The service may be erratic … but its popularity endures: Doolin House, Moscow

The most far flung Irish pubs in the world

This article is more than 9 years old

No matter how far you travel, one thing’s for sure – you’re likely to come across an Irish pub. We pick some of the most remote and unusually-located, from the world’s highest to a bar at the end of the earth

Have you been to a great Irish bar on your travels? Tell us about it in the comments below

Doolin House, Moscow

Half way along pedestrianised Arbat Street, between the matryoshka shops and the stalls of birch bark paintings, is Doolin House, one of Moscow’s numerous Irish pubs. This sprawling, basement bar comes complete with wolf skins on the green walls, a Guinness-sticky floor and an authentic pub smell. Decor also encompasses soft-porn photos, fake-leather armchairs, bunting and stags’ heads. Service and food are erratic, but it’s a cosy place for a pint, with regular live music and only occasional cockroaches. It offers a minty mojito and various beers, from Kilkenny (aka Smithwicks) to Young’s Double Chocolate Stout. Round the corner, above the shops on Novy Arbat, the Shamrock bar claims to be Moscow’s oldest Irish pub, serving up pints of Harp or drams of Jamesons since 1991.
doolin-house.ru
Phoebe Taplin

Irish Pub, Namche Bazar, Nepal

Probably the highest Irish pub in the world, definitely the planet’s least accessible Irish pub, and almost certainly the only Irish pub with yak on the menu; reaching the Irish Pub in the Sherpa town of Namche Bazaar is quite the adventure. Fly into Lukla, the nearest airport, where defunct planes attest to the dangers of landing on the edge of a cliff, then walk for two days across swaying suspension bridges to the dizzy heights of 3,440m. All drinks – from boxed wine to bottled Guinness and imported spirits – arrive by mule train, yak train or on the backs of Nepal’s amazing porters, a carrying feat that puts the Everest Base Camp trek into perspective.
Namche-3, Namche Bazar, Nepal, +977 385 40184, facebook.com
Theodora Sutcliffe

The Dublin, Ushuaia, Argentina

Ushuaia, the Patagonian town at the southern tip of Argentina, is commonly referred to as the “end of the world”. When ships dock here from Antarctica and when daytrippers return after retracing Darwin’s trip across the Beagle Channel a surprising high proportion of passengers utter the same words: “Let’s go to the Irish pub!” The Dublin is no carbon copy from the motherland; instead it has a distinct local look – a shack-like structure, corrugated frontage (green, of course) and small-paned windows. Inside, there’s a scattering of the usual clover-and-leprechaun paraphernalia, plus for no obvious reason, a life-size model of R2D2. Join the après-ski crowd here from late June to late September. And instead of Guinness, try the local stout from Beagle brewery.
The Dublin, Ushuaia, Avenida 9 de Julio 168, +54 2901 430744
Vicky Baker

Dublin Irish Pub, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

The first time you see an Irish pub in Mongolia, it’s an amusingly incongruous sight. Then you turn the corner and see another, and another … It’s green shamrocks galore in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, where so-called Irish pubs dominate the bar scene. The Dublin Irish Pub in the Sukhbaatar district claims to be the “First Irish Pub in Mongolia”. Lapped up by well-heeled locals and travelling businessmen, it has little in common with a genuine Irish boozer: think attentive service via buzzers on tables and gleaming hi-tech loos. Further down Seoul Street, the huge Grandkhaan Irish Pub has been entertaining beer-swilling ex-pats and travellers since 2005. While its name is a nod to Mongolia’s beloved leader Genghis, the brown and green decor aims at Irishness, though the varied European menu is superior to many a Dublin watering hole. Wherever you go in Mongolia’s surprising Irish scene, two things are reassuringly certain: televised sport, and Guinness.
Grandkhaan Irish Pub, Seoul Street, 1 Khoroo, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Anna Smith

Mickey Bourkes, Koroit, Victoria, Australia

Before Irish pubs become mainstream in Australia in the 1980s, there was Mickey Bourkes, established in 1853. Only a few thousand people live in Koroit, on the far west coast of Victoria in Australia, but the names are direct from Ireland. There are O’Tootles, Nolans, Lenehans and McCluskeys – all of Irish stock after their ancestors arrived in famine boats in the 1800s. The centrepiece of Koroit – where locals and tourists gather – is Mickey Bourke’s pub in the town’s main street. There is Guinness on tap and traditional Irish music. Koroit even hosts an annual Irish festival that celebrates all things Celtic. The staff are welcoming, the meals are cheap and servings large, the decor is comfortable and unfussy. The menu also has an Irish slant – oysters Kilpatrick and Irish stew. Forget the St Brigid’s Cross and street signs in Gaelic though. There is thankfully little Irish tat – the furniture and decor are that of a comfortable, old Australian country pub that has escaped the renovator’s eye.
101 Commercial Road, Koroit, Victoria, Australia, (03) 5565 8201, mickeybourkes.com.au
Brigid Delaney

Tir Na Nog, Gili Trawangan, Indonesia

In Irish mythology Tir Na Nog is a supernatural realm of eternal youth and beauty. Gili Trawangan, a tiny tropical atoll between Lombok and Bali isn’t that, but it does lure its share of bright young things with the promise of palm-fringed beaches, teeming reefs and party atmosphere. Irishman Conrad Byrne opened Tir Na Nog 18 years ago and it’s still the spot for meeting fellow travellers over a bottle of Guinness or whatever takes your fancy. There’s a big screen for sports (anything Irish takes precedent) and Wednesdays are party nights with a cosmopolitan crowd converging on the square bar or dancing to local DJs in the beachside pavilion.
+62 370 6139463, tirnanogbar.com
Johnny Langenheim

The Abbey Inn, Denton, Texas

The Abbey Inn on the square in Denton, Texas, is a post-Good Friday Agreement Irish pub. The stout-candied air, high beams and heavy pews are reminiscent of church-scale pubs on Galway’s Quay Street, but the beams are hung with Arthurian standards. The Abbey’s menu is a mash-up of Irish and British classics, including a full English breakfast and Guinness ice cream. “British Restaurant. Irish Restaurant,” says the Facebook page, but the ultimate expression of the Abbey’s two-state identity is house band County Rexford, whose name simultaneously evokes the crown and rebel Wexford. The basement club feels like a meticulous recreation of Dublin indie disco bar Fibber Magees, a place where you can feel your Doc soles stick to the spilled beer as you dance the pogo.
101 Hickory Street, Denton, Texas 76201, theabbeyinndenton.com
Rob Curran

The Dubliner, La Paz, Bolivia

You might think a shopping centre would be a strange place to find a decent Irish pub, but so it is in the Bolivian capital. Inside the Megacenter, its personality seems split halfway between Ireland and Latin America: it offers salsa one night, then a live band the next; fish and chips are on the menu just below guacamole sandwiches. There’s some debate about whether it’s the highest Irish pub in the world (Paddy’s Irish Pub, a few hours away in Cusco, Peru also stakes a claim) but one way or another, don’t be surprised if you leave light-headed.
Megacenter, Irpavi Av. Rafael Pabon, La Paz, + 591-2-2121211, dubliner.com.bo
Jamie Lafferty

Pog Mahone’s, Queenstown, New Zealand

Few Irish pubs have a better view than this. On the wharf in the cartoonishly beautiful Queenstown, on New Zealand’s South Island, it looks out down the vast, chilly waters of Lake Wakatipu. The town sits next to the Ben Lomond scenic reserve, but is also marketed as “the adventure capital of New Zealand”. That may well be true, but after you’ve scared yourself half to death, this is where to come to unwind. With proper Guinness on tap, live music and Irish stew on the menu, it ticks most of the boxes and even – get this – employs Irish staff.
14 Rees St Queenstown , Town Centre 9300, +64 3-442 5382, pogmahones.co.nz
JL

Fibber Magees, Dubai, UAE

You could be forgiven for being confused over the drinking laws in Dubai, a city in which it’s illegal to be drunk but OK to sell cocktails at $10,000 a pop; where Friday is the holy day and also the day of boozy brunch debauchery. It may not make much sense, but the rule for almost everywhere is that licensed premises must be within hotel complexes. Fibber Magees, tucked away up an alley near the Trade Centre District, is an exception. One of the city’s best quizzes is held here, the food is great and it stinks like a proper pub. Not only does it stand alone, it also has a pork license and the battered sausages are a thing of wonder.
Saeed Tower One, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai, +971 4 332 2400, fibbersdubai.com
JL

Oh Neil’s, Kampot, Cambodia

The mellow little riverside town of Kampot, Cambodia, seems an implausible choice for an Irish pub. Yet once you’re past the bamboo and palm thatch frontage, this waterfront venue is suitably dark and smoky, with shamrocks decorating the menu, classic rock posters on the walls and a blissfully Marley-free soundtrack of jazz, blues and rock. The eponymous Neil – a bona fide Irishman – has gone full foreign correspondents club with the decor: the bar is studded with international coins, there’s a wall of foreign banknotes and the sign combines ye olde Celtic font with Khmer script and a respect for UK trademarks that’s rare in south-east Asia.
Riverside Road, Kampot, Cambodia, +855 (0)15 207 790, facebook.com/OhNeils
TS