Temple Bar Dublin: I visited the city's most popular pub and found there were better alternatives nearby - is it just a tourist trap?

Don’t get me wrong the pub is very fun and lively with great live music. You can spend the night here dancing away and enjoying the atmosphere. The live singers were amazing, filling the room with great music, vocals and energy, getting everyone up dancing.

However, the pub is pricey - but this is to be expected being the city’s most popular bar. Everyone has heard of the Temple Bar and many tourists flock to see it when they are visiting Dublin. So of course the prices have been pushed up.

On TripAdvisor, people who have been have slammed it as a “tourist rip off”. One user wrote: “The people who run this place should be put in the stocks and have rotten eggs and tomatoes thrown at them. 24.35 euros for 1 Guinness, 1 Irish whiskey, both brewed down the road and 1 can of coke.”

Be warned, the prices are extortionate - but if you are willing to pay then go and have a good time. Or drink somewhere else and pop into the bar!

If you’ve never visited the pub and you are heading to Dublin I would definitely recommend going in just to experience the vibe and the live music. Then you can say you have been.

However, there are cheaper places to drink nearby and alternative pubs to visit that are still as fun and also have a great vibe with live music. For example Madigans or Murrays on O’Connell Street which is around the corner serve drinks that are around seven euros cheaper than in the Temple Bar.

The Palace Bar is another cheap spot in Temple Bar where a pint of Guinness costs €5.90 and a pint of Heineken costs €6.50. Meanwhile the Ha'penny Bridge Inn is another good spot where a pint of Guinness costs €5.90 and a pint of Heineken costs €6.80.

If you are looking for somewhere near Temple Bar that mirrors the same atmosphere then I would recommend Fitzsimons. It is just a couple minutes walk away from Temple Bar and had live music that was just as good, and I ventured here after Temple Bar. The drink prices are still high but it is alternative place to spend your night in Dublin.