A new study has ranked Ireland’s highest-rated tourist attractions based on TripAdvisor reviews, with Roe & Co Distillery emerging as the country’s top-rated destination.
The Dublin distillery received a 97.35% five-star review rate on the platform, topping the rankings. The research, conducted by Baldwin Digital, analysed data from TripAdvisor’s 50 highest-ranked attractions in Ireland and calculated the proportion of five-star reviews for each site.
The findings suggest visitors increasingly favour immersive and interactive experiences, with museums and visitor attractions featuring prominently in the rankings and outperforming many traditional landmarks.
The top 10 attractions
| Rank | Attraction Name | Percentage of 5-star TripAdvisor Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roe & Co Distillery | 97.35% |
| 2 | 14 Henrietta Street | 94.77% |
| 3 | The Irish Rock ‘N’ Roll Museum Experience | 92.12% |
| 4 | Slieve League | 87.16% |
| 5 | Wild Atlantic Way | 86.51% |
| 6 | Irish Whiskey Museum | 85.44% |
| 7 | EPIC: The Irish Emigration Museum | 84.99% |
| 8 | The Little Museum of Dublin | 84.93% |
| 9 | Killarney National Park | 84.00% |
| 10 | Tullamore D.E.W. Distillery Experience | 83.30% |
Other highly ranked attractions include the Teeling Whiskey Distillery, Spike Island, and the Croke Park Stadium Tour.
Lower-rated attractions
At the other end of the rankings, Dublin Castle recorded the lowest proportion of five-star reviews among TripAdvisor’s top 50 attractions, with 35.17% of reviewers awarding it the highest rating. Despite this, it maintains an overall TripAdvisor score of 4 out of 5 and remains one of Ireland’s most significant historic landmarks, with origins dating back to the 13th century.
Grafton Street also ranked among the lower-rated attractions, with 42.61% of more than 4,000 reviews awarding it five-stars.
Whiskey tourism on the rise
Mark Baldwin, director and founder of Baldwin Digital Ltd, said museums dominate the rankings of Ireland’s highest-rated tourist attractions, with five different museums featuring in the top 10. He said these attractions outperform well-known landmarks such as Dublin Castle and Grafton Street, suggesting that many visitors are increasingly seeking distinctive and immersive experiences.
Baldwin added that Roe & Co Distillery’s high rating reflects the appeal of attractions that actively engage visitors, saying: “A guided distillery tour and whiskey workshops give visitors an experience to take away, rather than simply a place to photograph.”
Baldwin noted that two of Ireland’s 10 highest-rated tourist attractions are whiskey distilleries, while a whiskey museum also features in the top 10. He said this reflects the growing appeal of whiskey tourism, as distillery tours and tastings offer visitors a more interactive experience. He added that this may also help explain why the Guinness Storehouse ranks lower than might be expected.
Baldwin said Ireland has no shortage of iconic landmarks, but the research suggests the attractions leaving the strongest impression are those that immerse visitors in the country’s heritage rather than simply allowing them to observe it. He concluded that today’s visitors want to feel like active participants rather than passive observers.
The findings suggest experiential tourism is playing an increasingly important role in Ireland’s visitor economy, particularly in Dublin, where interactive attractions perform strongly in visitor satisfaction rankings.