Due north in the revitalised riverside Temple Bar, the mixed Front Lounge style saloon gets almost completely overrun by gays on the upper level. Smooching your lover boy in a comfy sofa for all the straights below to view, it's a great daytime chill zone or the perfect spring board for the night ahead.

Just over the river and in stark contrast, Out on the Liffey is best described as 'unpolished' - pretensions barred. It gets particularly cruisy and men-only on a Saturday, with its infamous mirror urinals where all can see all and often do. Staying on the north bank and just round the corner, you're soon back in style again with recently opened GUBU setting the trend with crowds of bright young things propping up its long bar in between smiling and laughing and making trips to the cosy loos.

Back across the river and The George is the scene's oldest and biggest bar - a tried and tested trouper. Attracting all sorts with its timeless mix of karaoke and drag, it expands upstairs - most notably on a Saturday - from which gallery you can gaze down upon carefree gays shimmying away beneath. And though much of the Dublin scene is lads and lasses all mixed, girls can go off and get it together without distraction at Molloy's on the High Street all week round.

Legs still left on you? Well there's no shortage of clubs to cheat the night. HAM at the POD is the main venue on a Friday: an unusual cavernous space, fit for both grooving and boozing and as cruisy as you fancy with some young Liam, Seamus or Ronan. If you've done your stint at The George on a Saturday, you might then head on to Peg's opposite Trinity College for chart dance in the basement and indie upstairs. If it's Sunday it's Spy, a classy club with several rooms catering for all tastes, or try SLAM on Mondays for a darned good laugh - all ages but not least those naughty student stop-outs.

Boilerhouse is the largest, busiest sauna in town with all the booths and trappings imaginable, though some still stick to the smaller Dock attached to the Inn on the Liffey just back over the water. But if you like to work up a sweat outside, then cruise straight to the Papal Cross monument after dark in Phoenix Park north-west of centre - perhaps the Pope's most tangible legacy after his visit a few decades back.

Apart from all the shops and boutiques along Dublin's famous Grafton Street off College Green, you might find Basic Instinct of use for your mags, videos, leather and rubber requirements - something to suit all knobs and knockers. And for a spot of culture, you can pay homage at Oscar Wilde's House where the self-declared genius spent his formative years with his family until the age of twenty one.

We can recommend Frankie's Guesthouse, a delightful exclusively lesbian and gay affair in a pretty Georgian terrace mews offering hefty Irish breakfasts and overseen masterfully by the colourful character that is Frankie. You can also click the Bookings button below for great deals on a variety of Dublin hotels.

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