Golf, Tennis and Leisure Near EirStay Apartments: A Dublin Neighbourhood Guide

Corporate guests on long stays consistently ask the same question after the first week: what do I do at the weekends? Dublin is an excellent city for this — the golf is accessible and well-priced by international standards, the tennis clubs are among the best in the country, and parks like Herbert Park and Phoenix Park sit directly on the doorstep of several EirStay properties. This guide answers the question neighbourhood by neighbourhood.

All venues below are independently verified and open to non-members or short-term guests. Where club memberships are mentioned, they are specifically the type suited to a four-week or longer corporate stay. We have grouped everything by postcode so you can find what is relevant to your apartment without reading the whole post.

Donnybrook & Ballsbridge (Dublin 4)

The Donnybrook and Ballsbridge apartments sit just off Morehampton Road in Dublin 4 — one of the most leisure-rich postcodes in the city. Elm Park Golf Club is a ten-minute walk from the front door. Herbert Park is five minutes for a morning run or an outdoor session. Donnybrook Lawn Tennis Club — one of the finest clubs in Ireland — is ten minutes on foot. The RDS next door runs year-round events from the Dublin Horse Show to international rugby and trade shows. If having an active and varied weekend routine matters to you, D4 is the right address.

Elm Park Golf & Sports Club

Nutley Lane, Donnybrook, Dublin 4 — golf
The closest full 18-hole course to the Donnybrook apartments and an easy ten-minute walk along Nutley Lane. A well-maintained parkland course in a mature tree-lined setting, Elm Park operates a visitor tee-time system that is bookable online — no member escort required. The club also has a practice ground and short game area, useful for keeping your game sharp on a weekday evening without committing to a full round. Visitor green fees are reasonable by Dublin standards, and corporate membership terms are available for stays of a month or more. The in-house bar and restaurant is worth using after a round — the food is consistently good and the atmosphere is genuinely relaxed.

Donnybrook Lawn Tennis Club

Sussex Road, Donnybrook, Dublin 4 — tennis
Founded in 1893 and one of the most active clubs in the country, Donnybrook LTC is ten minutes on foot from the Morehampton Road apartments. The club runs multiple all-weather and grass courts, a year-round social tennis programme across all standards, and a well-organised coaching schedule for anyone returning to the game after a break. Short-term social memberships are available and specifically suited to corporate guests on a four-week-or-longer stay — they give you court booking access and entry to the social evenings, which are genuinely a good way to build a network quickly in D4. Worth calling ahead to enquire about their relocation membership tier.

Herbert Park

Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 — running, outdoor leisure, tennis
Five minutes from the Donnybrook apartments and one of the finest urban parks in the city. The full perimeter loop is approximately 2.5km — short enough to do twice before breakfast, long enough to use for intervals or a longer weekend run. The park has four tennis courts bookable through Dublin City Council's online system, an open lawn frequently used for outdoor yoga and Pilates, and a well-used running path that stays lit in winter. The adjacent RDS grounds host the Dublin Horse Show every August, international rugby internationals at the Aviva, and various trade events throughout the year — useful context if you have clients visiting and want a good evening out nearby.

EirStay apartments in Donnybrook & Ballsbridge

Ranelagh (Dublin 6)

The Ranelagh apartments are a short walk from the village and the Luas Green Line. The leisure options here are excellent for golfers and tennis players — Milltown Golf Club and Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club are both within easy reach, and the Grand Canal towpath provides one of the best flat running routes in the city starting almost from the front door. The village itself is compact and lively, with a strong independent restaurant and bar scene built around the Triangle.

Milltown Golf Club

Lower Churchtown Road, Milltown, Dublin 6 — golf
One of the most respected parkland courses in the city, Milltown sits a short cycle or 20-minute walk from the Ranelagh apartments. The course is mature and well-maintained, with a particularly strong reputation among corporate members — a significant portion of the membership is professional, and the Thursday and Saturday competitions draw a sociable crowd worth joining if you are here for a month or more. Visitor tee times are available and bookable online; green fees are mid-range. The clubhouse is comfortable and the bar is a genuine gathering point, not a token facility. If you are in Ranelagh for a four-week-plus stay and golf is part of your routine, a temporary membership here is worth enquiring about.

Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club

Appian Way, Dublin 6 — tennis
One of the most prestigious tennis clubs in Ireland and a ten-minute walk from the Ranelagh Triangle. Fitzwilliam runs a full programme of social and competitive tennis across all standards year-round, including weekly round-robins and daytime social sessions that are well-suited to guests with a flexible working day. The club has hosted Davis Cup ties and has a tradition that makes it a natural conversation topic with any Irish professional who plays. Short-term membership options are available — worth calling the club directly to discuss what suits a corporate stay, as they are experienced in accommodating relocation guests.

The Grand Canal Towpath

Portobello to Ranelagh — running and cycling
The Grand Canal towpath starts effectively at the end of the Ranelagh apartment streets and provides a flat, traffic-free route that runs west toward Portobello and east toward Baggot Street and beyond. A straightforward 5km loop takes you along the canal and back without a single junction — ideal for an early morning run before the working day. Cyclists can extend significantly further in either direction. The towpath is popular enough to feel safe at most hours but quiet enough to be pleasant, and the canal-side scenery — Georgian bridges, swans, converted barges — makes it one of the more agreeable urban runs in any European city.

EirStay apartments in Ranelagh

Dublin 2 — Camden Street, Aungier & City Centre

Several EirStay apartments cluster around Camden Street, Aungier Street, Temple Bar and the Grand Canal end of Dublin 2. The leisure picture here is different from D4 and D6 — there are no golf clubs within walking distance, but the city centre location gives you immediate access to excellent parks, two of the finest independent bookshops in Ireland, the best wine retail in the city, and cultural institutions within ten minutes of the front door. For golf, both Elm Park (D4) and Milltown (D6) are accessible by taxi or a short Luas ride.

Iveagh Gardens

Clonmel Street, Dublin 2 — park, running, outdoor leisure
One of Dublin's best-kept secrets: a Victorian walled garden hidden behind the National Concert Hall, a five-minute walk from the Camden and Aungier apartments. The gardens have a formal layout with a fountain, a rosarium, a cascade, and open lawns that make it one of the quietest green spaces in the city centre. The perimeter path is short but the atmosphere is completely different from St Stephen's Green — significantly less crowded, genuinely peaceful, and worth using as a morning reset before a long working day. The summer concert season (June to August) brings outdoor performances into the gardens on weekend evenings — worth planning around if you are here during that period. Our Dublin summer 2026 events guide covers the full programme.

Hodges Figgis

56–58 Dawson Street, Dublin 2 — bookshop
Ireland's oldest and most serious independent bookshop, a ten-minute walk from the Camden and Aungier apartments. Six floors of stock, particularly strong on biography, Irish history, economics, literary fiction and philosophy — exactly the categories that high performers tend to read deliberately rather than casually. The staff know the stock and will give you a genuine recommendation rather than pointing at the bestseller table. If you are here for a month or more and want to build a reading list from scratch or add to one you already have, this is the right starting point. No time pressure, no membership, no commitment — just a very good bookshop that is open until 7pm on weekdays.

Fallon & Byrne

11–17 Exchequer Street, Dublin 2 — food hall, wine room, restaurant
A short walk from all the Dublin 2 apartments and one of the best food destinations in the city. The ground floor is a high-quality food hall with an exceptional wine room — properly curated, knowledgeable floor staff, and a selection that covers serious bottles alongside good everyday drinking. They host regular evening wine tastings that are worth building into a Tuesday or Thursday if you want to develop your palate over a longer stay. The basement restaurant is reliable for a business lunch or a relaxed dinner. For professionals who entertain clients or colleagues in Dublin, knowing Fallon & Byrne well is worth the fifteen minutes it takes to walk through and orient yourself on the first day.

Chapters Bookstore

Ivy Exchange, Parnell Street, Dublin 1 — bookshop
A ten-minute walk from the Italian Quarter and Jervis apartments, Chapters is Dublin's largest secondhand and remaindered bookshop — three floors of stock at well below retail prices, across every genre. Particularly good for business, history, travel, and literary fiction at the kind of prices that make it easy to take a risk on something you would not normally buy. A worthwhile Saturday morning destination if you are staying in the north city end of the portfolio. Combine it with a coffee at one of the Capel Street independents on the way back.

EirStay apartments in Dublin 2 & City Centre

Dublin 8 — Kilmainham & Islandbridge

The Kilmainham and Islandbridge apartments sit on the western edge of the city, with Phoenix Park — one of the largest enclosed urban parks in Europe — within a short walk. This changes the leisure calculus significantly: the park alone provides world-class running trails, cycling routes, a cricket ground, polo grounds and some of the best open-air space in any European city. IMMA is five minutes away. The Sanctuary in Dublin 7 is reachable on foot. For golf, Hermitage Golf Club in Lucan is a 20-minute drive and well worth the trip.

Phoenix Park

Phoenix Park, Dublin 8 — running, cycling, outdoor leisure
One of the largest enclosed urban parks in Europe at over 700 hectares, Phoenix Park is a world-class leisure asset and one of the genuine reasons to choose a D8 base for a long stay. The main road through the park is closed to traffic on weekend mornings, making it one of the best cycling circuits in any European capital — a full loop runs to approximately 11km with almost no elevation change. Running trails fan out from every gate; a simple out-and-back from the Islandbridge gate to the Wellington Monument and back is an easy 8km with no crossings. The park is home to a resident herd of around 600 fallow deer, which make early morning runs considerably more atmospheric than most urban alternatives. Parkrun takes place at the bandstand every Saturday morning at 9am — free to enter, well-organised, and a reliable way to meet people within the first week of arrival.

Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA)

Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Military Road, Dublin 8 — contemporary art, culture
Free admission, five minutes on foot from the Kilmainham apartment. IMMA occupies the Royal Hospital Kilmainham — a 17th-century baroque building with a formal courtyard that is worth seeing regardless of what is on inside. The permanent collection is strong on Irish and international contemporary work, and the temporary exhibition programme consistently brings international-quality shows to Dublin at no cost to the visitor. A Saturday morning here — an hour in the galleries followed by a walk through the courtyard — is a reliable reset that costs nothing and requires no planning. The café is good enough to linger in.

The Sanctuary

Stanhope Street, Dublin 7 — meditation, mindfulness, wellness
A ten-minute walk from the Kilmainham and Islandbridge apartments, The Sanctuary runs a consistent programme of drop-in meditation, mindfulness, and contemplative practice sessions across the week. The sessions are non-denominational and well-suited to guests with no prior experience — the format is structured enough to be useful without requiring any background knowledge. If you are here for a month or more and find that the working week runs at a pace that is difficult to step down from, a Tuesday or Thursday evening session here tends to be more effective than an extra hour in front of a screen. Check their website for the current timetable; booking ahead is recommended for evening sessions.

Hermitage Golf Club

Lucan, Co. Dublin — golf
The best golf club within a short drive of the D8 apartments, approximately 20 minutes west by taxi or car. Hermitage is a long-established parkland course on the banks of the Liffey with a strong membership and a well-regarded visitor programme — tee times are available to visitors at weekends and can be booked online. The course is in good condition year-round and the clubhouse is a proper club environment rather than a municipal facility. For guests staying in Kilmainham or Islandbridge who play regularly, this is the most straightforward full 18-hole option. TopGolf Portmarnock — around 35 minutes north — is the alternative if you want the bay format or have a client to entertain rather than a serious round to play.

EirStay apartments in Dublin 8

Quick-Reference Summary

Area	Golf	Tennis	Running / Outdoors	Food & Wine
Donnybrook & Ballsbridge	Elm Park GC	Donnybrook LTC	Herbert Park loop	—
Ranelagh	Milltown GC	Fitzwilliam LTC	Grand Canal towpath	—
Dublin 2 / City Centre	Elm Park or Milltown (short taxi)	Herbert Park courts	Iveagh Gardens	Fallon & Byrne
Kilmainham & Islandbridge	Hermitage GC	Herbert Park (15 min)	Phoenix Park	IMMA café

If you have questions about any of the venues above or want a recommendation based on your specific situation — how long you are staying, what you already play, what you are trying to get out of your downtime — drop us a note and we will point you in the right direction. Most guests find a routine that works within the first two weeks. The city is compact enough that nothing on this list is more than 30 minutes from any EirStay apartment. For gym, yoga and Pilates options across all four areas, see our full fitness guide. For what is happening in the city across the summer, the Dublin summer 2026 events guide covers the full calendar. And if you are still choosing which apartment to book, the full EirStay portfolio is here.