You'll know their cousin. Say hello anyway.

The craic, with someone new

Ireland is a small country, and it shows. Meet someone new in a pub and within ten minutes you'll have found the cousin, the old schoolmate or the neighbour you have in common. It's half the charm, and it's also why plenty of people never walk up to a stranger at the bar in the first place.

The pub is still the heart of it: a pint, good chat, maybe a trad session starting up in the corner, then on somewhere later if the night is going well. In Dublin that means Camden Street, Stoneybatter or the lanes off Grafton Street; in Galway, the Latin Quarter, where music spills out of every second door; in Cork, the streets around Oliver Plunkett Street.

YesTonite gives you a way in that doesn't involve a cold approach. Switch on "out tonight", see who's out near you, say hello once and pick a place together. Grand.

Thursday to Saturday are the big nights, and a bank holiday weekend is basically one long Saturday. Pubs call last orders well before the late bars and clubs close, so later plans tend to move on.

Where Ireland goes out

• Temple BarDublin's cobbled riverside quarter of pubs and live music, busy every night.
• Camden Street & Wexford StreetThe south side's run of bars and late venues, a favourite with locals.
• StoneybatterNeighbourhood pubs and small restaurants in Dublin 7.
• RathminesBusy pubs and late food on the main street of Dublin 6.
• Latin Quarter, GalwayQuay Street and Shop Street, with trad music most nights.
• Oliver Plunkett Street, CorkCork's city-centre street of pubs, bars and live music.