Sligo · Dublin · Lazio · Luleå · 2020
Connell and Marianne, on and off for four years. Undo the chain to find where.
Five places, one knot
Connell’s thin silver chain was the thing people remembered. Undo it one crossing at a time; each lays out a stretch of the story and the place where it was filmed.
Five crossings. Start with the first: Carricklea.
Carricklea, the strand, Trinity, Italy, Sweden.
A school, a town square and a pub on Teeling Street. Dunes, surf and Ben Bulben across the water. Front Square, the Exam Hall steps and a list read aloud. A villa below Monte Soratte, and a piazza on a hill. Snow and a frozen sea in Swedish Lapland.
Tubbercurry, County Sligo
Tubbercurry stands in for Carricklea, the fictional town where Marianne and Connell go to school, Tourism Ireland says.
Paul Mescal said the people of the town were incredibly kind to the crew. Principal photography began in County Sligo and Dublin in May 2019 and ended in February 2020.
Teeling Street, Tubbercurry
Tourism Ireland calls it an old-style traditional pub on Teeling Street, and one of Lenny Abrahamson’s standout locations in the town.
The Irish Times says the crew used Brennan’s pub in Tubbercurry. Abrahamson said places like it are not easily found, and that pubs like it still exist in Ireland.
An old-style pub in the middle of town. Check it is open before you make the trip.
The R294, Tubbercurry
The Irish Times says the production used the local church in Tubbercurry as well as Brennan’s.
OpenStreetMap names the town’s church Saint John the Evangelist, on the R294.
A working parish church: go in quietly, outside service times.
The town centre, Tubbercurry (Tobercurry), County Sligo
Enda Bowe, the unit photographer, names Tubbercurry among the locations of his stills.
A working market town: walk the square and Teeling Street.
County Sligo
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Streedagh, north of Sligo town
Tourism Ireland calls it about 3 km of sand, backed by Ben Bulben, and Lenny Abrahamson’s favourite location of the shoot.
Wikipedia says Streedagh Point, on the Wild Atlantic Way, was used for the beach scenes; Time Out puts it just north of Sligo town. Abrahamson spoke of the surf, the air and how good it felt to be outside there.
In September 1588 three Armada ships, La Lavia, La Juliana and the Santa Maria de Visón, were driven onto this beach by a storm. Storms re-exposed the wrecks in 2015; the state’s National Monuments Service raised nine guns, a gun-carriage wheel and a cauldron.
An open Atlantic strand of about 3 km. Mind the tides and the surf.
Trinity College Dublin
In real life the Provost announces new Scholars from the Exam Hall steps on Trinity Monday, the first Monday of Trinity Term, in April. Get there across Front Square. One rule: never walk under the Campanile while its bell is ringing.
Visit Trinity tells the Campanile’s legend: any student who passes under it while the bell tolls will fail their exams, so few shelter there even in heavy rain. It was built in the 1850s.
Front Gate. The bell is quiet.
Parliament Square (Front Square), Trinity College Dublin
Reach the Exam Hall steps to hear the list.
Through Front Gate on College Green. The Book of Kells Experience on the same campus opens from 8:30 (9:00 on Sundays), Visit Trinity says.
Trinity College Dublin · From €37 · 120 minutes · Mon–Thu 8:30–18:30, Fri–Sat 8:30–19:00, Sun 9:00–18:30
A 45-minute guided walk round the campus, Front Square included, then the Book of Kells and the Old Library.
See tickets
Fellows’ Square, Trinity College Dublin
Connell’s study scenes were shot in the Berkeley Library, The Irish Times says.
Paul Koralek won the competition for it at 28, in 1961; it was officially opened in 1967 by President Éamon de Valera. Trinity dropped Berkeley’s name in April 2023 and chose Eavan Boland’s in October 2024, after 855 public submissions. The plaque went up on 15 September 2026. It is the first building on the city-centre campus named after a woman.
A working library for Trinity readers: see its concrete front from Fellows’ Square.
St Patrick’s Close, Dublin D08 FK79
Marianne’s library scenes were shot in Marsh’s Library, The Irish Times says.
It first opened to the public in 1707. At the end of the second gallery are three wired alcoves, the cages, where readers were locked in so the books could not walk.
Tuesday to Friday 9:30–5, Saturday 10–5; closed Sundays and bank holidays. Adults €8, seniors and students €6.
St Patrick’s Close, Dublin 8 · Adults €8, seniors and students €6 · Tue–Fri 9:30–17:00, Sat 10:00–17:00
Walk the galleries where Marianne’s library scenes were shot, and see the cages at the end.
Plan a visitSet in … shot in
Most of Marianne’s Swedish scenes were filmed in Ireland; the snowy ones were shot in Luleå, among them her walk over the frozen Baltic, Time Out says. Turn each card over from where the story says it is to where the camera was.
Four cards, each face down on the story.
153 Capel Street, Dublin 1
Tourism Ireland names Brother Hubbard as the restaurant where Connell works.
The Irish Times places the scene in a restaurant at the back of a shop on Capel Street. Brother Hubbard North, at 153 Capel Street, is the company’s city-centre flagship; there are cafés in Ranelagh and on Harrington Street too.
A working café and restaurant, open seven days a week.
Cork Hill, beside City Hall, at the top of Dame Street
After his friend Rob’s death, Connell begins to see a university counsellor, Gillian. Her office is filmed in the Rates Office on Dame Street.
The Rates Office was housed in the former Newcomen Bank, which Thomas Ivory designed in Portland stone in 1781. The bank was first half its present size; the later half copies Ivory’s design, with a new porch joining the two.
Not open to visitors: see the front from Cork Hill, beside City Hall.
The series shows Connell’s depression plainly, and shows him asking for help. If any of this is close to home, Pieta’s crisis line is 1800 247 247 (Pieta, free and open 24 hours, in Ireland; or Text HELP to 51444), and Samaritans are on 116 123 (Samaritans, free, day or night).
Coast Road, Portmarnock, County Dublin D13 W7X2
The fundraiser scenes were filmed in the Tamango nightclub, inside the White Sands Hotel, The Irish Times says.
The hotel has 58 en suite rooms; some look over Portmarnock beach, and the bar has sea views.
A working hotel of 58 rooms on the seafront at Portmarnock.
Coast Road, Portmarnock, County Dublin · Rates on the hotel’s booking page
A 58-room hotel on the seafront at Portmarnock, where the fundraiser scenes were filmed in its nightclub.
See roomsLazio, summer
Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, Stimigliano, Lazio
The novel sends them to Trieste, but the Italian scenes were filmed in central Italy, mostly around Sant’Oreste and Stimigliano, Wikipedia says.
Time Out calls Stimigliano a hilltop town north of Rome and says its Piazza Vittorio Emanuele appears in the series.
A small hill town north of Rome; the piazza is public.
Sant’Oreste, at the foot of Monte Soratte, Lazio
The villa where Marianne’s family stays is Il Casale on the Tenuta di Verzano, near Sant’Oreste, Wikipedia says.
Its host’s listing describes an old farmhouse at the foot of Monte Soratte, in the same family for more than 150 years, with a pool and a park. The listing says the farmhouse has been used several times for film and advertising shoots.
The village is public. The villa is a private holiday let outside it, with its address given only on booking: it is not pinned.
Sant’Oreste, Lazio, north of Rome · Prices on the listing · 2026 bookings through the host’s new account
The old farmhouse below Monte Soratte that played the family villa: a two-bedroom home for up to six, with a pool and the run of the park. The address is given on booking.
See the listingLuleå, February 2020
Luleå, Norrbotten, Swedish Lapland
Most of Marianne’s Swedish scenes were filmed in Ireland; the snowy ones were shot in Luleå, among them her walk over the frozen Baltic, Time Out says.
They were filmed in February 2020, for the snow and the frozen sea, Wikipedia says. Visit Luleå counts 1,312 islands in its archipelago; Gammelstad Church Town, with more than 400 church cottages, has been a World Heritage Site since 1996.
A coastal city with a frozen sea in winter, Visit Luleå says. Gammelstad Church Town is part of it.
Kyrktorget 1, Gammelstad, Luleå · Tuesdays 13:00–14:00 until 24 November 2026 · cheaper booked online
An hour’s guided walk through Luleå’s World Heritage church town. Not a Normal People tour: the town the snow scenes came from.
Book a place15 places you can visit, in Sligo, in Dublin, and in Italy and Sweden. Marianne’s house on Wellington Road is named but not pinned; the family homes in Wicklow and Shankill and the school in Dublin 15 are left out.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working market town: walk the square and Teeling Street.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. An old-style pub in the middle of town. Check it is open before you make the trip.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working parish church: go in quietly, outside service times.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. An open Atlantic strand of about 3 km. Mind the tides and the surf.
The town centre, Tubbercurry (Tobercurry), County Sligo
Tubbercurry stands in for Carricklea, the fictional town where Marianne and Connell go to school, Tourism Ireland says.
A working market town: walk the square and Teeling Street.
Teeling Street, Tubbercurry
The Irish Times says the crew used Brennan’s pub in Tubbercurry.
An old-style pub in the middle of town. Check it is open before you make the trip.
The R294, Tubbercurry
The Irish Times says the production used the local church in Tubbercurry as well as Brennan’s.
A working parish church: go in quietly, outside service times.
Streedagh, north of Sligo town
Wikipedia says Streedagh Point, on the Wild Atlantic Way, was used for the beach scenes; Time Out puts it just north of Sligo town.
An open Atlantic strand of about 3 km. Mind the tides and the surf.
Stay
The farmhouse below Monte Soratte that played the family villa, and the White Sands at Portmarnock.
Sant’Oreste, Lazio, north of Rome · Prices on the listing · 2026 bookings through the host’s new account
The old farmhouse below Monte Soratte that played the family villa: a two-bedroom home for up to six, with a pool and the run of the park. The address is given on booking.
See the listingCoast Road, Portmarnock, County Dublin · Rates on the hotel’s booking page
A 58-room hotel on the seafront at Portmarnock, where the fundraiser scenes were filmed in its nightclub.
See roomsGo there
A guided walk across Front Square with the Book of Kells, Marsh’s galleries, Gammelstad in Luleå, and marketplace tours of Sligo and Dublin.
Trinity College Dublin · From €37 · 120 minutes · Mon–Thu 8:30–18:30, Fri–Sat 8:30–19:00, Sun 9:00–18:30
A 45-minute guided walk round the campus, Front Square included, then the Book of Kells and the Old Library.
See ticketsSt Patrick’s Close, Dublin 8 · Adults €8, seniors and students €6 · Tue–Fri 9:30–17:00, Sat 10:00–17:00
Walk the galleries where Marianne’s library scenes were shot, and see the cages at the end.
Plan a visitKyrktorget 1, Gammelstad, Luleå · Tuesdays 13:00–14:00 until 24 November 2026 · cheaper booked online
An hour’s guided walk through Luleå’s World Heritage church town. Not a Normal People tour: the town the snow scenes came from.
Book a placeCounty Sligo
Live marketplace results for guided days out in County Sligo. None is a Normal People tour as such.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursDublin
Live marketplace results for literary walks in Dublin, some past Trinity.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
The Fumbally’s Christmas Market from 4 to 6 December 2026, and Trinity Monday on 26 April 2027.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
Sally Rooney’s Normal People, and Eavan Boland’s memoir.
Sally Rooney
The novel the series is made from, Faber, 2018.
Find the bookEavan Boland
The memoir of the poet whose name Trinity’s library has carried since 2024.
Find the bookDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
normal, people.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources. A filming place is named only where a named page says so; where a page names only a road or a town, the place is described as exactly that.
16 of 16 places · 24 of 24 Moments
The town centre, Tubbercurry (Tobercurry), County Sligo
Connell and Marianne grow up in the same small Sligo town and go on to Trinity College Dublin. Twelve episodes follow them from school to university, on and off.
BBC Three releases all twelve episodes on iPlayer on 26 April 2020; RTÉ One shows it weekly from 28 April, and Hulu from 29 April.
Filming runs from May 2019 in Sligo and Dublin to February 2020 in Luleå.
Tubbercurry plays Carricklea.
Paul Mescal raffles one of Connell’s chains for Pieta House, an Irish charity that provides free mental health services. More than 4,000 people enter, and it raises €70,340.
Teeling Street, Tubbercurry
The crew films in Brennan’s, an old-style pub on Teeling Street.
The R294, Tubbercurry
The production uses the church in Tubbercurry.
Streedagh, north of Sligo town
The beach scenes are filmed at Streedagh, the director’s favourite location.
A storm drives three ships of the Spanish Armada onto Streedagh.
Parliament Square (Front Square), Trinity College Dublin
The scholarship scene is filmed on the Exam Hall steps, on the day Trinity publishes its second list of real Scholars.
The Provost announces the new Scholars from the steps of the Exam Hall.
Paul Mescal wins Best Actor at the British Academy Television Awards; he is also nominated for an Emmy.
Fellows’ Square, Trinity College Dublin
Connell’s study scenes are shot in the Berkeley Library.
The plaque naming the Eavan Boland Library goes up.
St Patrick’s Close, Dublin D08 FK79
Marianne’s library scenes are shot in Marsh’s Library.
Fumbally Lane, Dublin 8
Marianne’s birthday party is filmed at the Fumbally, and its Stables stand in for a Swedish café.
153 Capel Street, Dublin 1
Connell works at Brother Hubbard.
Cork Hill, beside City Hall, at the top of Dame Street
After his friend Rob’s death, Connell begins to see a university counsellor, Gillian. Her office is filmed in the Rates Office on Dame Street.
Charlemont House, Parnell Square North, Dublin 1
A copy of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection is built in the Hugh Lane’s atrium.
Coast Road, Portmarnock, County Dublin D13 W7X2
The fundraiser scenes are filmed in Tamango, the nightclub of the White Sands Hotel.
Wellington Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4
Marianne’s student house is a house on Wellington Road.
Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, Stimigliano, Lazio
Piazza Vittorio Emanuele in Stimigliano appears in the Italian episodes.
Sant’Oreste, at the foot of Monte Soratte, Lazio
Il Casale, on the Tenuta di Verzano near Sant’Oreste, is the family villa the novel puts near Trieste.
Luleå, Norrbotten, Swedish Lapland
Marianne walks over the frozen Baltic; the snow scenes are shot in Luleå.
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