Your Guide To The Perfect Christmas In The Grafton Quarter Of Dublin Town

By IMAGE
18th Dec 2015

Your Guide To The Perfect Christmas In The Grafton Quarter Of Dublin Town

Grafton Street at Christmas

The Grafton Street lights have been switched on, meaning it’s officially time to start celebrating Christmas!

The Grafton Quarter is not only one of the world’s most prestigious shopping districts, it also offers some of Dublin’s best dining and social offerings, all lit beneath the a canopy of Christmas lights. 25 million people are expected to walk underneath our Christmas lights this year, and on Grafton Street alone, there are 47,350 individual light bulbs.

Here we bring you the definitive list of what to do, what to see and where to wander and window shop this Christmas in The Grafton Quarter.

For watching the world go by…

When the shopping all becomes to much and you need a break to calm yourself, make sure you stop to watch the world go by and have a hot port outside Grogan’s or a Guinness outside The Duke. Have a hot chocolate in Butlers at the top of Grafton street and then find yourself a cosy bench in the park. The Grafton Quarter also happens to be one of Dublin’s greatest areas for cafes and dining, so if you’re catching up with friends for coffee over Christmas make sure you head to Carluccio’s or Avoca.

Also between The Dawson Lounge, The Bailey, 37 Dawson Street, Peruke & Periwig, Bruxelles, The Grafton Lounge, Kehoe’s, Neary’s, Davy Byrnes, Harry’s On The Green, Cafe En Seine and more, you could get your whole 12 Pubs of Christmas done in The Grafton Quarter!

Christmas Lights to be switched on this week! 12th Nov Henry Street at 5pm – 15th Nov Grafton Street at 4pm? #DublinatChristmas #lovedublin
A photo posted by DublinTown (@dublintown_) on Nov 10, 2015 at 8:24am PST

? For magical Christmas windows… Take some time to check out some of the Grafton Quarter’s Christmas window displays – like the highly anticipated Brown Thomas Christmas windows for fashion lovers or The Disney Store for children. Stop and have a browse and a read in the caf? in Ireland’s biggest bookshop, Hodges Figgis. Walk underneath the 50,000 light bulb light curtain at Johnson Court (that little alley everyone uses as a walkway between Clarendon Street and Grafton Street) and join the couples being serenaded by buskers as they admire jewelry in Gray’s of Grafton Street.

? This year’s theme of our Grafton Street windows is the #StoreOfWonders Read the full story on our website, BrownThomas.com – A photo posted by Brown Thomas (@officialbrownthomas) on Nov 5, 2015 at 10:59am PST

For shopping…

The Grafton Quarter is one of the most prestigious retail areas in the world with international retail brands such as Cos, Tommy Hilfiger and Marks & Spencer, but some of Ireland’s greatest shops can be found nearby – and not just Brown Thomas and Weir & Sons.??Never forget, it wouldn’t be a Christmas shopping trip without a visit to The Marvel Room at Brown Thomas. ?The Marvel Room is not to be missed – make sure you check out the gorgeous leather accessories from Smythson, have a flick through the Sinatra: The Photographs and lust over the Celine bags. Top shopping tip; Shop n’ Drop, DublinTown’s Free shopping bag minding service is open from Thursday 19th November to Monday 28th December where shoppers can avail of a free bag minding service on the ground floor in Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre! ?

? The moment the lights went on. #DublinatChristmas – A photo posted by WaxpertsEllen (@waxpertsellen) on Nov 15, 2015 at 10:26am PST

For festive entertainment… It wouldn’t be Christmas without a visit to Dublin’s longest established theatre in continuous production, The Gaiety. The Gaiety Theatre has hosted the annual Christmas panto every year since 1873, and this year’s panto is Little Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad Wolf. Hayley-Jo Murphy will play ?Little Red Riding Hood?, Shane McDaid will play ?Woody?, Nicholas Grennell as ?The Big Bad Wolf? and panto star Joe Conlon will play ?The Notorious Granny McGregor?. The pantomime will show from 29 November 2015 until 10 January 2016. Tickets priced from €19.50 are on sale now.?You can also visit Santa at his Grotto in St Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre from the 16^th of November and check out the IFA Live Animal Crib at the Mansion House from the 9^th of December. What has now become an annual Christmas Eve tradition on Grafton Street is the coming together of some of our most famous faces to busk for Christmas shoppers. Grafton Street was brought to a standstill last year when?Glen Hansard, The Coronas, Paddy Casey, Danny O’Donoghue, Ro’s?n O and Damien Rice?held a busking session for thousands of shoppers to raise money for the homeless charity Simon Community. Bono is usually in attendance, but couldn’t make it last year after his bike accident.