Dinner show or pub music walk?

The short answer

These are two different nights that happen to share a soundtrack. The dinner show brings the music to your table: you sit, eat, watch dancers and are invited to a céilí, all inside two hours in one room. The pub walk takes you to the music: a guide leads the group through four pubs away from the busiest tourist streets, with tastings on the way and a session of traditional music at the last stop. The first suits a single fixed evening; the second suits travellers who like to roam and talk. Both are booked through GetYourGuide, but the terms behind them are very different, as the sections below explain.

What the dinner show gives you

A seat at a table in a hotel on Bachelors Walk, steps from O'Connell Bridge, for about two hours. Three courses of Irish and European dishes are served, musicians play with stories between the songs, dancers perform a set that includes the brush dance, and the evening closes with a céilí the audience can join. Drinks come from table service and are paid on the night. The booking is final: non-refundable and non-transferable. It is wheelchair accessible, and children under four are not admitted.

Read next: Celtic Nights Dublin: worth it?

What the pub walk gives you

Roughly four hours of walking with an English-speaking guide, starting at the Spire on O'Connell Street. The route visits four pubs away from the main tourist area. Along the way you taste Irish craft beer, with cider as an alternative, a half-pint of Guinness, a single malt Irish whiskey and a gin with tonic, while the guide talks about each drink. Traditional Irish food can be ordered at extra cost. The night ends in a local pub with traditional music played in the session style.

A show or a session

The biggest difference is how the music works. At the dinner show it is a performance arranged for an audience, with dancers on the floor and stories told between the songs. A pub session is looser: musicians gather in a corner and play tunes together while the pub carries on around them. Wikipedia describes pub sessions as the home of much Irish traditional music today, informal gatherings that spread in Irish pubs from the 1960s. If you want to see dancing, choose the show. If you want to sit near players at work, the session wins.

Food, drink and what you pay

The two tickets cover opposite halves of the bill. The dinner show includes a full meal but no drinks, so every drink you order is extra. The pub walk includes a run of drink tasters but no food, so a meal is extra if you want one. Neither includes tips. Compare the two booking calendars for your dates rather than guessing, and budget for the half each one leaves out. If you do not drink alcohol, the walk loses much of what you pay for, while the show still delivers its full value.

Flexibility and booking terms

Here the walk has the clear advantage. Cancel it a day or more ahead and the full price is returned, and it can be reserved now with payment later, which makes it the safer choice early in a trip when plans are still moving. The dinner show cannot be cancelled, refunded or passed to someone else, and seats are held only for the time slot you book. A sensible pattern is to book the walk early to keep options open, and to book the show only once you know which evening you will be free.

Who each one suits

Both work for a first night in Dublin; they simply reward different travellers. The dinner show rewards people who want everything arranged and like to watch performers at close range. The walk rewards people who like to keep moving, talk to strangers and learn about what is in their glass. The lists below are a quick way to match the format to your group, your plans and how much walking you want to do.

• Dinner show: couples, families with children of four or older, and anyone who wants dinner sorted
• Dinner show: travellers who want to see Irish dancing and try a céilí
• Pub walk: solo travellers and friends who enjoy meeting a group
• Pub walk: anyone curious about Irish beer, whiskey and pub life
• Pub walk: travellers whose dates may still change

Three questions to settle it

First, is your date fixed? If not, the walk's free cancellation matters more than anything else on this page. Second, do you want to see dancing? Only the dinner show puts dancers in front of you and asks you to join a céilí. Third, how do you feel about alcohol and walking? The walk is built around tastings and four hours on your feet; the show is built around a table and a meal. Most groups find that one of those three answers decides it before price comes into the picture.

Doing both on different nights

The two pair well because they barely overlap. Both begin on the north side of the river around O'Connell Street: the walk at the Spire, the show on the quay where O'Connell Street meets the Liffey. A natural order is the pub walk on your first evening, when it helps to get your bearings and meet people, and the dinner show later in the trip, once your plans are settled enough for a ticket you cannot cancel. Leave a free afternoon between them for the city itself.

Who this isn't for

Neither evening is a formal concert with numbered seats in a hall. The pub walk is a poor choice if you cannot manage about four hours on your feet, do not drink alcohol, or dislike busy bars. The dinner show is a poor choice for families with children under four, for anyone whose dates are uncertain, and for travellers who want musicians playing among themselves rather than a staged set. If none of those apply, choose by mood: a meal and dancers, or a roaming night with tastings.