Belfast: what to see, where to stay and how to get around

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In the early twentieth century Belfast was one of the great industrial cities of the world, with the largest shipyard, the largest rope works and the largest linen mills. On its slipways the Harland and Wolff yard built the Titanic. Two to three hours; the museum needs booking.

A short history of Belfast

The name Belfast comes from the Irish "Béal Feirste", mouth of the sandy bank. At the beginning of the 17th century Arthur Chichester, the English king's man, founded a town of Scottish and English settlers here, and in 1613 it received a charter. In the 19th century Belfast became a world centre of linen and shipbuilding, and the Titanic was built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard and launched in 1911. It was granted city status in 1888, and in 1921 it became the capital of Northern Ireland. Chaim Herzog, later President of the State of Israel, was born here in 1918. From the late 1960s until 1998 the city suffered from the bitter conflict known as "the Troubles", which ended with the Good Friday Agreement.

The ten best sights in Belfast

1
City Hall
Free tours, and the Titanic memorial in the grounds
2
Titanic Belfast
The museum on the slipway where she was built
3
SS Nomadic
The little ship that carried passengers out to Titanic
4
Thompson Dock
Walk on the floor of Titanic’s dry dock
5
Crown Liquor Saloon
A Victorian gin palace with private snugs
6
Europa Hotel
Once called the most bombed hotel in Europe
7
St Anne’s Cathedral
With a steel spire of light
8
Cathedral Quarter
Cobbled lanes of pubs and street art
9
Commercial Court
The lane of the Duke of York pub
10
Albert Memorial Clock
Belfast’s leaning clock tower

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Tours in Belfast →

A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Belfast:

Free walking tours in Belfast

Where Titanic was built

City Hall · Built in white Portland stone and finished in 1906, paid for by the profits of the city’s gas works, as a statement of Belfast’s new wealth. In its grounds stands the Titanic Memorial, with the names of those who died, among them the ship’s designer, Thomas Andrews, a Belfast man who went down with her.
Albert Memorial Clock · A clock tower of 1869 built on reclaimed marshland by the river, on wooden piles that sank unevenly, so that it leans more than a metre out of true — Belfast’s answer to Pisa. It has been strengthened and still leans.
The Big Fish · A salmon about ten metres long by the river, put up in 1999 to celebrate the return of fish to the cleaned-up Lagan. Its scales are ceramic tiles printed with texts and pictures from Belfast’s history.
Titanic Belfast · Opened in 2012, a hundred years after the sinking, beside the slipway where Titanic was launched in May 1911. The building is as tall as the ship’s hull, and its four prows point out like the bows of ships. Belfast people say of her: she was all right when she left here.
SS Nomadic · A small tender built in Belfast alongside Titanic, which in April 1912 carried her first-class passengers out to her at Cherbourg in France. It is the last surviving ship of the White Star Line, brought home in 2006 and restored.
Thompson Dock · The dry dock where Titanic sat for her fitting-out, then the largest in the world. You can walk down onto its floor, and only standing there do you feel the true size of the ship that filled it.

The walls and the murals

From the late 1960s to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, Northern Ireland lived through the Troubles, a conflict between mostly Catholic nationalists and mostly Protestant unionists in which about three and a half thousand people were killed. West Belfast still shows its scars. Two hours; the black-taxi tours, driven by locals from both sides, are the best way to see it.

Europa Hotel · During the Troubles the hotel, where journalists from all over the world stayed, was bombed about thirty times, earning the name the most bombed hotel in Europe. Bill Clinton stayed here on his visits for the peace process.
Crown Liquor Saloon · Opposite the Europa, a Victorian pub of 1885 of stained glass, carved wood and coloured tiles, with closed wooden snugs where drinkers sit behind doors and ring a bell for service. It survived the bombs across the street and belongs to the National Trust.
Crumlin Road Gaol · A Victorian prison of 1845 that held suffragettes, republicans and loyalists until it closed in 1996. A tunnel under the road led prisoners to the courthouse opposite, and the condemned cell and execution chamber can be visited.
Shankill Road · The heart of Protestant, loyalist West Belfast, where gable walls are painted with murals of the Union flag, the British monarchy and the paramilitaries of the Troubles, beside newer murals of local heroes and history.
Peace Wall · The wall along Cupar Way, first put up in 1969 and since raised in steel and concrete, separates the Shankill from the Falls. Its gates are still closed at night. Visitors write messages of peace on it.
Falls Road · The heart of Catholic, nationalist West Belfast. Its murals show the hunger striker Bobby Sands, who died in prison in 1981, and international causes; here too is the Cultúrlann, a centre of the Irish language in a converted church.

Gardens, hills and the Causeway

South of the centre is the university quarter with its museum and glasshouse; north, Cave Hill rises over the city. Beyond, the Causeway Coast is one of the great drives of Europe. A full day; a car or a tour.

Ulster Museum · In 1588 the Spanish Armada ship Girona, fleeing around Ireland after its defeat, was wrecked near the Giant’s Causeway with about thirteen hundred men; only a handful survived. Divers raised her treasure in 1967, and the gold — among it a winged salamander pendant set with rubies — is shown here.
Palm House · One of the earliest curved glass and cast-iron glasshouses in the world, begun in 1839 by Charles Lanyon, who also designed the university next door. Inside grow palms and tropical plants in the Botanic Gardens.
Belfast Synagogue · Belfast has had a small Jewish community since the nineteenth century. Chaim Herzog, the sixth President of Israel, was born in Belfast in 1918, where his father, Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, was the city’s rabbi before becoming Chief Rabbi of Ireland and then of the Land of Israel. A plaque marks the house where he was born.
Cave Hill · The basalt hill over the city has a profile called Napoleon’s Nose, said to have given Jonathan Swift, who lived nearby, the idea of the sleeping giant in Gulliver’s Travels. On its summit is an Iron Age fort with views over the whole lough.
Carrick-a-Rede · For about three hundred and fifty years salmon fishermen strung a rope bridge across a chasm to a small island to reach their nets. Today’s bridge is about twenty metres long and some thirty metres above the sea.
Giant’s Causeway · About forty thousand basalt columns, most of them six-sided, formed about sixty million years ago as a lava flow cooled and cracked. Legend says the giant Finn McCool built them as a causeway to Scotland to fight a rival — and on the Scottish island of Staffa the same columns rise from the sea.

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Getting to Belfast and getting around

Belfast International Airport · Thirty minutes by express bus
Belfast City Airport · Ten minutes from the centre; flights to Britain
Grand Central Station · Trains and buses, including the Dublin express

Cheap eats in Belfast

Belfast eats the Ulster fry: eggs, bacon, sausage, black and white pudding, with two breads you will not find elsewhere — the soda farl, a griddled quarter of soda bread, and potato bread, made of mashed potato and flour. Add champ, mash with spring onions and butter, and a Belfast bap. A fry in a café is the cheap and enormous meal.

St George’s Market · Market food from Friday to Sunday
Crown Liquor Saloon · Champ and stew in a snug
Cathedral Quarter · Cafés and pubs in the lanes
Titanic Belfast · Afternoon tea on the ship’s staircase
Queen’s University · Cheap student cafés on Botanic Avenue

Museums in Belfast

Belfast’s museums tell of Titanic and the shipyards, the Troubles, and the old life of Ulster.

Titanic Belfast · The shipyard ride and the wreck
Ulster Museum · Armada gold and the Troubles
Crumlin Road Gaol · The prison tunnel
Ulster Folk Museum · A whole old town
City Hall · Free tours and exhibitions

Nature and day trips near Belfast

Belfast lies between basalt hills and a sea lough, an hour from one of the most spectacular coasts in Europe.

Cave Hill · The walk to Napoleon’s Nose
Palm House · The Botanic Gardens
Giant’s Causeway · The basalt columns
Carrick-a-Rede · The rope bridge
The Dark Hedges · The beech tunnel

Things to do in Belfast with kids

With children: the Titanic, a zoo on a hill, cats hidden in a castle garden and a rope bridge over the sea.

Titanic Belfast · The shipyard ride
Belfast Zoo · Animals on the hill
Belfast Castle · Find the nine cats
Ulster Folk Museum · Farms and an old school

Holy places in Belfast

In Belfast faith is also identity — Catholic and Protestant — and a small Jewish community has lived here since the nineteenth century.

St Anne’s Cathedral · The Spire of Hope
Belfast Synagogue · The Herzog family’s city
Falls Road · The Irish-language centre in an old church

Nightlife in Belfast

Belfast nights are pubs: Victorian saloons, traditional music in the Cathedral Quarter, and a famously friendly crowd.

Commercial Court · The Duke of York and the lane
Crown Liquor Saloon · A pint in a snug
Cathedral Quarter · Trad music sessions

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Frequently asked questions about Belfast

What is there to see in Belfast?

The top sights in Belfast are City Hall, Titanic Belfast and SS Nomadic. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.

How many days do you need in Belfast?

Three to four days are enough to see the best of Belfast without rushing, including at least one walking tour.

Is there a free walking tour in Belfast?

Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Belfast, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: Where Titanic was built.

How do you get to Belfast and get around?

The main ways are Belfast International Airport, Belfast City Airport and Grand Central Station. Full details are in the transport section on this page.

Where to stay in Belfast, and for how much?

sleepntrip shows only rooms in Belfast that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.

Looking for a hotel in Belfast for your dates?

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