Voltz says that Dublin “feels like pride throughout the year,” the city goes big for Dublin LGBTQ+ Pride Festival, which takes place the last Saturday of June. Festivities include a parade through the town center and a huge Mother Pride party held at the National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks. The city also hosts a variety of smaller queer-focused events throughout the year: In May, you can enjoy the International Gay Theatre Festival and in August, the GAZE LGTBQ+ film festival.

Voltz says that queer travelers coming to Dublin are likely to get a warm welcome. “It’s such a queer-friendly city,” she says. "In Dublin, you’re never going to be anywhere that you’re in danger.” However, her top neighborhood picks include Dublin 8, where “you’ll be neighbors with all the drag queens,” and Dublin 2, “which is close to the city center so you’ll be around at all the places for drinks, dinner.” And of course, the closer you are to The George in Temple Bar, the better.

According to Voltz, there’s one clear forerunner when it comes to places to experience Dublin’s drag scene: “The George is a masterpiece of drag,”’ she says. Located in the iconic Temple Bar neighborhood in the city center, the almost 40-year-old institution describes itself as “the heart of LGBTQ+ Ireland.” Events here range from drag bingo every Sunday to classic drag performance nights on “Thirsty Thursdays” and “Witchy Wednesdays.”

Voltz says that for queer travelers, no visit to Dublin will be complete without a drink at Pantibar, which is run by Panti Bliss, an LGBTQ+ activist hailed as the queen of Dublin drag. Voltz describes it as “an inclusive queer space where you’ll meet people from so many different tribes, ages, and communities." She’s also “obsessed” with Fibber Magees, a punk rock club that puts on a monthly Dance to the Underground drag night (where Voltz also performs).

One of Voltz’s favorite places to eat is Currabinny, a queer-owned food truck and catering company that serves up classic Irish dishes using local produce and lashings of butter. She also recommends enjoying Dublin’s increasingly popular drag brunches. Her favorites are at Wigwam, which offers free-flowing cocktails with brunch every Sunday, and at the Lighthouse, where the breakfasts, known as “naughty brunch,” are hosted by “Daphne with a D,” a long-running queen on the Dublin drag scene.

To learn about Dublin’s LGBTQ+ history, take a gay-themed walking tour of the city that includes landmarks like the Oscar Wilde Memorial Sculpture in Merrion Square Park; the statue, which lazes luxuriously on a rock, is colloquially known as “the Queer with the Leer.” You could also learn more about Wilde (and the square's other famous residents, like William Butler Yeats) on a Merrion Square walking tour.

To explore the queer side of Dublin’s arts and culture scene, start by heading to the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre. “It’s run by queer people (world-famous drag queen Sacha Velour has performed there twice) and hosts a varied program of comedy, drama, and performance art,” says Voltz. Volts also loves the Project Arts Centre on Street 66, a gallery, performance, and workshop space where the artists include lots of “queer people writing, directing, and acting in different plays.”