Holiday in Belfast

[catsandchaos]

Hope it's ok to post this here. Would love to visit Belfast in October. Which is the best area to stay in? any recommendations what to see and what to avoid? Thankyou

The taco tours are brilliant, and so informative. I learned so much that I hadn’t known.

Ffs - taxi not taco 🤦‍♀️

Taco tours!

Looking too for October.

Titanic Museum was terrific! We loved the Linen Hall Library too, lovely cafe, fascinating Troubles art display.

Bought a one day family travel card for the 5 of us for about £23 and used it on trains and buses to go to Giant's causeway, Carrick-a-Rede and Portrush and around - was amazing value.

We stayed in a Titanic themed air bnb which was much nicer than it sounds. Not the most salubrious of neighbourhoods there but was fine.

Id love a taco tour

@Lovingtheglitter

I was also looking to stay in Belfast for 4 nights in the summer. We have looked at the cathedral quarter - is this a nice place to stay or one to avoid thanks

The cathedral quarter is one of the nicest parts of Belfast city.

The merchant hotel is lovely fir s drink/tea/to stay if within your budget.

We had a fab long weekend in Belfast a couple of years ago (wasn't expecting to enjoy it so much!)
We did all the touristy things as others have said, we also rented a car.
Safe? Yes felt v safe - we also did a black cab tour of the Falls road area etc - DD was 13 at the time and even she found it interesting!
I am English, DD sounds like Hermione Grainger and DH is from the Republic of Ireland - no issues.
I would go back!

If you want to get outside Belfast, there are some nice areas around the North Coast (as others have mentioned, lots of nice coastal small towns with great beaches & scenery like Portrush, Portstewart, Ballintoy, Ballycastle, cushendun, cushendall etc.) And also nice scenery around the lakes/Lough's near Belfast. Strangford Lough has some lovely scenery and places like Killyleagh, Mount Stewart etc. Even in Belfast Lough there are some nice places like Crawfordsburn, Carrickfergus etc.

There are small hills overlooking Belfast that can be nice to go up for views - cave hill etc. The zoo climbs up one, Belfast castle is on a other one.

The Crown bar on great victoria street is a preserved Victorian bar worth a look if it's open - you may have to book.

Oh yes - definitely the GoT dark hedges was v atmospheric (if you time it right so you don't get hoards of other people in your photos !) I have never seen GoT but it was a great photo opp

Blackbox arts centre run FANTASTIC street art tours on Sundays - check it out. And I mean proper street art, not that crappy misery tourism
murals shite.
Muriel’s is great for a drink, and make sure you go to the Duke of York, John Hewitt, the
Spaniard, and The Sunflower for drinks, and music and the craic.
You can walk everywhere, do TitAnic, go to Botanic, walk around Stormont and don’t worry about safety’s it’s an incredibly safe city outside a handheld of estates that you would t be anywhere near and even if you were you’d be absolutely fine as a tourist.

If you're prepared to travel up to two hours, Derry/Londonderry is also worth a visit. One of the most intact city walls in Europe, you can walk around.

There is a train between Belfast and Derry/Londonderry which (to be honest) has pretty dull views for the first part but then in the last 40 mins before it reaches Derry/Londonderry, has some wonderful scenery (it's one of Michael Palin's highest rated).

St George's market is nice to walk around on Friday and Saturday morning.
Crumbling Road Goal has ghost tours which would be quite atmospheric that time of year.
If you are staying a couple of days, check out going by train to Derry/Londonderry. It takes about two hours, with some gorgeous scenery on the way. Derry/LD is a walled city and lovely to walk around. Halloween is a big deal there, hopefully there will be some festivities on this year, fingers crossed!

There's a brilliant company called "taste and tour" check out their website, they do various food and/or drink specials asking tours of Belfast. Well worth it, I live in NI and have done them 3 times!

If you can’t be arsed to go to the coast ( though you should!) just climb the Cave Hill overlooking the city - hop a cab or bus to the foot of Belfast Castle and walk up.

Previous posters have pretty much covered it. Depending on your budget Premier Inn in the Cathedral Quarter would put you 2 minutes from the City Centre.
Europa, Jurys and Fitzwilliam all central as well as The Grand Central, check out the Observatory bar. You can't really go wrong with any of them.
Great bars and restaurants. Titanic Experience, Hop on Hop off bus tour. For kids W5, museum at Botanic, We are Vertigo, Ulster folk and transport museum.
Places to visit, North Antrim Coast taking in Cushendun, Cushendall, Ballycastle, WhitePark Bay.
There's also County Down, Newcastle and the Mourne mountains.

Titanic museum - pay for the headset, really worth it(and you only hear ‘that song’ once!

Red bus tours are good.

Hotel Europa (once the most bombed in Europe), really central and next to the train and bus station (good connections to the airports and north coast - but check timetables!).

North coast is spectacular- giants causeway is good - you don’t have to go in the visitor centre so can visit for free.

You can travel from Ballycastle to Rathlin island to see the seals (and puffins earlier in the year). Morton’s in ballycastle is a great fish and cop shop.

Beautiful beaches.

Port Balintrea to see the iron isles.

Some amazing beaches and fab restaurants- often have £10 deals for 2 courses which are scrum. Ramors in Port Rush is very popular (it maybe portstewart, I get the two mixed up even though we visit 2-3 times a year!). Oh you pay extra for sides (like in America) and champ is mash with spring onions (aka scallions).

Always pop into some tea shops off the beaten track - they are generally fantastic!

Oh and don’t tell anyone how lovely it is - don’t want everyone going!!!

The Ulster Museum is worth sticking your head in, it’s free and in the Botanic gardens which are lovely, and in the university area so you can have a look a Queens, and pop into No Alibis - best wee bookshop in NI.

We went to Belfast a couple of years ago, def visit Titanic museum and W5. If you aren’t into Game of Thrones be careful on coach trips, we booked a trip to the Giants causeway and all the coach driver could talk about was GoT and on the way back.... different methods to kneecap people we were desperately trying to talk to kids about anything so they couldn’t hear that

And eat some Maud’s ice cream, Poor Bear is THE best ice cream. St George’s Market’s good for lunch to go...

If you're going to Belfast in October,I would recommend spending a day or 2 in derry for the Halloween celebrations. Its a week long festival,biggest in Europe...obviously if it goes ahead with covid....
Black cab tour, botanic Gardens, Crumlin jail, cathedral Quarter

One of the best things to do in Belfast is to do a walking tour of the Troubles. Fantastic insight into history. Did this a couple of years back and we had one guy from each side giving their story. It will stay with me for a long time. It's fascinating to see the divide still up.

Food wise both Made in Belfast restaurants are nice, Stix and Stones is lively, Mourne Seafood bar is great and get yourself to Boojums for a burrito.

I loved going to Belfast and N Ireland as a whole. Recommend the Crown Bar, The Titanic exhibition, The Botanic Gardens and outside of Belfast the Antrim Coast including the fantastic Giants Causeway and the Rope Bridge (Carrick O'Rede?). Really friendly people on both sides of the old divide and a very dry sense of humour. You can also take a train to Dublin and continue your holiday there as well!

We had a great time in Belfast, 2 adults 2 kids. I really, really loved it. Absolutely want to return.
Lots of recommendations already.
Holohans at the Barge is a great restaurant.