Tour of Belfast, Northern Ireland

Belfast City Hall, in the centre of Belfast, was built to mark the City status in 1888. The building was completed in 1906 at a cost of £369,000 under the supervision of architect Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas.

In October 2007, a temporary 200 feet high Ferris wheel was constructed in the grounds, giving passengers panoramic views of the city. The wheel closed Sunday April 11th 2010.

Free tours of the City Hall operate from Monday to Friday at 11am, 2pm and 3pm and on a Saturday at 2pm and 3pm.

The main shopping areas of Donegall Place and Royal Avenue lead from the City Hall. Castle Court, Victoria Square and the High Street, are only a few hundred yards north of the City Hall.

Ireland Map . Belfast Map . Google Map .

More Information . Bus Tours.

The Grand Opera House is situated on Great Victoria Street, 0.2 miles southwest of the City Hall.

Grand Opera House performances occur regularly throughout the week and throughout the year. Behind the scenes tours of the Grand Opera House take place each Sunday at 11am, 12noon and 1pm (performances permitting).

More Information . Website . Google Map.

Queen's University Belfast is situated about 0.8 miles south of the City Hall off University Road.

The present university was first chartered as "Queen's College, Belfast" in 1845. The College opened in 1849. Its main building, the Lanyon Building, was designed by the architect, Sir Charles Lanyon.

Queen's University campus is open to the public including a visitor's centre. Tours are also available by arrangement.

The area around the university is also well worth a visit as it contains a park, botanic garden and the Ulster Museum.

More Information . Website . Google Map.

The Botanic Gardens are situated about 1.3 miles south of the city centre off Stranmills Road, next to the Queens University.

The gardens opened in 1828 as the private Royal Belfast Botanical Gardens. It continued as a private park for many years, only opening to members of the public on Sundays prior to 1895. It became a public park in 1895 after the Belfast Corporation bought the gardens from the Belfast Botanical and Horticultural Society.

The gardens' most notable feature is the Palm House. The foundation stone was laid by the Marquess of Donegall in 1839, the work was completed in 1840.

More Information . Google Map.

The Ulster Museum is situated next to the Botanic Gardens on Landseer Street, about 1.4 miles south of the City Hall.

The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10am - 5pm and on bank holiday Mondays from 10am - 5pm.

Exhibits are dinosaurs, Egyptian artifacts, treasure recovered from Spanish Armada ships sunk along the Irish coast, and 20th Century engineering including information on the liner Titanic that was built at the Belfast shipbuilders Harland & Wolff.

More Information . Google Map . Website: www.ulstermuseum.org.uk.

St Anne's Cathedral is situated about 0.7 miles north of the City Hall.

The cathedral is built on the site of St Anne’s Church (Belfast’s first Church of Ireland).  The foundation stone of the Cathedral was laid by the Countess of Shaftesbury in 1899. The West Front as seen in the photo, was not completed until 1927, serving as a memorial to those who fought and died in World War One. The final section of the cathedral comprising the North Transept was completed in 1981.

The latest addition to St Anne's cathedral was a needle-like spire, known as the Spire of Hope, which was erected circa 2006.

The Cathedral is open to visitors from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm on weekdays and for a short period before and after services on Sundays.

The Titanic Quarter is situated next to the Odyssey Arena, about 1 mile southeast of the City Hall, on the East side of the River Lagan/ Port of Belfast.

Harland and Wolff have sold off the area or their yard known as the Titanic Quarter. This area will be developed into luxury apartments and business premises. There are going to be two landscaped areas for leisure in the shape of two large ships. These are no doubt going to be the exact size, and situated exactly where the Olympic and Titanic were built.

The ship seen above is no ordinary ship, it is the SS Nomadic, built to serve as a tender carrying passenger from Cherbourg out to the Titanic and her sister ships. She is often referred to as Titanic’s little sister. This ship actually carried passengers to the Titanic on the fateful voyage. She is the only remaining historic link to Titanic still afloat, and, the last surviving White Star Line vessel in the world.

The Nomadic was probably saved from the scrap yards after being bought to serve as a restaurant and function venue while moored in Paris from 1977 - 2002.

After a successful bid at auction by the Department for Social Development, July 15th 2006, Nomadic arrived back home in Belfast for the first time since being built 1910 - 1911, back in her birthplace after an absence of 95 years, 1 month and 19 days.

She now serves as a museum next to the large Odyssey Arena, multiplex, just a few hundred yards up river from the Titanic Slip.

More Information . Titanic Quarter . Google Map.

Belfast Castle is situated about 4 miles north of the City Hall, high on a hillside in Cave Hill Country Park.

This castle was built for the 3rd Marquis of Donegall in the 1870s. The recently restored Belfast Castle has been open to the public free of charge since November 11th 1988.

The Cave Hill Visitor Centre is situated on the second floor of Belfast Castle. Opening hours are 09.00 - 20.00 Monday - Saturday and 09.00 - 18.00 Sundays. Taxis are the best way to visit the Castle, or a long walk.

More Information . Google Map.

Belfast Zoo is also situated in Cave Hill Country Park, in an area with many bus links to the city centre. Google Map.

Stormont Castle & Stormont Parliament Buildings are situated 4 miles east of Belfast centre.

The castle bottom right in this view, was built in the 1850s for John Cleland (Rector of Newtownwards/County Down). The parliament buildings top left, were built after the castle and estate were vacated in 1921. Both buildings at Stormont are used for government duties. The surrounding park with kids play area is open to the public.

Although there is no general public access to Stormont Parliament Buildings, tours may be arranged for special groups or by invitation of a Member of the Local Assembly.

There are regular inexpensive buses to Stormont from the city centre.

More Information . Website . Google Map.

Carrickfergus Castle, the most impressive Norman structure in Ireland, is situated in the town of Carrickfergus, 12 miles northeast of Belfast centre.

For more information, view the website:
www.ni-environment.gov.uk/places_to_visit .

There are regular buses and trains from Belfast to the town of Carrickfergus. The town itself has some interesting attractions such as marina, museum, wildlife along its shores and a traditional Irish cottage from the 1750s.

Website: www.carrickfergus.org . Coach Tours . Google Map.

Bushmills is a scenic village on the north coast in County Antrim, about 59 miles north of Belfast.

The village owes its name to the River Bush and to a large watermill that was built there in the early 1600s.

The village is best known as the location of the Old Bushmills Distillery, founded in 1608, which is the oldest licensed distillery in the world. The distillery's range includes the Bushmills Original and Black Bush blends and the 10, 12, 16, and 21 year old Bushmills Single Malts.

There is also an Historic Train link between Bushmills and the Giant's Causeway.

More Information . Distillery Website . Google Map.

More Information . Coach Tours . Google Map

The Giant's Causeway is situated about 63 miles north of Belfast, 3 miles north of Bushmills.

The Giant's Causeway, renowned for its polygonal columns of layered basalt, is the only World Heritage Site in Northern Ireland. Resulting from a volcanic eruption 60 million years ago. This is the focal point of a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, attracting visitors for centuries. It harbours a wealth of local and natural history.

Visitor facilities – Coast: Shop: Refreshments: Guided tours: Suitable for picnics: Country walk: Programme of events: Access for visitors with disability: Facilities for families: Learning: Dogs welcome on leads: Available for functions.

The Causeway Hotel is perfectly situated for exploring the area.

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge is situated about 65 miles north of Belfast, about 6 miles east of the Giant's Causeway.

The area has a coastal car park, from there, a footpath, about 1 mile long, leads to Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. On the way, there are wonderful vantage points to stop and take in the natural beauty.

Of course, Carrick-a-Rede also boasts an exhilarating rope bridge experience. Traditionally, fishermen erected the bridge to Carrick-a-Rede island over a 23m-deep and 20m-wide chasm to check their salmon nets. Today, visitors are drawn here simply to take the rope bridge challenge!

Once you reach Carrick Island, the reward is seeing the diverse bird life and an uninterrupted view across to Rathlin Island and Scotland. There is only one way off the island - back across the swinging bridge! Don't look down!

More Information . Website .Coach Tours . Goggle Map .

Antrim Coaster - Ulsterbus provides a bus service (Bus #252, using a "day return" ticket) along the Antrim Coast, enabling visitors to travel easily between major attractions. Departures are from Belfast with stops at Carrickfergus, Larne, Ballygally, Glenarm, Carnlough, Ballycastle, Ballintoy, Bushmills for the famous Whisky Distillery, Giant's Causeway, Coleraine and other towns and places of interest, operates daily late-April to Sept. There is one bus in the morning and if passengers get off at a stop, there isn't another bus until later that evening or the following morning.

In addition, Ulsterbus also operates the North Coast Open Topper Bus (Bus #177), from Coleraine to the Giant’s Causeway, 30 June to 31 August; and the Causeway Rambler (Bus #402), from Bushmills to the Giant’s Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, 2 June to 14 September.

For more information, contact Ulsterbus, tel. 028-9066-6630; Web site: www.translink.co.uk.

For more information on Belfast, visit: www.gotobelfast.com.

For more information on other towns on the north coast, visit: Tour of Derry.

For tours and airport transfers, visit: www.viator.com/Belfast/d738-ttd