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This beautifully preserved pub has self-contained snugs – originally for “the ladies” – on each side of the counter. The decor is Victorian in every detail, from the mahogany partitions and sepia photographs to the brass match lighters fixed to the counter. Upstairs is a cosy restaurant which has won several awards.

This bleak and remote crossroads on the mountain road between Dublin and Glendalough stands at one of the highest mountain passes in Ireland. With its extensive areas of watery bog, the country is so inaccessible around here that it was a favourite hideout for Irish warriors and nationalist rebels during the centuries of conflicts between the English and Irish forces.

Chic and very laid-back looking bar with rattan chairs and natural fabrics. Plenty of space between tables too – rare in Dublin.

French Huguenot by descent, after a distinguished career at Trinity College, Beckett (1906–89) spent much of his life in France. The play Waiting for Godot (1952) made him an international name. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969.

The drama school of the university that produced Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett is set in a wonderfully intimate theatre space. Productions, often sparse in props, are rarely lacking in talent.

The first chapter of Ulysses (see James Joyce) was set here and a tiny museum contains Joyce memorabilia.

Ireland’s most prominent poet, Heaney (b.1939) won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995. North (1975) explores the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Dublin-born O’Casey (1880–1964) worked on the railways and became an active trades unionist. He achieved instant success with The Shadow of a Gunman (1923), set in the Dublin slums, followed by the play Juno and the Paycock in 1924 and his best-known work The Plough and the Stars in 1926. His later plays never had the appeal of the early works.

Holder of a Michelin star, Shanks Restaurant is designed by Sir Terence Conran and is decorated with paintings by David Hockney. Menus change monthly.