Iveagh Gardens

PricingFreeFree for all visitors

Free entry for everyone

Entry

Free for everyone

Pricing details

Free for everyone; no ticket, booking or membership card is needed. Summer concerts in the gardens are ticketed by their promoters and can close parts of the gardens on event days.

ParkingNo car park

Arrive on foot, by bike or by public transport.

Parking details

OPW names no car park and gives bus, bicycle and walking directions: 'Access now from Hatch Street. Accessible entry is via Clonmel Street and Hatch Street.' The gardens' own site says most city buses stop nearby and the Luas green line terminates at St Stephen's Green, a short walk away. The nearest commercial car park is Q-Park St Stephen's Green on Glover's Alley, about 500 m; its tariff is not stored.

Driving pin: the Clonmel Street gate at the end of Clonmel Street off Harcourt Street, the address OPW gives; the Hatch Street gates on the south side are the alternatives, and the rear gate from the National Concert Hall on Earlsfort Terrace has no wheelchair access.

About

Tucked away behind the National Concert Hall, the Iveagh Gardens are among the finest but least known of Dublin's parks, popularly called the city's secret garden. Ninian Niven, formerly director of the Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin, designed them in 1865 as the grounds of the Dublin Exhibition Palace, a space where citizens might meet for rational amusement blended with instruction, on land Benjamin Lee Guinness had bought as a garden for Iveagh House. They hold a unique collection of features: rustic grottos, sunken formal lawns with fountain centrepieces, woodland, a yew maze, a rosarium, the American garden, rockeries and archery grounds, many of them restored since 1995. The cascade is a spectacle in summer, when the lawns also host concerts. Entry is free through gates on Clonmel Street and Hatch Street, the Luas stops nearby at St Stephen's Green, and dogs may come on a lead outside the cascade, rosarium and maze.

Open in daylightFrom OPW Heritage Ireland's published times

Open any reasonable time in daylight

Opening times may change at short notice.

Open all year except 25 December and 17 March: Monday to Saturday from 08:00, Sunday and bank holidays from 10:00, closing at a time that moves with the season, from 15:30 in December to 19:30 from April to August; the gardens' own 2026 table closes at 17:30 from 19 October, 16:30 from 25 October, 16:00 from 9 November and 15:30 from 23 November (OPW's place page puts today's close at 18:00). Closing times are approximate and can change for weather, events or State business; ring 01 475 7816.

No guided tours, toilets, cafe or shop. Step-free entry via Clonmel Street and Hatch Street only. Drones are not permitted. Green Flag award 2025 to 2026.

Dogs: Pet dogs are allowed on a lead throughout the gardens but not in the cascade and fountain area, the rose garden or the maze.

Photo: A fountain with its statue in the sunken lawns of the Iveagh Gardens, ringed by gravel paths and mature trees. William Murphy, CC BY-SA 2.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iveagh_Gardens_(Dublin)_-155747_(48728723452).jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.