Kilmainham, on the western approach to the city, is a quiet residential district that holds two of Dublin's most powerful sights. Kilmainham Gaol, a grim grey prison opened in 1796, is where leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were executed, and its guided tour is among the most moving historical experiences in Ireland.
A short walk away, the seventeenth-century Royal Hospital Kilmainham, a serene colonnaded building modelled on Les Invalides in Paris, now houses the Irish Museum of Modern Art and its formal gardens. Together they pair Ireland's struggle for independence with its contemporary cultural confidence.
The district sits beside Heuston Station and the Liffey, making it an easy addition to a visit that takes in the nearby Guinness Storehouse or Phoenix Park.