The best things to do in Belfast
Expert guide to Belfast
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For a relatively small place, Belfast certainly has an impressive number of ties to history: once the thriving capital of the Industrial Revolution, it was home to the world’s biggest shipyards, linen mills and tobacco factories; RMS Titanic, arguably the most famous ship in the world, was born here; then came the The Troubles, a turbulent period synonymous with violence and unrest.
The Belfast of today is a completely different place – it’s become a vibrant travel destination its own right. lt leans hard into the Titanic connection, with a stately museum plus a range of cruises and walking tours dedicated to the tragic shipwreck. For non-history buffs, the city offers other delightful attractions, from food markets to pub crawls.
City Centre
See the city's highlights from up top
Take in Belfast’s major sights with Belfast City Sightseeing Tour, a 90-minute hop-on, hop-off, open-top bus tour. The landmarks you’ll get to see include Titanic Belfast, Parliament buildings, St George’s Market, the buzzing Cathedral Quarter, the Albert Clock (Belfast’s own leaning tower of Pisa), murals of the Protestant Shankill Road and the Catholic Falls Road, plus the magnificent Tudor Gothic Queen’s University building, designed by Charles Lanyon. Tours further afield (including Game of Thrones locations) are also offered.
Insider’s tip: Do this first if this is your first time in Belfast. Tickets are valid for 48 hours, so you can do a recce and come back for more.
Contact: 028 9032 1321; belfastcitysightseeing.com
Opening times: Daily, every 30-60 minutes from 10am-4pm
Starting point: Castle Place
Prices: ￡
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Shop food and crafts at a Victorian market
St George's Market, completed in 1896, is Belfast’s only surviving covered Victorian market and is considered one of the best indoor markets in the nation. The Friday fish and variety market boasts 248 fascinating stalls, while the Saturday and Sunday food and garden market offer a vast range of foods and local art and crafts, to a backdrop of live music.
Insider’s tip: You may rarely get up at dawn, but do for St George’s and a glorious sense of the world being reborn. If you’re self-catering and cooking later, this is the ideal time to get the best cuts – before local chefs pounce.
Contact: 028 9043 5704; belfastcity.gov.uk
Opening times: Fri, 6am-2pm; Sat, 9am-3pm; Sun, 10am-4pm
Nearest bus stop: Royal Avenue; free shuttles available
Prices: Free
Get a history lesson from a cabbie
If you’re looking to learn more about the religious divide in Northern Ireland, hop into a traditional black taxi from Belfast Black Cab Tours. The 90-minute tour includes a drive through Falls Road (Catholic) and Shankill Road (Protestant), past political wall murals, the peace lines keeping Protestants and Catholics apart, plus around the docks and the university area. The driver, like cabbies everywhere, will offer pithy and informative commentary on where it all went wrong, and how to get it right.
Insider’s tip: Ask the driver why the Catholic murals are high art compared to the Protestant ones, and sit back for an interesting art history lesson.
Contact: 079 9095 5227; belfastblackcabtours.co.uk
Opening times: Daily, 9am-6pm or by appointment
Starting point: Anywhere in the city
Prices: ￡-￡￡
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Tour the city’s oldest pubs
You won't have to go far to find a decent boozer in Belfast, and at ￡10 for drinks in four pubs, or ￡18 including a meal, the Belfast Pub Crawl must be the best value in town. It kicks off at McHughs, a Georgian tavern dating back to 1711, and moves on to Whites Tavern, a 17th-century watering hole; it then makes a pit stop at Kelly's Cellars, which served its first pint in 1720, and finishes in Madden's, a non-touristy pub with great live traditional music.
Insider’s tip: Try some of the great beers from local brewery Hilden, such as Molly’s Chocolate Stout, Belfast Blonde and Headless Dog (don’t worry – no dogs were harmed in the brewing process).
Contact: 077 3197 7774; belfastcrawl.co.uk
Opening times: Fri-Sat, 8pm-11pm; meet at McHughs at 7pm if eating
Starting point: The Albert Clock
Prices: ￡
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Learn the truth behind the Troubles
Paul Donnelly, a former history lecturer and Loyalist-Republican mediator, runs DC Tours – an erudite and balanced two-hour walking tour of Belfast flashpoints that focuses on 1972, a watershed year of the Troubles, which saw 2,000 explosions and 496 deaths. Historic images on his iPad show just how grim the city was then compared to now.
Insider’s tip: For a chilling reminder of how parts of the city used to look, ask Paul for a look at the 1785 Bank Buildings, now the site of Primark's flagship store. The building was gutted in a recent fire, but hopefully it can be restored.
Contact: 077 1694 9460; deadcentretours.com
Opening times: See website
Starting point: Varies depending on tour
Prices: ￡￡. Not recommended for children under 12, but free if accompanied by parents
East Belfast
Immerse yourself in Titanic history
Titanic Belfast, the world’s biggest Titanic museum, is a glittering edifice designed by Chicago architect Eric Kuhne to emulate both the famous ships’ bows and the emblem of its owners, the White Star Line. Naturally, locals have christened it The Iceberg. With 10 galleries over six floors covering both Belfast's time as an industrial powerhouse and the story of the doomed ship, it is one of the busiest attractions in the city.
Insider’s tip: Book online to avoid queues, arrive early or late to avoid the crowds and allow at least two hours to fully appreciate it.
Contact: 028 9076 6386; titanicbelfast.com
Opening times: Apr-May, Sep: daily, 9am-6pm; Jun-Aug: daily, 9am-7pm; Oct–Mar: daily, 10am-5pm
Nearest bus stop: Titanic Belfast
Prices: ￡￡
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Sail along the former Titanic shipyards
Derek Booker is probably Belfast’s leading expert on the Titanic and, for years, a lone voice crying out for the city to celebrate its famous ship. His Titanic Boat Tours will take you through the city’s glorious past as a shipbuilding hub. He or the equally knowledgeable and witty Charlie Warmington has an infinite fund of wonderful tales not only about the Titanic, but the characters of Harland & Wolff (the shipyards that built the famous vehicle) and the other mighty shipyards that once made the docks clatter and clang with Victorian vigour.
Insider’s tip: In the summer, look out for Belfast’s very own seal colony. It's also worth asking Derek or Charlie about rival shipyards such as Workman and Clark.
Contact: 028 9024 0124; laganboatcompany.com
Opening times: Apr-Oct: daily, 12.30pm, 2pm, 3.30pm. Nov-Mar: Sat, Sun, 12.30pm, 2pm
Nearest bus stop: Donegall Quay
Prices: ￡
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Walk around Titanic’s dock and pump house
If you’re a determined landlubber, you can still delve into the history of the Titanic with Titanic Walking Tours, which include a great mix of information and entertainment, plus access to Titanic’s dock and pump house. Highlights of the tour include the Harland and Wolff drawing offices where Thomas Andrews designed Titanic, little knowing that he would go down with it.
Insider’s tip: Check out the 880 ft long dry dock where Titanic was built. It took 500 men seven years to build, but could be drained in under two hours by the adjoining pump house.
Contact: 079 0435 0339; titanicwalk.com
Opening times: Booking by appointment
Nearest bus stop: Titanic Belfast
Prices: ￡
Board a floating museum
HMS Caroline, the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland in 1916, has been beautifully restored, with audio-visual displays recapturing the blood and thunder of the battle. The ship itself is a fascinating look at life below decks. Head to the ship's bridge to admire the teak and brass helm – nothing like the Mini's steering wheel you see on most ships.
Insider’s tip: Observe the contrast between the hammocks and tin mugs of the 300 seamen and the bunks and fine table linen of the officers, their logs written in perfect copperplate.
Contact: 028 9045 4484; nmrn.org.uk
Opening times: Daily, 10am-5pm
Nearest bus stop: Titanic Belfast
Prices: ￡
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West Belfast
Explore a spooky prison
Crumlin Road Gaol was one of the most advanced prisons of its day when it opened in 1845 – it cost ￡60,000 to build. The prison had been designed to hold 500 inmates but was home to up to 900 during the Troubles, before ultimately closing in 1996. The tour includes the execution cell, where 17 men were hanged between 1854 and 1961, the flogging room and the tunnel under Crumlin Road to the courthouse where prisoners were sentenced.
Insider’s tip: Even better than the standard tour is the Paranormal Tour (for visitors over 15 years old only), with grisly tales from the spots where spooky behaviour has been reported over the years.
Contact: 028 9074 1500; crumlinroadgaol.com
Opening times: See website
Nearest bus stop: Crumlin Road Gaol
Prices: ￡
The best day trips from Belfast
See Northern Ireland’s natural wonders in a day
The Giant’s Causeway brings in 790,000 visitors annually, but few know about the amazing views available just beyond the main site on foot. Eimear Flanagan’s Away a Wee Walk aims to change that. Her one-day tour includes a luxury coach ride from Belfast, a photo stop at Carrickfergus Castle, the glorious Antrim Coast Road and a five-mile walk from Dunseverick along the cliff path to the Causeway stones.
Insider’s tip: Before you brace yourself for the walk across swaying Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge, remember you’ll have to walk back. You might want to sit out this part of the trip entirely if you're afraid of heights: but don't worry, there's a nice tea room to sit in or you can just enjoy the views while the others make the trek.
Contact: 078 3770 3643; awayaweewalk.com
Opening times: Full-day tours run daily from 9am-7pm
Starting point: Belfast IYH
Price: ￡￡; children 12-and-under not allowed
Drink a dram at the world’s oldest distillery
With a licence granted in 1608 by King James I to local landowner Sir Thomas Phillips, Old Bushmills proudly claims to be the world’s oldest distillery. It has survived wars, taxes and the Prohibition, mainly thanks to a triple distilling process, which gives its whiskies a subtle smoothness. After the informative and aromatic tour, you’ll get a chance to sample the result.
Insider’s tip: Although most people go for the oak-aged Bushmills Original, the Black Bush, matured in sherry casks, has a lovely tangy smack; for a rare treat, go for the ultra-smooth 21-year-old single malt.
Contact: 028 2073 3218; bushmills.com
Opening times: See website
Nearest bus stop: Bushmills
Prices: Tour, ￡; whiskey, ￡-￡￡
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Experience authentic country life in Northern Ireland
The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in Cultra is one of the great, lesser-known museums in Europe, with a transport section filled with planes, trains and automobiles linked with Northern Ireland’s history, from the early aircraft of tractor pioneer Harry Ferguson to the motorbikes of Isle of Man TT legend Joey Dunlop. The folk section, meanwhile, brilliantly recreates rural and urban Northern Ireland life in the early 20th century, with reconstructed buildings occupied by wise and witty guides in costume.
Insider’s tip: You could easily spend a full day here, so if time is short, pick either the folk or the transport section.
Contact: 028 9042 8428; nmni.com
Opening times: Oct-Feb: Tue-Fri, 10am-4pm; Sat, Sun, 11am-4pm. Mar-Sep: Tue-Sun, 10am-5pm
Nearest train station: Cultra Halt
Prices: ￡
Step inside a Medieval castle with a military past
Carrickfergus Castle was built by John de Courcy in 1177, became the British Army headquarters for the north of Ireland in 1333, and then was garrisoned continuously until 1928. It has now been returned to its original appearance, meaning it’s an illuminating look at Norman life – especially when the mead flows during feasts in the banqueting hall, which can be arranged for private events and weddings.
Insider’s tip: In the excellent Carrickfergus Museum (see website for opening times) nearby, learn more about Carrickfergus’ history as a military garrison and administrative centre before Belfast rose to eminence. Interesting exhibits include the mayor’s seal from 1240, Roman pots and the skeleton of a Barbary ape kept as a pet.
Contact: 028 9335 1273; midandeastantrim.gov.uk
Opening times: Daily, 10am-4pm; last admission 3.30pm
Nearest train station: Carrickfergus
Prices: ￡
