From the corner of Arran Quay and Church Street (opposite the north end of Father Mathew Bridge and next to the Four Courts) on the north bank of the Liffey, walk west along the north side of Arran Quay. Turn right on to Arran Street and walk up this short, small street onto the wide, cobbled rectangle of Smithfield. The best time to visit this market square is on the first Sunday of each month, when it is the venue for the horse and pony sale, which has been held here for more than three centuries. Smithfield became the city’s principal cattle and horseflesh market in 1664, and probably takes its name in imitation of London’s even longer-established Smithfield Market – an early example of either franchising or trademark theft!

Leave Smithfield by Friary Avenue, which can be found midway on the right-hand side of the street. At the end of Friary Avenue turn right into Bow Street and walk to the corner. Turn right, then after 90m (100yds) turn right into the Old Jameson Distillery. The Irish claim they invented whiskey (with an ‘e’) and John Jameson first started distilling here in the 1780s. Whiskey is no longer made on this site, but the guided tour takes you through the arcane processes of whiskey-making, from malting the grain to blending and ageing the final product. Naturally, there’s a whiskey-tasting session at the end of each tour, which should fortify you for a trip (by lift) to the top of the 220ft (67m) distillery chimney. This has been transformed into a viewing tower from the top of which there is a breathtaking (and vertiginous) panoramic view over most of Dublin. 

Return to earth, leave the distillery, turn left and walk two blocks to the corner of King Street North, and turn right. After one block, cross Church Street and walk along King Street North for five short blocks, passing Berseford Street, Anne Street, Halston Street and Green Street to Capel Street. Turn right, then cross Capel Street, walk down to the corner of Parnell Street and turn left on to the south side of Parnell Street. Pass Wolfe Tone Street, Jervis Street and Chapel Lane on your right, carry on past the Ilac shopping complex, then turn right into Moore Street. Like Smithfield, it seems that Moore Street has been supplying Dubliners with their everyday needs almost forever. However, while Smithfield dealt in livestock, Moore Street’s stock-in-trade is an ever-widening array of fruit, flowers and vegetables. Over the past 25 years Dublin’s ethnic mix has widened dramatically and Dubliners have become much more cosmopolitan in their tastes. Now, as well as potatoes, turnips, apples and pears, you can pick up pineapples, mangoes, okra, aubergines and other comestibles from all over the world. However, construction of the proposed multi-million-euro Dublin Central shopping centre, which will result in the demolition of some of Moore Street’s buildings, will certainly affect this historic market.

At the foot of Moore Street, turn right into Henry Street. This pedestrianised thoroughfare is liveliest in summer, when shoppers provide an audience for a handful of buskers and street performers, as well as targets for a number of scruffy panhandlers looking for a handout of spare change.

At the end of Henry Street, continue straight on along Mary Street, passing between the two large modern shopping centres that straddle this small street, with the Jervis shopping centre on your left and the Ilac centre on your right. At the end of Mary Street, turn left on to Capel Street and walk south to the riverside. Cross Ormond Quay and walk straight on across Grattan Bridge. Cross Wellington Quay to the side opposite the Liffey, and walk south on Parliament Street. Turn right on Essex Street West then fork right to continue along Essex Street West to Cow’s Lane on the left. Despite its unpromising name, pedestrianised Cow's Lane has become one of the smarter shopping streets in the rejuvenated Temple Bar district, with a concentration of very smart (and expensive) designer shops.

Retrace your steps to Parliament Street and continue ahead into Essex Street East which leads into Temple Bar and the entrance to Meeting House Square. On Saturdays the square is the venue for a weekly farmers’ market, which sells a wide range of organic produce. There is an especially good choice of cheeses, so it’s a good spot to stock up if you’re planning a picnic.

Leave Meeting House Square, return to Temple Bar, and turn right. Walk along the south side of Temple Bar for three short blocks, and turn right on to Anglesea Street. At the south end of Anglesea Street, cross over Dame Street, turn left then almost immediately right on to the left-hand side of Suffolk Street. After a few yards, with O’Neill’s pub on your left and the tourist information centre on the other side of the street, Suffolk Street takes a sharp kink to the left. Carry on to the end of this short block, and turn right on to Grafton Street. Just before you cross over Suffolk Street to walk down Grafton Street, pause to pay your respects to Molly Malone, whose buxom bronze statue (affectionately known as ‘The Tart with the Cart’) stands on the corner, across from Trinity College. Remembered in the music-hall favourite song Cockles and Mussels, Molly Malone seems to have been a real figure, with a reputation for selling sex as well as seafood, and who eventually succumbed to one of Dublin’s frequent cholera epidemics, leaving a bereaved coterie of (male) admirers. Grafton Street is a lot smarter now than in Molly’s day. It’s where Dublin ‘ladies who lunch’ do their shopping in some of the capital’s most expensive stores, including Brown Thomas, Dublin’s very own answer to Harvey Nichols. Here you will find the usual hyper-expensive designer labels but also some of the best Irish bone china and crystal, in traditional and up-to-the-minute styles. Like the less up-market Henry Street, Grafton Street also has its regular contingent of buskers, beggars and street performers.

Approximately halfway down Grafton Street turn right on to Johnson Court, a small side street. Follow this for one block to Clarendon Street. Cross to the opposite side, turn left then almost immediately right into Coppinger Row, then turn right again to enter Powerscourt Townhouse at the corner of Coppinger Row and William Street South. This elegant shopping centre, with more than 40 shops, bars and restaurants including eight or more art galleries and antique dealers, is housed in an 18th-century Georgian mansion built for Richard Wingfield, 3rd Viscount Powerscourt (1730–88). Powerscourt was known as ‘the French Earl’ because of the dandified airs and graces he acquired while making the fashionable ‘Grand Tour’ of Europe’s capitals.

On leaving Powerscourt Townhouse turn left. Walk to the foot of William Street South, turn left on Stephen Street, then, on the left. Follow King Street South,passing the Gaiety Theatre on your left, to the northwest corner of St Stephen’s Green for buses back to the city centre.