image above, Arran, speaking on a recent tour of the National Gallery of Ireland. Photo by Trevor O’Reilly.
Upcoming Tours and events, for late June and first-half July, 2026
Our special walk from Percy Place to Ballsbridge, and two unique, one-off art tours.
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N.B. all for tours and events for July take place in the first half of July. For tours and events later in July please pop back in after 10tn July, or see newsletter. (Below). For tours and events later in August, please pop back here in late-July or join the Newsletter (link below)
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SATURDAY 27TH JUNE 11AM A walking tour from Percy Place to Ballsbridge and the RDS
explore the Fitzwilliam estate in D4
From the Huband Bridge on Percy Place, to Ballsbridge and the Royal Dublin Society.
A fascinating exploration of Percy Place and Northhumberland Road, Mary’s Road, and the old Pembroke Estate, up to the Ballsbridge bridge that gives this area its name. Some of our featured highlights include the old School House, 1916 history at Mount Street Bridge, some hidden estate-workers houses and their secret garden, the lesser-known history behind the 1960s America Embassy.
Plus, the greatest writer to ever work at the Pembroke Library and the origins (and the prisoners) of the old Pembroke Townhall.
Overall, expect a mix of architectural delights, alongside literary, social and revolutionary history, on this enjoyable stroll through leafy Dublin 4.
This walk is from 11AM (sharp) on Saturday 27th June. Your admission includes the use of a “whisper set” for the tour, we rent these for you and then provide them to every guest at no charge. Tickets for this Ballsbridge tour, are here.
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THURSDAY 02nd JULY (tour) 2-3PM
Special director’s tour of the RHA Annual Art Exhibition
Director’s Choice of artworks, a tour of the 196th Annual RHA Summer show, featuring architectural works, drawings, models and photography. This year’s tour is wide ranging, but has a particular focus of architecture, in, as, and within Art.
The Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) has been at the forefront of the education, training, and exhibition of Irish artists and Irish-based artists since 1823.
The highlight of their calendar is the annual summer exhibition.
This year is the 196th edition of the RHA annual show. and this is also at least the third year we have collaborated with the RHA, to offer you an expert-led tour.
Arran will meet ticket-holders for this tour at the entrance foyer to the RHA Gallery, this year (2026) at 1.55PM
The RHA is located on Ely Place (near Hume Street, which itself is just off Saint Stephen’s Green. We will then enjoy a tour with the current-interim director of the RHA, ed by Nathalie Weadick, Interim Director RHA, and former Director of the Irish Architecture Foundation.
This more structured, director’s tour part of our visit will take approximately 60 minutes. Guests are of course, welcome to explore the galleries themselves (which are free of charge) both before and/or after the director’s tour.
We have only one date this year, 2PM, THURSDAY 02 July.
and with the tour meeting just before 1.55PM in the RHA foyer area, then the tour starting at 2 PM sharp.
Spaces are of course, limited. Tickets €25.60 (exclusive of booking fee) and inclusive of our director’s tour, and those tickets may be found here.
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THURSDAY 09th JULY (tour) 11.30AM
a tour of the current Camille Souter exhibition at IMMA, led by the curator of the exhibition.
This is an exhibition, and indeed, a visit to IMMA, that is very close to my heart.
Over 35 years ago, in my final year and half studying Art History over in England, I decided to write and research my undergraduate thesis on the late, great, English-born, Irish painter, Camille Souter (1929 -2023)
She was an artist whose work I then found endlessly intriguing. Over a third of a century later, my sense of this most unusual and independent of artists, has not changed. Souter’s explorations of the Irish landscape, of circus scenes, of cuts of meat, and plates of fish, speak to a tradition of European expressionism and often tend toward abstraction. Yet they are always rooted in a sense of place and shape, as well as the possibilities of light and space and shape and texture and indeed of paint itself.
The great majority of Camille’s work is held in private collections, by some of the most discerning, influential, and interesting collectors of 20th century Ireland. (I know, because I had to visit their homes, 35 years ago, to photograph it all)
With all this in mind, I am particularly thrilled there is this rare chance to see Camille Souter’s work, in the setting of a public gallery. We are also most fortunate to have the primary curator of this exhibition, IMMA curator Rachel Gilbourne, to lead our tour.
We will only do this tour once, and spaces are of course, limited. (See tickets, and practicalities, below)
Practicalities, please arrive at IMMA by 11AM latest. There is a paid car park on the grounds, less than 7 minutes walk from the foyer. Then meet Arran in the main foyer inside IMMA by 11.15AM latest. We may have a quick look at the main courtyard from 11.15 to 11.25 AM, and briefly discuss the extraordinary history and architecture of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.
Then we will meet Rachael for our main tour, of the Camille Souter exhibition, which will last approximately one hour.
Guests are of course, welcome to explore the general IMMA galleries themselves (which are free of charge) both before and/or after the director’s tour. But to avoid discommoding other guests, please bear in mind that the Camille Souter exhibition is in a separate building, and also that we we’d like to tick guests’ names off the list, before we meet Rachael. Thank you.
Tickets are €25.60, exclusive of booking fee, and inclusive of the curator’s tour, and your ticket price also include a donation to MSF Ireland and a small token of gratitude for our expert-guide.
The limited tickets may be found here.
End of Currently listed / currently scheduled Public Tours for late June and for July, 2026.
Walks for late July and early August, coming later: when, for the first time ever, Dublin Decoded goes to Dun Laoghaire. Watch this space.
Come back and visit soon. Or sign-up to the free, monthly email newsletter, below.
Also remember that Private Tours – meaning tour for your own group, on dates of your own choosing – are always available, year around. Prices from €250 for your entire group (or from €300 weekends) Just use the green Book Now button on our website, without obligation to explore tour options, see our availability, available tours plus your date and price options. Then come and enjoy your own, private version, of the best walking tours in Dublin.
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Images below, Claude Monet (1840–1926) Argenteuil Basin with a Single Sailboat, 1874 Photo © National Gallery of Ireland; Arran speaking at the National Gallery of Ireland; the Huband Bridge, on the Grand Canal, part of our Grand Canal II Tour, in a painting by artist Gerard Byrne; Annunciation, by French artists Jacques Yverni, c1450 part of our tours at the National Gallery of Ireland; map of Arran’s “How to Cross Dublin Without Passing a Pub” tour, available Sat 13 and Tuesday 16th, in June (only).
