Georgian Dublin, lived in
Upper Merrion Street is one of the handsome thoroughfares laid out when Dublin was the second city of the British Isles and its aristocracy built brick townhouses with fanlit doors and lofty drawing rooms. The Merrion occupies four of these houses, restored with great care and opened as a hotel in 1997, together with a sympathetic contemporary garden wing. Local tradition holds that No. 24, now part of the hotel, was the birthplace of Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington.
Across the street stand Government Buildings, the seat of the Irish Taoiseach, which lends the neighbourhood a dignified, almost diplomatic air. Behind the hotel, formal gardens laid out in an eighteenth-century style provide an unexpected pocket of calm in the city centre.
An art collection you can sleep beside
The hotel is home to one of the most significant private collections of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Irish and British art, displayed throughout the drawing rooms and corridors. Guests can follow a self-guided art tour, and the celebrated Art Tea translates works from the collection into delicate pastries — an afternoon ritual that has become a Dublin institution.
"The drawing rooms feel less like a hotel lobby than a private house that happens to own a Jack B. Yeats."Editor's impression
Dining and bars
Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud, located within the hotel, has held two Michelin stars for many years and is widely regarded as one of Ireland's leading restaurants. The vaulted Cellar Restaurant and Cellar Bar occupy the original wine vaults, while No. 23 is an intimate cocktail bar and the Garden Room overlooks the gardens.
Wellness
The Tethra Spa includes an indoor swimming pool, steam room and gym, with treatments using Irish-sourced products — a welcome retreat after a day on Grafton Street or in the galleries.
Who it suits
- Art lovers and those who prefer residential calm to a buzzing lobby.
- Visitors who want the National Gallery and Merrion Square on the doorstep.
- Gourmets for whom a table at Patrick Guilbaud is the point of the trip.
