Belfast

[MrsFogi]

Can anyone suggest any nice little hotels in the centre of the city (not cheap and not really pricey - somewhere in the middle!) for a one night stay for dh and me? + anyone know of any nice pubs/restaurants to spend an evening in Belfast (preferably not touristy yet with an Irish/Belfast flavour)?

The Crown Bar is great although attracts lots of tourists because it is so old and traditional. You can sit in a wee booth with the door shut if you want to avoid the hordes and you get served by ringing a bell for the serving wench to appear.

We stayed in Jury's which was decidedly average coz we couldn't get into the one we wanted. It's name escapes me for the moment but I'll check with DH and get back to you

Thank you Pagan and that would be great re the hotel.

Hi MrsFogi

There are several city centre hotels in Belfast

1. Europa Hotel - (used to hold title for most bombed hotel in the world or something like that) - its windows used to be continually boarded up

2. Jury's (on the same street as Europa)

3. Holiday Inn - has on site gym and pool

4. McCausland's Hotel (nice boutique hotel in lovely building)

5. Ten Square - expensive boutique hotel, seems to attract visiting pop stars eg. U2 etc

Restaurants - you could try Cayenne on Great Victoria Street, this restaurant belongs to Paul & Jeanne Rankin (celebrity TV chef - often appears on Ready Steady Cook) - food's quite nice and not too overpriced priced. He's also got a cheaper restaurant on the Malone Road called Raincity and various Rsocoff's cafes dotted throughout the city doing soups, sandwiches etc.

Or head into the not yet over-developed Cathedral Quarter for Nick's Warehouse in Hill Street (down a cobbled side street).

Or check out Deane's on Howard Street, which belongs to another celebrity chef, Michael Deane. He also has a fusion Thai place round the corner on Bedford Street called Chok Dee.

There's also a new-ish Japanese restaurant called Zen on Adelaide Street which has quite funky decor.

There're some nice little trendy bars around the city centre but they wouldn't really have a Irish flavour as such, would just be like trendy bars in most UK cities, Opium in the Cathedral Quarter, Apartment overlooking the City Hall, Bar Bacca just off Bedford Street.

For traditional bars, Pagan has recommended Crown which is lovely, or you could try the Duke of York which tucked down a side street in the Cathedral Quarter (claim to fame - Gerry Adams - him of Sinn Fein, apparently used to be a bartender there)

There's a Belfast Visitor Centre above Boots on Royal Avenue, the street facing the City Hall where you can pick up lots of leaflets for ideas of things to do in Belfast. The Black Taxi tours are quite interesting as they give you a little bit of insight into the "Troubles" and narrative is provided by your friendly Belfast taxi driver (complete with "hard man" accent!)

Enjoy yourselves!

That's wonderful, thank you Pam70

I second Pam70 - stay at McCauslands, eat at Deanes, drink in the Crown. Ten Sq is all fur coat and no knickers

McCauslands - that was the one and mentioned by Pam. We also had dinner at Ten Square and it was superb. I think we'd tried staying there too but it was fully booked.

We also took the open top bus ride to Falls and Shankland Road - it was great!