If you’re looking for packed-to-the-rafters, cosy bookshops, Ireland is for you. We have many a special bookshop all around the country – some of them are enormous, and some are barely bigger than a sitting room. But no matter where you are in Ireland, you’ll be sure to find a beautiful bookshop!
Start with perhaps the island’s most famous:
Charlie Byrne’s in County Galway. Open since 1989 and claiming to stock over 100,000 books, you can while away many an hour in this spot’s nooks and crannies – check out the history section, which has to be seen to be believed.
In Dublin, you can’t beat
Chapter’s Bookstore, widely considered to be the largest independent bookstore in Ireland. With two floors of books on anything from travel to art and fiction, Chapters is also known for being budget friendly: they sell lots of second-hand tomes for a fraction of the normal price. Also in Dublin’s iconic Temple Bar area is
Gutter Bookshop, which sells rare reads and books that are just a little different to usual bookstore fare.
Belfast bound? You can’t miss
No Alibis. It’s Northern Ireland’s very own specialist crime bookstore and it’s been open for decades – it has even been immortalised in several crime novels set in Belfast! Also worth a visit is the gorgeous Foyle Books, located in Derry~Londonderry’s Craft Village. Check it out for antique and second-hand novels.
These are just a few – check out
Vibes & Scribes of Cork,
The Book Centre in Waterford,
O’Mahony’s of Limerick,
Barker & Jones in Kildare or Dublin’s Hodges Figgis for even more literary delights. Happy reading!