Other things to do in the area

Things to see and do in Belfast

Whether you want a city break or a longer stay, Belfast is a buzzing and vibrant capital city and is also the gateway to explore the rest of Northern Ireland.

Sightseeing

While in Belfast, why not take the opportunity to do a spot of sight-seeing? Take a tour of historic Belfast by open top bus, boat or on foot and take in the sights of Belfast’s historic buildings, such as the City Hall, the leaning Albert Memorial Clock, the Crown Liquor Saloon owned by the National Trust, the 18th Clifton House (the first Poor House in Belfast), the Grand Opera House, the Custom House and the Harbour Office to name but a few.  You could also visit the Titanic Quarter (which is currently being re-developed) and see where the Titanic was designed and built.

Entertainment

If you are looking for entertainment, check out the programmes for concerts, musicals and plays at the Ulster Hall, the Grand Opera House and the Waterfront Hall.

For family entertainment visit the Odyssey Complex, home to the Belfast Giants ice hockey team and to the W5 Interactive Discovery Centre which houses an IMAX cinema, a ten-pin bowling alley and a wide range of restaurants.

For further information visit the Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau website , the official tourism website for the city.

Shopping

If you want to ‘shop ’til you drop’ then Belfast offers a range of shopping experiences that are based around Donegall Place and Royal Avenue.  Visit the Castle Court shopping mall in Royal Avenue or St George’s Market (the oldest covered market in Ireland) that operates every Friday and Saturday morning.

Dining out

Dining out in Belfast is now an international experience. You can sample Asian, Japanese and Chinese cuisine - not forgetting of course good Ulster pub grub. A range of high class restaurants now offer excellent Ulster produced food.

Giant’s causeway and Northern Ireland countryside

An hour’s drive up the east coast from Belfast is the Giant's Causeway, one of the great wonders of nature, Ireland's top tourist attraction and a UNESCO World Heritage site.  This world famous Giant's Causeway displays formations of unusual six sided basalt columns and a wealth of local and natural history.

Within a few hours drive of Belfast you can be walking in the Mourne mountains, fishing in Fermanagh’s lakes or surfing on the north coast beaches.

Folk parks

If you want to venture further afield, a great day out can be had at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum , an open air museum just 7 miles from Belfast and one of Ireland’s top tourist attractions.  The exhibit buildings at the Folk Museum include appropriately furnished houses, mills, shops, schools and churches set in a recreated landscape extending over 60 acres. This provides the setting to present the story of life and traditions in Ulster in the early 1900's through costumed interpretation and a varied programme of activities, crafts and skills.  The Folk Museum also houses award winning galleries exhibiting extensive transport collections from horse drawn carts to Irish built motor cars; and from the mighty steam locomotives that once graced our railways to the history of ship and boat building.

Across in the west of Northern Ireland is the Ulster American Folk Park situated outside of Omagh, County Tyrone.  This award winning outdoor museum of emigration tells the story of the millions of people who emigrated from Northern Ireland throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.  The Old and New World layout of the park illustrates the various aspects of emigrant life on both sides of the Atlantic.  Traditional thatched buildings, American log houses and a full-scale replica emigrant ship and dockside gallery help to bring a bygone era back to life.  Costumed demonstrators depict traditional everyday tasks such as spinning and weaving in authentically furnished buildings.  The museum also includes an indoor ‘Emigrants’ exhibition and includes the Centre for Migration Studies library which is accessible to all visitors.

National Trust properties

Northern Ireland boasts some great National Trust properties to visit - for example, Mount Stewart in County Down and Castle Coole in County Fermanagh, both of which have connections with PRONI as the families of these great houses have deposited their family and estate papers in PRONI.

Tourist information

For more information about how to get to Belfast, what to do, what to see and where to stay you should visit the Belfast Welcome Centre , run by the Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau and located in Donegall Place in the heart of the city centre.

Discover Northern Ireland official website of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB), will provide details on what to see and do throughout Northern Ireland as well as information on local hotels and boarding houses.

Discover Ireland, official website of Tourism Ireland , also provides tourist information for all of Ireland.

Mount Stewart, Co Down
(Courtesy of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board)

Mourne Mountains, Co Down
(Courtesy of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board)