Where You Can Play Sports in Dublin

The watching of sport in Dublin is bordering on a national pastime. If you want to get involved, you might struggle a little with the team sports (which tend to be more established in terms of teams, leagues, etc.), but you’ll have no issues at all finding plenty of lively action. Our personal favourites sit in swimming, climbing and kitesurfing, all of which are great in the city. If you want a true cultural experience, you might give GAA a go too. Explore your best options all around the city below…
Go big at the National Aquatic Centre and National Sports Complex
Sports Center
Experience Gaelic Games
Get an introduction to Ireland’s most unique sports offering, the GAA. You’ll dabble in the organization’s two main sports, the fiercely locally popular combo of Gaelic football and hurling. Gaelic football utilizes skills similar to those used in soccer, basketball and rugby, combining them in a fast-paced contest on a sizeable pitch.
Hurling is sometimes jokingly called a cross between hockey and murder. Games are played to a breathtaking level at the high end, but you can get taught the basics in an afternoon, via Experience Gaelic Games, featured at several local clubs.

Go Kitesurfing off North Bull Island
Shop
Swim off the Forty Foot

Swim off the Forty Foot
One of Ireland’s most iconic leisure spots, the Forty Foot, is a sea swimming location in the south of the city that’s traditionally the preserve of the nude. That particular tradition has subsided over the last few decades (perhaps because of the predominance of seals in the area, as much as the temperature), but the swimming in the cool waters of the Irish Sea is still astoundingly popular. At Christmas, it goes completely nuts, but you’ll probably have a nice time in the height of summer.
Gravity Climbing Centre
Gravity Climbing Centre
A climbing and bouldering facility in the west Dublin suburbs, this is the best spot to test your upper body strength in the city. Gravity Climbing Centre is particularly strong in bouldering and offers instructors to help beginners get to grips with the action. A great workout.
Goldenbridge Industrial Estate, Inchicore, Dublin 8, Ireland. +353 1707 8585
Run in Phoenix Park
Park, Zoo

Try Footgolf
Combining the world’s most popular sport with a few greens, fairways and flags, the new sport of Footgolf is a clever and enticing adaptation. There are already serious competitions, but to start off with you’ll probably want to play a round with friends, blasting soccer balls toward a flag before ‘putting’ home once you get a little closer. It’s hugely entertaining, and, amazingly, Dublin already has three courses.
Go kayaking
There are countless opportunities to hit the water aboard a buoyant little boat in the capital, from involved adventures exploring some of the offshore islands, to leisurely floating around the Grand Canal. You can find quite a few of the cross-city options here, but our favourite is a little more central. With City Kayaking, you can spend two hours paddling on the city’s heart, crossing the entire heart of Dublin on the River Liffey, from the Famine Ship at the port end of the capital to the Guinness factory a couple of kilometres upstream. It makes for a great unusual way to explore the city and grab a little exercise at the same time.

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