Republic of Ireland · Leinster · Tallaght
South Dublin, Tallaght — Area Guide & Where to Stay
South Dublin is a county in Leinster, one of three successors to County Dublin, holding suburbs, mountain ground and the town of Tallaght.
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Where to stay in South Dublin
Where you base yourself shapes the visit — here's the character of each area.
Tallaght holds the county's beds. As county town it is the obvious base, though Clondalkin and Rathfarnham offer the alternative of a room near the round tower or the castle rather than near the offices of South Dublin County Council. The mountains offer nothing.
Long stretches of the county carry no settlement at all, so a visitor drawn by that ground still books in the suburban half and drives up into it.
Few places to stay in South Dublin — most visitors book in Tallaght nearby.
About South Dublin
What are the main landmarks in South Dublin?
Four names carry the county. Rathfarnham Castle and Danesmoate House are the houses on its list, while the Clondalkin Round Tower belongs to a far earlier phase of church building in Ireland. St Finian's Esker church and graveyard closes the set.
All four stand on ground that South Dublin runs across, from the suburbs pressed against Dublin to mountain country with almost nothing built on it at all.
What is the history of South Dublin?
County Dublin was disestablished in 1994. Three successor counties came out of that reorganisation, South Dublin among them, and South Dublin County Council took over as local authority for the ground of which Tallaght is county town. The stonework is older.
Clondalkin Round Tower and St Finian's Esker church and graveyard record church settlement centuries before any council existed, while Rathfarnham Castle and Danesmoate House belong to the landed building that came between, all of it inside what is filed as the Eastern and Midland Region.
Where is South Dublin?
South Dublin covers about 223 square kilometres of Leinster, running from suburbs that adjoin Dublin out to open mountains.
Common questions
What is the best area to stay in South Dublin?
Tallaght: Visitors needing the county town and South Dublin County Council in one address.
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Updated August 2026