The full event menu includes cooking classes with some of the most renowned chefs, wines paired with delicious dishes, champaign sipped in VIP lounges and presentations by culinary experts.

What could be more exciting for a foodie lover?!

Setting a new benchmark for food and drinks worldwide, many Taste Festivals are being held around the world this year. Cities include: Amsterdam, Auckland, Birmingham, Cape Town, Dubai, Dublin, Edinburgh, Jo’burg, London, Melbourne, Milan and Sydney. Taste Festivals bring together the host city’s most acclaimed restaurants and chefs in stunning venues to present signature offerings to foodie visitors.

Bon appétit!

Images: Taste of London, adriangonsalves, griffithchris, robertpaulyoung

During those early days, the holiday honored the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick. Now it’s a more secular holiday for many people who enjoy the parties, parades, music, food and demonstrations that highlight the culture and history of Ireland. The biggest celebration, the five day St. Patrick’s Festival, is held every year in Dublin. As the capital of Ireland and the largest city, it’s one of the best cities for St. Patrick’s Day throughout the world.

Included in the event are comedy shows, storytelling and cultural lectures, film and visual art shows, musical performances and boat races as well as scavenger hunts for the kids. And of course, there will be plenty of good Irish food and beer on hand to keep festival goers happy. Parade grandstand seats sell for 60 euros (lining up on the street costs nothing), but other events are free. Even if you don’t attend many of the festival events, you’ll still find a celebratory atmosphere in Dublin at the time and you don’t have to spend a lot to enjoy yourself.

Dublin isn’t the only place in Ireland to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in the holiday’s homeland. Cork, Derry, Galway and several other towns also host large celebrations. Of course you’ll mostly likely find flights to Dublin are cheaper than to other destinations in Ireland (as Dublin is the hub), but once in the country it’s easy to get around and distances from town to town are not great.

Even if you can’t make it to Dublin, you’ll find several other destinations putting on a lively St. Paddy’s Day party. From Chicago and New York in the US to Japan, Argentina and New Zealand, other cities and countries around the world get in on the holiday. The level of emphasis on Irish culture can vary – some places focus more on shamrocks and green beer – but the fun factor will be equally high no matter where you raise your glass.

Photos by infomatique at Flickr

By Katie Hammel of BootsnAll

Traveling to Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day? Download mTrip’s Dublin Travel Guide

National Gallery of Ireland

National Gallery of Ireland

Visit the National Gallery of Ireland for Worldclass exhibitions, free admission to the permanent collections and even get creative by sketching in the Gallery.

Colour and Light: Caring for Turner’s watercolours

Present – January 2011

Free Admission

Make a good start to your New Year and visit the National Gallery for their annual January exhibition, featuring Joseph Mallord William Turner’s watercolour exhibition. Each year brings a rich experience and you are bound to discover something fresh and unique in his work each time. His approach this year showcases his care for watercolours, from the Victorian era to the present. On view you will find the wood cabinet commissioned by Henry Vaughan, made to store the works as well as a selection of silhouettes and miniature from the Mary A McNeil Bequest.

Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane

The range on offer at The Hugh Lane extends from impressionists like Monet, Manet, and Degas to present-day artists. The gallery exhibits contemporary Irish as well as international artists.

The Golden Bough: Gavin Murphy

Present – January 16th, 2011

Gavin Murphy’s artwork derives from unique fabricated elements, reclaimed materials, sourced and found objects, video, photography and text. Combining the fictive and the factual, his practice is intertextual. He uses cultural matter as his medium, with references to art, history and theory. This forms the narrative of intercommunicating texts

Richard Tuttle: Triumphs

Present – April 10th, 2011

Triumphs by Richard Tuttle is a site-specific exhibition. The exhibit seeks to respond to the local as encountered in the early Georgian architecture of the main gallery, Charlemont House (designed by Sir William Chambers in 1765) and to the Hugh Lane Collection (established in 1908). The installation is a Polysemous multipart construction, with focus on the Augustan era. The exhibition begins with work from the mid-1960s, continuing through to the present.

The Golden Bough: William McKeown

February 3rd, 2011 – May 1st, 2011

William McKeown is recognized for his interest in humanity’s ongoing relationship with nature, outside and within. His artwork showcases his interest through paintings, drawings, watercolours as well as constructions/installations.

This upcoming installation, The Golden Bough will focus on the chapter between Heaven and Earth. McKeown currently lives in Edinburgh but is originally from Tyrone in Northern Ireland.

Irish Museum of Modern Art

Here you will discover a wide variety of art in a dynamic program of exhibitions.

The Moderns

Present – February 27th, 2011

The focus is on innovation and experimentation. The most extensive exhibition to date from the Museum’s own collection, The Moderns explores the development of modernity in Ireland through the visual arts from 1900 to 1975. The exhibition showcases paintings, sculptures, photography, film, architecture, literature, music and design from that period.

Post-War American Art: The Novak/O’Doherty Collection

Present – February 27th, 2011

Consisting of drawings, limited edition prints & multiples, photographs, watercolours and striking paintings and sculpture, the collection is sure to inspire avid art historians. The works all range across 20th century American art, most notably New York art of the 1960′s and 70′s. Notable artists include Marcel Duchamp, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Christo, Edward Hopper, Sonja Sekula, Sol Lewitt, Mel Bochner, George Segal, Hans Namuth, John Coplans, Diana Mitchener and a slew of others worth seeing.

Download mTrip’s Dublin Travel Guide for more info on museums, monuments, galleries and more.