Hi Marie,
How lovely that you can use this stop on your cruise journey to explore Dublin on your personal mission!
There are two cathedrals in Dublin, both well worth a visit:
Christ Church Cathedral and
Saint Patrick's Cathedral. It's about a 10 minute walk from one to the other, and you can visit both for a fee. Since August is a busy month on the island, it might be a good idea to book tickets in advance online, to hopefully avoid longer waiting times.
Further churches in this part of the city would be
Whitefriar Street Church,
Newman University Church,
St. Ann's Church and
St. Teresa’s Church. Considering the time you have, it probably won't be possible to pay all these churches a thorough visit, but after exploring Christ Church Cathedral or St. Patrick's Cathedral, you might wish to just take a walk around the city and see the other churches from the outside.
The
DART train would be your fastest option to travel from Dún Laoghaire into Dublin city. The station closest to Christ Church Cathedral is 'Tara Street' - it's about a 20 minute walk to the cathedral. I recommend you allow plenty of time to return to Dún Laoghaire and factor in potential delays and travel distance to your ship from the train station. Be aware that the city will be buzzing with lovely visitors and both walking and travel times might take longer than expected. You can find train departure and travel times on the
Irish Rail website. If you use an app offering map services on your phone, you could build a nice itinerary by adding the cathedrals and churches in the order I mentioned them above.
I hope this helps! 😊
Best wishes,
Rebecca ☘️