. I feel like it would have been better if he focused on a certain era as he switched back and forth from different times and the tourists that did not have English as their first language was a bit confused.

Habiendo participado de estos tours en varias ciudades, puedo decir q la calidad del tour de Dublin esta entre las mejores. El recorrido por el centro historico de la ciudad es muy pertinente como primer pantallazo para los turistas de todo el mundo y las explicaciones y comentarios de nuestro guia Sergio (tambien argentino) fueron mas que completas y muy interesantes. Ademas, nos recomendaron un excelente pub para almorzar a precio economico, lo cual termino de cerrar la visita de la mejor manera. Siempre recomiendo estos tours a quien visita cualquier ciudad de europa por primera vez

En mi visita a la ciudad hice un tour gratuito con ellos. La verdad que todo muy bien. Dura 3h aprox. y te recorren los puntos mas importantes de la ciudad a la vez que te cuentan la historia y multitud de anécdotas. La guia que nos tocó, María, es muy simpática. Muy recomendable. Al terminar, si te ha gustado y lo deseas puedes hacer un donativo.
Si lo deseas tienen otros tours de pago.

I have taken Sandemans tours in 4 different countries and I definitely recommend their tours. They are free so you pay what you think it’s worth. Every tour I have had was worth at least $ 20! I still tell stories and fun facts I learned while taking their tours.
A must do if you are in a city where they offer a tour!

I’ve used Sandman’s free tours in several cities now, including Berlin and most recently Dublin.
It’s not that I’m adverse to paying for tours — I just feel you get more bang for your buck when people have to win over your money.
I’ve always been impressed with the tour guides and routes that seem to be the best way to get an idea of a new city.
Dublin tours seemed a bit of a let down. It didn’t seem to cover much ground for the amount of time spent on the tour. The tour really missed out on some exciting bits and aspects of the city. Although the tour guide (a local to Dublin who lived in Berlin for some time and studied as a dramaturg and historian) claimed to know his stuff — there were quite a few inaccuracies in his stories. Perhaps I’m being picky, but getting very famous events wrong a few years — guessing centuries and getting stories mixed up with other events… it makes you less engaged. Plus he seemed pretty flat and indifferent. Dublin’s history is a bit depressing, but come’on. Also pretty amazing and full of drama.
However despite this — that was one tour guide and these tours do what they say on the Tin.
Show you around, give you the basics and point you tward the fun stuff.

An excellent tour taken at the beginning of our Dublin holiday! We had booked the tour ahead of our arrival, saving our family of 6 from dealing with paperwork at the meeting point. Our tour group was large enough that it was split in two and a second guide was brought in, causing some temporary disappointment as we had heard great things of the first guide.
We need not have worried though, because our new guide, Chris, was fabulous! A recent Irish History grad, Chris’ tour was full of history, entertaining stories, and humor. We walked all over for 3 hours, stopping off at the larger places of historical significance as well as some smaller ones.
At the end of our tour one of our kids said «I thought I was going to really hate that tour, but it was great! I learned stuff!» No parent could ask for more!

I’m surprised that everyone (not just on this site) rated the tour so high. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the tour, but it is not what I was expecting. I thought we would be walking the entire time and getting to see things all over the city (the tour is 3 hours), but that was not really the case. We stayed relatively close to Temple Bar for the entire tour, we never even crossed the river. When I go somewhere new, I like to walk around as much as possible and see everything, that is not what you get on this tour.
What you do get is a really enthusiastic tour guide that knows the city well and has a bunch of good stories. The tour works by walking for a short distance and then stopping and listening to the guide talk for 15 – 20 minutes. So you really do get to hear about a lot of history which is good if that is what you are looking for.
In short, go on this tour if you want to hear about a lot of history and don’t really want to walk all that far. If you are looking to really explore the city and see as much as you can, this tour is not for you.

The FREE Walking Tour concept is fantastic! I have taken advantage of these tours in Budapest, Krakow and now Dublin. Actually, I’ve done the Sandeman’s New Dublin tour twice since temporarily relocating to Ireland this past June. Given my positive tour experiences in other cities, I made the Dublin walking tour the top activity on my itineraries for our friends and family visiting this summer.
Back on August 9^th I took the tour for the first time with my wife’s cousins. We had a fabulous time with Mike. I’ll be honest, I was a bit skeptical at first when Mike started the tour, I thought he had a strange Irish accent. Turned out he was from Rochester, New York! But buy the end of the tour you would have tought Mike was born and raised in Dublin, he was excellent; both entertaining and informative.
I took the walking tour again last Tuesday, Sept 11 while my inlaws were in town. We were led this time by Stephen. We all had a great time with him. Especially loved his Trinity College tour! It was great to go on the same tour with two different guides to gain a greater perspective on the history of Dublin. Stephen and Mike did a great job sharing thousands of years of Irish history in just 3 – 3.5 hours. But don’t let the length of the tour scare you, the time flies and there is a break halfway through in Temple Bar. It’s not a long break, but plenty of time for you to run to Farrington’s Pub and grab a quick pint. Seriously, if you’re visiting Dublin, DO THIS TOUR! Keep up the great work guys!

This was soo much fun! I had just arrived in Dublin that morning and met up with the 11am tour. Chris (a red haired, freckly Trinity student) was the tour guide, he was great! very entertaining and informative. The tour was detoured a little by the Queen’s visit, but Chris just rolled with it. What a great value! Free tour, just tip the guide. I gave what I figured I would have paid anyway (hey I’m an overtipping American, what can I say).
After, a bunch went to O’Neill’s for lunch and got a little discount. Great use of my time!

I highly recommend NewEurope tours in any city that they offer it.
First off, it’s FREE. The guides work on tips and they are all relatively young so they have tons of energy and are really great people person.
Second, they take you to all the highlights of Dublin and provide you with historical context as well as give you recommendations on where to eat and what to do in that area.
Third, tours usually last 2 to 3 hours. So if you’re only in a city for a day or so, they take you to all the highlights and then you can decide where you want to go back later.
Dooooo it. You know you want to.

I was in Dublin for 4 days and wanted to get the most out of my trip so I decided to take the NEW Dublin tour. This tour was unbelievable. First of all, it was free, although our tour guide, Peter, gladly accepted tips. He took us around on a 3 hour walking tour of the city. During this time we learned about Irish history, architecture, as well as where the locals hang out and which pubs are the best. A truly enjoyable way to spend the afternoon. I think this tour should be required for those new to Dublin, it was so informative and fun. Make sure to wear good walking shoes, you’ll be walking over cobblestones most of the time. And pack an umbrella and rain gear, Dublin’s weather can’t make up its mind so it’s best to be prepared. And, of course, bring your camera. You literally will see pretty much all of Dublin, which is a beautiful city, so have it ready. This same touring company does walking tours in a number of other European cities. Check out their website to see if there’s one where you are traveling to and become educated!