Ask any Dubliner what's happening and you may hear echoes of one of W. B. Yeats's most-quoted lines: "All changed, changed utterly." You can practically hear the roar as this old city on the western shore of the Irish Sea transforms itself into Western Europe's fastest-growing urban tourist destination -- a center of new construction and restoration.

Even though it has shown recent signs of slowing down, "the Celtic Tiger" -- the nickname given to the roaring Irish economy -- has turned Dublin into a boomtown. Elegant shops and hotels, galleries, art-house cinemas, coffeehouses, and a stunning variety of restaurants have sprung up on almost every street in the capital.

Roughly half of the Irish Republic's population of 3.6 million people live in Dublin and its suburbs. It's a city of young people -- astonishingly so. Students from all over Ireland attend Trinity College and the city's dozen other universities and colleges. On weekends, their counterparts from Paris, London, and Rome fly in, swelling the city's youthful contingent, crowding its pubs and clubs to overflowing. After graduating, more and more young people are sticking around rather than emigrating to New York or London, filling the raft of new jobs set up by multinational corporations and contributing to the hubbub that's evident everywhere.

All this development has not been without growing pains. With London-like house prices, increased crime, and major traffic problems, Dubliners are at last suffering the woes so familiar to city dwellers around the world. An influx of immigrants has caused resentment among some of the otherwise famously hospitable Irish. "Me darlin' Dublin's dead and gone," so goes the old traditional ballad, but the rebirth, at times difficult and a little messy, has been a spectacular success. And enough of the old Dublin remains to enchant. After all, it's the fundamentals -- museums with astonishing works, lovely parks, the Georgian elegance of Merrion Square, the Norman drama of Christ Church Cathedral, a foamy pint at one of Dublin's 1,000-odd pubs -- that still gratify.

When is it best -- and worst -- to pay a call on the Irish capital? The summer offers a real lift, as the natives spill out of the pubs into the slew of sidewalk cafés and open-air restaurants. The week around St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) is, naturally, a nonstop festival of parades, cultural happenings, and "hooleys" (long nights of partying) throughout the city.

Christmas in Dublin seems to last a month, and the city's old-style illuminations match the genteel, warm mood of the locals. The downside quickly follows, however, for January and February are damp hangover months.

A warm sweater is a must all year round, as even summer nights can occasionally get chilly. Dublin gets its share of rain (though a lot less than other parts of Ireland), so an umbrella is a good investment -- and best to make it a strong one, as the winds show no mercy to cheaper models.