Dublin 6 stretches beyond the Grand Canal, south of the city centre, from Ranelagh village, west through Rathmines and Rathgar villages. Dublin 6W (The ‘w’ standing for west) includes Templeogue, Kimmage and Terenure. Dublin 6 was split into 6 and 6W in 1985, when a new sorting office opened and residents of some areas felt their property would be devalued if it was given the code Dublin 26. This will give you a clue as to what the area is like. Rathgar, and parts of Ranelagh, Rathmines and Terenure are quite exclusive, with wide, leafy roads, detached houses on their own grounds similar to those found in neighbouring Dublin 4, and with prices to match. The area covers Milltown, Ranelagh, Rathmines, Rathgar, Harolds Cross, Terenure and Lower Kimmage Road.

Overall, Dublin 6 is a pleasant, quiet place to live, well served by pubs and restaurants. Ranelagh is a large village, packed with trendy eateries and a mix of old-style and modernised pubs, all within a 20 minute walk from the city centre. The roads and streets around Ranelagh are mainly residential and well established, with not many new developments. Rathmines is a little shabbier than Ranelagh – its tall houses long popular for cheap student flats and bedsits, with many of the buildings sadly neglected, and former front gardens given over to parking spaces and business premises. Rathgar is more like Dublin 4 – a small village and lots of large houses on substantial grounds. Further west, areas of Dublin 6W like Terenure have many three and four-bedroom settled semi-detached housing estates from the 1950s and 1960s.

Map p.416, 419, 420

Area D p.80-81

Dublin 6 is quite a mature residential area and there aren’t many large new developments. However, the odd small apartment block or townhouses are built in the grounds of a larger house and there has been some development in Rathmines, with the Town Centre apartment complex, and along the Grand Canal towards Harold’s Cross.

In general, one-bed properties around Rathmines or Rathgar start from around €380,000 and prices can go up to €10 million or even €12 million for a large, period family home with a garden, especially around Rathgar.

Shopping in Ranelagh isn’t great – apart from banks, pharmacies, the odd specialist or charity shop and useful services like newsagents, it’s mostly restaurants and cafes, and the small villages of Rathgar or Harold’s Cross have very little either, although you will see some exclusive little boutiques dotted about Rathgar. Rathmines has a shopping centre (the Swan Centre) with a large Dunnes Stores and some other assorted shops, but fashion shopping in Rathmines is of the low budget or discount variety and you’ll find lots of charity and discount shops. However there’s everything else useful from supermarkets (Dunnes, Tesco and Aldi) and shoe repairs to laundrettes and hairdressers, so you won’t have to go into the city and you won’t break the bank. There’s also a large public library in Rathmines (see p.245).

If you’re looking to eat out in Ranelagh you shouldn’t be disappointed. From takeaways, suburban pizza joints and smart restaurants, the choice is there, but it can be hard to get a table mid-week so book ahead. The same goes for Rathmines, though the fare is a little more fast than tasty – long popular with students, the village has every type of takeaway from burgers, kebabs and pizza, to fish and chips and fried chicken, with a couple of ‘proper restaurants’ dotted in between. Rathgar doesn’t have many restaurants though there are a few gourmet shops like the Deli Boutique (01 496 7612) and there are more restaurants in Terenure village.

Pubs in Ranelagh and Rathgar get a good enough crowd on weekends, but if you’re looking for live music, DJs spinning tunes or late-night drinking, you’re more likely to find it in Rathmines or the city centre.

For the more athletic, there are lots of sporting activities in Dublin 6 and 6W. Clubs like Mount Pleasant Tennis Club (p.256) or LA Fitness (01 491 1675) in Dartry will keep you in shape and meeting new people, as will Rathmines Swimming Pool, a public pool on Lower Rathmines Road (p.255). Bushy Park in Terenure has playing fields, tennis courts, a playground and walks and there are small parks around the area at squares like Kennilworth Square and Eaton Square. Harold’s Cross offers a park and a bit of a dabble on the dogs with greyhound racing in Harold’s Cross Stadium (see p.262).

The nearest main hospitals to Dublin 6 are St. Vincent’s University Hospital in Elm Park (Merrion), Dublin 4 (01 277 4000, www.stvincents.ie), and St James’s Hospital, James’s Street, Dublin 8 (01 410 3100, www.stjames.ie). Johnston’s Pharmacy in Ranelagh is open until 21:00 on weekdays; Bourkes Pharmacy in Rathmines is open until 21:00 Thursday and Friday and McCabe’s Pharmacy on Lower Kimmage Road, Dublin 6W (01 490 6011) is open until 21:00 on weekdays. Bradley’s in Kimmage is open until 22:00 Monday to Saturday.

Popular girls-only secondary schools in the area include Our Ladys School, Terenure (01 490 3241); Alexandra College, Milltown (p.146); St Louis High School in Rathmines (01 497 5458) and Presentation School, Terenure (01 490 2404). Boys-only schools include Sandford Park, Ranelagh (01 497 1417, www.sandfordparkschool.ie); Gonzaga College, Ranelagh (01 497 2931) and Terenure College (01 490 4621), and mixed schools include The High School, Rathgar (01 492 2611); Rathmines College (01 497 5334); St Mac Dara’s Community College, Templeogue (01 456 6216); Templeogue College (01 490 5788, www.templeoguecollege.ie) and St Marys College, Rathmines (01 406 2100).

The Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) has some faculties in Rathmines, while for evening classes, Sandford Language Institute in Milltown (see p.148) and Rathmines College (see p.148) are both good. Trinity College and UCD are just a couple of miles from the area (see Higher Education on p.147 for more).

These areas are all well served with bus routes from the city centre, one of the busiest being the number 15 route from the city centre though Rathmines and Rathgar. The Luas from St Stephen’s Green also travels through Ranelagh before going on through Milltown and south to Dundrum and Sandyford. Most of the roads around here are residential so spaces are not too hard to find – parking is residential permit or pay and display. There’s a taxi rank outside Tesco in Rathmines. A lot of the residential roads have ramps and speed bumps so short cuts are deterred.

Traffic congestion can be heavy especially during morning rush hour heading towards the city, and evening rush-hour heading out of the city. Side roads around Ranelagh and the canal are locations for some of the city’s worst bottlenecks.