Planning a trip to Dublin but strapped for cash? There’s no end to the free fun to be had all over the nation’s capital with museums, visitors centers, scenic attractions and tourists trails.

The most familiar sound at a feis is normally the jigging of the accordions, keyboards and violins, the instruments that typically accompany Irish step-dancing. At the Rockland County Feis, another noise was in the mix, sharp and sustained – the pipes. More than 35 pipe bands competed at the festival, and it’s one of the bigger pipe band contests in the country.

Let's face it! Visitors to Ireland are spoiled for choice. From the windswept Cliffs of Moher to the misty Aran Islands, there are hundreds of must-see places on any tourist's itinerary. We've done our best to narrow it down to just 10 and we've got the pictures to prove it!

Guinness Store House
This is expensive (adult tickets are €13.50, or almost $19), but no trip to Dublin is complete without a visit. Simply every tourist in Dublin seems to come here at least once.

Dublin: The wind and rain lashed furiously on the tarmac at Dublin Airport, rocking our Aer Lingus Airbus like a gondola exposed to the elements on a mountaintop. We hadn't packed any sun block for this post-Christmas 2000 family trip to Ireland, but no one had told us we'd be landing in the monsoon season. It had proved impossible to land at Shannon Airport in the west, where the storm was said to be really raging.

Irish Eye on Hollywood

Liam Cunningham is an Irish actor to look out for as fall approaches. He has built up an impressive resume of Irish and British movies, including Ken Loach's provocative Irish Civil War Epic The Wind that Shakes the Barley as well as Breakfast on Pluto, in which Cunningham co-starred with fellow Irish actor Cillian Murphy. Cunningham's most recent appearance was in the summer horror movie The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor starring Brendan Fraser.

From sipping a pint of Guinness, known as the "black stuff",  in the Guinness Storehouse's Gravity Bar, to gazing at the stunning architecture of Trinity College, a tourist in Dublin won't be stuck for things to

Ireland's long and troubled past make it a good choice for history buffs. Its history is far more complex than might first appear - as such, it's the type of place where a bit of local knowledge can go a long way.

Take a week out to trace St. Patrick’s footsteps and explore Ireland’s Christian tradition. You might not be able to drive the snakes out of the country, but you can at least learn about the man, the myth and Ireland’s religious past.