Which of these locations is better for exploring Belfast on foot?

[SpikeWithoutASoul]

Two possible Air bnbs for our trip to Belfast. People who know the city well, which of these is better located for exploring on foot? Thank you!

Not sure when your trip is taking place, but I wouldn't fancy walking to Sailorstown in the dark. It is a little (but only a little) out of the way. Relatively close to the new Ulster University site. Not particularly close to main rail lines, but it depends if that is important to you.
The one nearer the Opera House is much closer to the new train station. Depending on the exact address it could be close-ish to a loyalist area so at certain times of the year (mostly summer) there will be a lot of noise from band parades.

Thank you, that’s really useful. We’re going this month so it will definitely be dark early!

Definitely the first one!

Definitely the first one. The second one is the other side of the motorway bridge and I wouldn’t like to walk around there in the dark.

I would not stay in the one that looks to be near the Opera House because as another poster has said, it looks to be in a pretty rough loyalist area. Loyalists are not known to be friendly to strangers. If you are not white I would advise even more strongly not to stay there. It is a more central area though, good for pubs and restaurants up the Lisburn Road and Botanic Avenue. Perhaps it's in a modern apartment block just outside the loyalist area in which case you should be fine, but id be wary if it's, say, a little terraced house in a row of similar streets.

Really appreciate the responses. Thank you. This one is available but more expensive. If the location is worth it and will feel safer then I’d spend more as don’t want teen DD to be twitchy about walking around at night. Would this be a better option?

@47andahalf I think that is going a bit far to say loyalists are not known to be friendly (I don't align with either of the traditional 'sides' in Norn Iron). But I agree that OP should think carefully if this is a little terraced house in a row. OP if you have the address look it up on Google Street View and perhaps avoid it if in a street with painted kerbstones and/or a mural. Looks to me like it might be around Hope Street which should be OK as long as you remember to turn the right way when you come out, towards the city centre.

That third option looks like an apartment in St Anne's Square, I can't think what other accommodation would be at that corner. That would be a good location although a lively area for nightlife so might be a little noisy. I have no qualms going down that way on my own at night.

Distance-wise, any of them are fine. The Opera House one is the most central and closest to transport links and nightlife; the Sailortown one is handy to Titanic Quarter, though I agree I wouldn’t walk around that area on my own at night.

The first one is fairly close to Queen’s University and lots of places to eat. I wouldn’t be overly worried about it being a Loyalist area; in July it would be a different story, but in March it’ll be quiet enough and people aren’t likely to pay that much attention to someone on holiday.

I don’t know the specifics of the third one, but it’s a handy enough area, close to the city centre.

Belfast is fairly small and the public transport isn’t bad, so even if you were to go for somewhere further out you could get a bus into the city centre (think it’s £5 per day, or you can get the Translink app and then it’s £4) and then walk from there.

Hope you have a great time!

Do you have photos of any of the places? That might help us place them more exactly. Even if it’s the inside, we can probably work it out from the layout.

Why would the OP posting a photo of the inside of an Airbnb help people advise her how good the location is? They don’t need to be exactly identified by the layout of the inside, do they? The locations are shown in the maps!

We stayed at the Titanic hotel when we went around this time last year. It was entirely the wrong location to explore the city. It was so blindingly cold in the evening we mostly just propped up the hotel bar because we couldn’t face going too far in the cold.

So don’t make our mistake and take a bloody big coat. Have a fab trip and if you have room could you bring us back some cheese and onion Taytos.

@47andahalf is being a bit dramatic about inhabitants of loyalist areas, the majority of them are just normal people, who go about their lives and mind their own business. The reviews will soon let you know if there are issues with the neighbours.

Belfast City Centre is weird though as not many people actually live in the centre so it gets really quiet quite quickly away from the main bars and restaurants. So I would probably go for the one in the Cathedral Quarter just because it will probably feel safer going back later in the evening.

It would give an idea of whether it’s a terraced house or a modern apartment, which would narrow things down a bit. For the first one, a terrace on Sandy Row vs an apartment on a Shaftesbury Square are 2 quite different locations, but would be in similar areas on the Air BnB map, which is quite vague.

The third one is possibly one of the new student housing blocks built for the university. I read somewhere recently that they had been given planning permission for short term lets. If so, it is well located, close to the Cathedral quarter and would be my choice over the other ones. You are close to the city centre, St Anne’s, St Anne’s Square for restaurants, the Mac, and lots of nice bars.