[1] Bray is home to Ardmore Studios, and some light industry is located in the town, with some business and retail parks on its southern periphery.

[2] In 1875 P. W. Joyce mistakenly ascribed the Irish name Brí, an old word meaning "hill", referring in this case to Bray Head.

[2][4] In a 1905 Gaelic League publication advocating use of Irish-language postal addresses, Seosamh Laoide coined the name Brí Cualann "Brí in Cualu", as part of his policy that "If the name of the town [in Irish] be one word, the [ancient Gaelic] territory should be added to it in the genitive case".

[6] During the medieval period of Irish history, Bray was situated on the southern border of the Pale, and the coastal district was governed directly by the English crown from Dublin Castle.

Bray features on the 1598 map "A Modern Depiction of Ireland, One of the British Isles"[7] by Abraham Ortelius as "Brey".

Railway entrepreneur William Dargan developed Victorian Turkish baths, designed by architect and sculptor Richard Barter[9] in a Moorish style at a cost of £10,000.

While small amenities such as regattas, firework displays and band performances were plentiful in the town, Bray failed to secure the necessary capital to develop major attractions and sustain tourism, leading to its decline in the early 1900s.

Additional planned amenities which were never built included a concert hall, a theatre, an exhibition centre, a marine aquarium, winter gardens and an electrified tramway along the seafront.

[12][13][14] The River Dargle which enters the sea at the north end of Bray rises from a source near Djouce, in the Wicklow Mountains.

Bray Head is situated at the southern end of the Victorian Promenade with paths leading to the summit and along the sea cliffs.

[15] Bray has a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb), similar to most other towns in Ireland, with few extremes of temperature and abundant precipitation year round.

The town is also on the mainline InterCity and Commuter rail network which connects north to Connolly Station in Dublin city centre and further to Drogheda and Dundalk.

[citation needed] Bray lies along the M11 motorway corridor; an interchange at its northern side links with the M50 Dublin bypass.

Bus services serving the town include the 145 which is routed from Ballywaltrim, just south of Bray, to Heuston Station via UCD and Dublin city centre.

[19][20] Aircoach operates a service to and from Dublin Airport, with two stops in Bray at Castle Street and Vevay Road.

Finnegan Bray formerly offered a night bus service from Dublin[22] (route 984N), however, this was suspended in March 2020 due to Covid restrictions.

The Parliamentary gazetteer of 1846 described it thusly: The town has for many years been a favourite summer resort of the wealthier of the Dublin citizens and of the gentry from a large part of Ireland; and it possesses, in a state of high facility and polish, the various appliances required for their accommodation and comfort, whether as lodgers or as tourists.

It has a beach of sand and shingle which is over 1.6 km (1 mi) long, fronted by an esplanade and Bray Head, which rises 241 m (791 ft) from the coast, has views of mountains and sea.

[39] Tourist sites in the area include the Elizabethan-revival mansion Killruddery House (which is open to the public in the summer months),[40] and the hill and headland at Bray Head (which has a number of walking trails).

[41] Raheen-a-Cluig, a medieval church which is catalogued as national monument, is located on the north face of Bray Head.

The annual Bray Summerfest takes place over six weeks in July and August and includes free entertainment, live music, markets, sporting events, and carnivals.

Bray was found to have the lowest per capita concentration of the ten towns and cities included, with just 0.09 stores per 1,000 people.

[55] Authors who have lived in Bray have included James Joyce, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Molly Keane and Neil Jordan.

[56] There is also another library serving the Ballywaltrim district on Boghall Road, at the southern end of the town The Bray People newspaper is focused on the news in the local areas and neighbourhoods, as does the freesheet Wicklow Times (North Edition).

[58] Musicians associated with Bray include Mary Coughlan,[59] Maria Doyle Kennedy,[60] Fionn Regan,[61] and Hozier.

[62] The singer Sinéad O'Connor was also a resident of Bray for a number of years, living in a house overlooking the sea on Strand Road.

[78] Thousands of people turned out on the seafront to see Olympic boxing champion Katie Taylor, return home from London in August 2012.

A number of "English as a foreign language" and third-level schools also operate locally, including Bray Institute of Further Education.