Free Phoenix Park Festival This September Is Perfect for Families

September is shaping up nicely for a Dublin day out — and this one won’t cost you a penny. The Phoenix Park is set to host its 10th Annual Biodiversity Festival and Honey Show on Saturday, 5 September 2026, and it looks like exactly the kind of free, genuinely interesting family event you’ll want to pencil in before the back-to-school madness fully takes over.

Organised by the Office of Public Works (OPW) in partnership with the Federation of Irish Beekeepers Associations (FIBKA), the festival celebrates bees, biodiversity and the remarkable natural world that thrives right inside one of Dublin’s most iconic green spaces. A decade in, it’s clearly doing something right.

What to expect on the day

There’s a solid mix of things to keep everyone — from curious toddlers to genuinely interested adults — busy for the afternoon. Exhibits and demonstrations will cover Irish honey, beeswax, mead and bee-related crafts, and there’ll be tours, talks and workshops running throughout the day, all free of charge.

The big draw for younger kids will almost certainly be the face painters, who’ll be onsite from 11am to 4pm transforming little ones into frogs, butterflies and whatever else the queue demands. If your children are anything like most, that alone will be the highlight of the entire outing — not the fascinating talk on native Irish plants, however much you might hope otherwise.

Tours of the Victorian Walled Garden will also take place on the day. It’s a beautifully restored space with a long herbaceous border, dahlias in full late-summer bloom and espalier fruit trees that look like something out of a picture book. Worth a proper wander, even if you end up herding someone back from the dahlia beds every five minutes.

The Honey Show competition is another highlight, with class categories for adults, novices and students, plus medal and trophy awards up for grabs. If you or someone you know is handy with a hive, it’s worth checking the Phoenix Park website for details on how to enter.

Talks worth catching

For those who’d like to sit down and actually learn something (a rare luxury on a family day out, we know), there’s a strong programme of talks running at the Visitor Centre and Ashtown Demesne throughout the afternoon. Highlights include:

• 12.00 — Garden Insects: the benefits of bees and wasps with Jim Ryan (FIBKA)

• 12.30 — Phoenix Park bird ringing with Taylor Maslanka (IMRG)

• 13.00 — Wild Autumn: folklore and uses of native Irish plants with Aedin Ní Thiamaigh

• 14.00 — Microbial food safety in a changing world with Claire Kelly (Teagasc)

• 15.00 — Dark Sky Ireland with Georgia McMillan (Mayo Dark Sky)

The dark sky talk in particular is the kind of thing that might spark a whole new interest — fair warning.

Plan your visit

The festival takes place at two locations within the park: the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre at Ashtown Demesne and the Biodiversity Centre at Knockmaroon. Activities run from 10am to 4pm.

Minister of State Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran TD summed it up well: “This is a fantastic opportunity for people of all ages to come together and learn about the diverse plant and animal species that inhabit our Park.”

He’s not wrong. It’s free, it’s outdoors, it’s educational without feeling like homework, and it lands on a Saturday — which means no school-run logistics to untangle. Mark it in.

For bookings or further information, contact the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre at phoenixparkvisitorcentre@opw.ie or call 01 677 0095. Full programme details are available at phoenixpark.ie.

Free family events at Phoenix Park Biodiversity Festival, September 2026.