Dingle, an Irish Treasure

We are going to take a close look at the town of Dingle on the West Coast of Ireland and show you why this is such a popular destination. In many ways this is the nicest town in the land, a beautiful place located on one of the most scenic, rural peninsulas.

Our walking tour will focus on the many shops, pubs and restaurants of this lovely little town. The population is just 2,000 and the village area is less than one square kilometer, easy to walk around, with a handful of streets for you to explore.

Dingle has gained a reputation as one of the best places for gourmet dining. A specialty here is fresh fish. Dingle is an active fishing port, so every day the boats come in and the chefs come and get their fresh fish to serve up to you.

You'll be surprised and delighted at how much dining variety there is, such as Solas, a Spanish tapas bar. It's ranked in the top five restaurants by Trip Advisor, and for dessert, of course, there are several excellent ice cream shops. After all, Ireland is a dairy country with its milk, cheese, butter and ice cream. Murphy's is a big favorite. You can always find some good pub grub.

It's a real foodie town. Whether you go into a pub or a middle restaurant, shall we say, or a high-end restaurant, it is all exceptional. It has to be, because the standards are so high — they can't rely only on tourists. They have to bring in the local crowd.

Here's what the Tourist Information Office has to say about food in Dingle: "In recent years, Dingle has developed a reputation as a foodie town for its wide variety of quality dining options in over 50 venues. Award-winning restaurants, cafés and bars offer the best of local produce, with fish just landed from the boat and heather-grazed mountain lamb, while local artisan food and drink producers ply their tasty wares in small gourmet outlets and stores. Every October Dingle welcomes thousands of visitors to the annual Food Festival and Taste Trail."

More about food coming up, but now we take a stroll along some of the main streets and explore the shops and town layout.

One of the first streets you'll see, the Woods, is right along the waterfront with several restaurants and nice views of the harbor.

Now we're going inland a few blocks to visit two other main streets for shopping, Green and Main, starting with a stroll down Green Street. At the top you've got some functional shops, like a barbershop and a laundry service. You could walk from one end to the other of Green Street in about five minutes if you wish. It's only 300 meters long, but there's enough here to keep you busy with all of these shops and restaurants and historic sites.

There's a decent variety of stores: a Chinese restaurant open from 4 PM till 11, also offering take-away food; a small art gallery with original oil paintings of the area; the Celtic Gift House; and even a surf shop — surfing is a popular activity here.

Some shops sell crystal that is made right in Dingle, designed, cut and polished by hand using traditional techniques. We visited the Celtic Gift House and had a delightful chat with the owner, Michael O'Hare. "Dingle is a wonderful town that everyone should visit at least once in their life. It should be on everyone's wish list. It's great for music, the people are great, it hasn't been spoiled, it's got the most beautiful scenery in the whole of Ireland. The shops are good and Dingle's pretty unspoiled. It is just a good fun place to be, and we have some great pubs, and we have even better music."

You'll find shops that specialize in Aran sweaters and many other kinds of woolen merchandise, all sorts of clothing and a nice variety of gifts. Some sweaters on offer are the affordable styles that are machine made, but others are the special, deluxe handmade sweaters from the Aran Isles. Many shops are second-generation family-owned businesses that you run into a lot in Ireland — multi-generations taking care of the shop, bar, restaurant or pub.

Crinkle has an unusual combination: artisan food and craft. It's a coffee shop, they've got a deli, many different kinds of chocolates, and there's a Mediterranean-style salad bar for takeaway that looks delicious. There are two benches outside the front window you can sit down on while you eat, and they've got a lot of handmade items from the Dingle area.

La Bohème boutique describes itself as "the ultimate discovery for fashion-conscious women of all ages." They opened in 1998 in Dingle, providing contemporary stylish clothing.

There is one little side street off Green, called Gray's Lane. There's a bistro, but mostly it's a residential street. You can actually find some B&B rentals in the neighborhood.

We've now entered the Blue Zone. It's a pizza, jazz and wine bar joint, with a number of other similar shops clustered around it and a little alley that leads you back into a food court — outdoor benches with beer.

It's a little cul-de-sac that you'd easily miss if you were just walking along on the main street without paying attention, so be sure to look out for these little surprises. We've reached the bottom of Green Street, and in this final little stretch you've got more shops, and there's a really quite interesting gift shop called Sweet Pea.

Now we're taking a walk down Main Street to enjoy the biggest collection of pubs and restaurants in town.

Among the many excellent restaurants on Main Street you'll enjoy Global Village, operated by owner-chef Martin Bealin. Not only fresh fish, but locally grown meat and vegetables are on the menu. You can even have a vegan dinner here with seasonal produce grown in their own chemical-free vegetable garden.

Cruising the pubs along Main Street, along with the food and drinks you'll get some Irish music, such as at Nelligan's — live Irish music every night. Some pubs still offer rooms for rent, such as at the Old Smokehouse.

One can't help but notice all of the cars on the street — they're parked everywhere, and cars are driving down the road. It's not a pedestrian zone. In fact, nowhere in Dingle do you have any real pedestrian zone, aside from a couple of tiny side alleys. But despite that lack, the town is still excellent for walking, because there are good sidewalks, the cars drive slowly and they watch out for pedestrians, and we've seen the town is small, with many interesting things to look at.

Main Street changes names at the bottom of the hill to John Street, with yet more gastro pubs and restaurants, including Doyle's, one of the best, where I had an incredible meal of fish on a bed of cassoulet — that traditional bean stew of the south of France. Like many other places, they open at 5 PM, which is a good time to get here to beat the crowd.

Walking now a few blocks back towards the center, you'll pass a delightful little stream with wild flowers and plants giving a little touch of the country to the middle of town, and there is a public park right in the center. It's not very heavily used, because it's hard to spot it. There aren't many signs pointing this way. That same stream continues along in a channel passing a nice little playground for the kids.

Continuing along to one of the lovely gift shops in town, the Coach House, which is the first store that you're going to come to when driving into Dingle. Like all of the shop owners in town, the friendly lady was happy to tell us about her store.

"I have 19 Irish makers who make my leather goods, candles, Donegal tweed, bowties, cashmere, jewelry. I travel the country in the winter, meet them in their workshops, get to know them, get to know what inspires them, and get things made to order.

"And I strive to bring a good collection of traditional Irish handmade crafts for people who appreciate things that are from the country."

Strand Street offers a variety of places to eat, including some inexpensive options such as Garvey's Supervalu grocery store, and just next door you've got Reel Dingle Fish.

It's a restaurant with no tables — strictly take-away, with a small counter you can eat at. You'll get fast service, low prices and delicious fresh fish, along with chips.

For something even more down-market, try an outdoor shack in a parking lot. It's the Dingle Doghouse, and they've got fish and chips, or you can get hot dogs or burgers.

In the middle you'll find Griffin's Gift Shop, offering the ever-popular Guinness items and so many little knickknacks easy to buy and easy to pack — they make very good gifts to bring home. This typical local store is located on Strand Street, which is just three blocks long but is packed with shops and pubs.

Retail sales to visitors are the most important part of the Dingle economy, and they've done an excellent job of providing many shops that will lure you in and tempt your wallet. Stepping inside, we had a chance to meet the owner. Perhaps it helped that I was visiting during the month of May, which is just before the busy tourist season, so people had time to relax and chat.

You don't have to spend a fortune to eat here, but on the other hand, if you want one of the best fish meals you've ever had, you'll find it here in Dingle, for example at Out of the Blue. It's very much in demand, so be sure to make your reservations ahead of time. If you come when they open at 5:30 PM you'll likely get a table, and that first hour the dishes are discounted.

Some typical fish dinners are pollock in potato crust, grilled plaice fillet with prawns, cod medallions topped with roasted fennel, braised turbot cutlet with a creamy clam and mushroom sauce, pan-seared scallops, whole sea bass, John Dory and lobster. It's casual dining with friendly staff, but one warning: meat eaters need not apply. Only fish is on the menu here — no chicken, no meat, just delicious fresh fish from the offshore waters of Dingle. Each carefully plated meal is a work of art.

One block over you'll get to Dano's Bar and Restaurant, one of Dingle's favorite places to host functions, and we came across a local family celebrating First Communion. Everybody was all dressed up for this happy event.

You are going to love Dingle!

Also take a look at the page on Dingle Peninsula

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