Books Upstairs

A cozy little bookshop with a well-curated selection and friendly staff. The café upstairs is warm and inviting, serving great coffee. Don’t miss this spot if you love books!

Simply the best bookshop in Dublin. A joyful, charming spot in the centre of town to grab a coffee in the cosy cafe and walk among a lovingly curated array of books. The staff are friendly, helpful and clearly love being part of an authentic independent Dublin institution.

A real gem in the heart of Dublin. I popped in to pick up a children’s book for my 12-year-old niece and ended up happily wandering the shelves far longer than planned. The staff are sound as anything and genuinely love what they do, and with multiple floors to explore and a snug café upstairs for a quiet coffee and a new read, it’s pure magic. If you love a proper bookshop, don’t miss this spot. I'll be back!

Such a charming, cozy little shop! Truly a highlight of my trip — I spoke with a staff member (I should have caught her name!) who is so knowledgeable, kind, and generous with her time to ensure I had so many books to choose from (she has a PhD in poetry!!) and I’m so thrilled with my purchases. I haven’t stopped reading them and am feeling so inspired again to write, so thank you! ❤️

A fantastic place. Huge bookshop across a couple of floors with a wide selection. Children's books and fiction in a side room on the ground floor, which has a side staircase up to second-hand fiction and nonfiction rooms. The basement has nonfiction and graphic novels. There is also a lovely coffee shop up the main stairs with great coffee and a selection of cakes. The toilets on the top floor were spacious and well maintained as well. Spent a good couple of hours here and, if we were locals, would definitely visit regularly. The staff were all really friendly and helpful too.

Really cool historic independent book store. Nice selection of books, and a great coffee bar on the second floor with a beautiful large window.

We would give this store more than 5 stars if that would be possible. Cute little book store ambiance meets great selection of books spanning across numerous genres. Concept of blind dates (with books) was new to us and a great idea. We are excited to read both received books. We’ll definitely be back the next time we’re in Dublin.

Review for cafe: Don't bother with the hot chocolate! €4.50 and tastes like nothing. Made with water I'd say with a bit of frothed milk on top, bleurgh. Waited half an hour for it too 😅 Edit: to be fair, they offered the refund when I returned it.

Books Upstairs requires you to wander across a couple rooms on the ground floor and then through a multi-level upstairs (accessed from the far fiction section room) maze of used books of various genres. There's distinct literary vibe here, which took me awhile to get my bearings. There's lots of space to wander, of which both Gayle and I enjoyed. I only scratched this book store's surface, but did leave with nice literary journal and a book of poems titled Brink. The fellow old guy behind the counter pretty much left everybody along, and in my judgement not only knowing the time and being willing to tell you how the watch operated.

This bookshop is so cute and cozy! It has three floors total with both new and used books. The used books are very easy to miss - they are tucked away in the back, accessible only by walking through the fiction section and going next to the LGBTQ section. There's a doorway there that leads to a staircase that brings you to the used books. I didn't check the prices on the used books since I didn't find anything I wanted. They had a pretty decent selection of new and used books. The store was so cozy and comfortable. The employees were helpful and friendly. I can see myself spending a while in here!

incredibly large, beautiful bookstore with new and used books! Selection was endless and i loved the irish fiction section and gender and sexuality sections. Lots of display space and tables. Easy to navigate. And all these cool penguin editions of popular titles! staff was also very kind:)

Super cute bookstore near Trinity College. We bought several books by local Irish authors. They have a blind date book option where you can buy a book without knowing what it is. We would have bought more books if we had space in our luggage!

Another hidden little gem that I missed so far. I heard it used to be a hotel and judging by the layout that's quite possible. The book store goes over two floors, is well laid out and offers every genre you would hope for. Upstairs is a lovely little cafe with two fireplaces and big windows, window sill bench, couch and stools. I was there rather in the evening so I only had a cup of tea but loved their choices of tea. I went for a maroccan tea - green with mint and (I think) lemon. The staff both in shop and cafe was lovely and cleary loved working there. The perfect spot to get out of the buzzing city and relax, read, refresh.

I have been in the book shop many times but never took the stairs to the cafe until today. So i went to try it and one if the reasons that took me is the big beautiful window on the building that doesnt look like any other building in dublin. Anyway, i had coffee and raspberry tart and my friend had pustachio eclair and hot chocolate. I liked what i had and i was impressed that the coffee was good, i dont know why the place look like a tea place and usually you dont get a good coffee in such places. Back to the point my friend enjoyed her drink but ww both thought the eclair was nothing near to a real eclair, it was stuffed with pistachio cream and had no air at all, very heavy but overall the cafe is really nice and its a perfect spot for reading.