Belfast, Northern Ireland
Highlights
Street art and the public realm
Botanic Gardens
Ulster Museum
Titanic Belfast
Six by Nico
Getting there and getting around
To reach Belfast we took a short 45 minute flight from Manchester. Belfast city centre is a just a 30 minute bus ride from the airport. Take the 300 from outside the terminal; tickets can be purchased on board from the driver and cost £13.50 for a return trip.
Belfast has a small and compact city centre and is easy to explore by foot. We walked a lot, but did take the G2 ‘Glider’ bus to reach Titanic Belfast. Tickets for the Translink Glider buses must be purchased from the ticket machine at the stop before boarding.
Accommodation
We stayed for 2 nights at Premier Inn Cathedral Quarter. Our double bed room cost £193 per night.
On arrival we were upgraded for free to a ‘plus’ room which came with a slightly higher standard of fixtures and fittings.
The location was super central which made it easy to explore the city, but it was also noisy with partying revellers out in the streets below at night.
Our star rating: 3
Our cost rating: 3
Street art and the public realm
Belfast city centre was a little worse for wear after the previous day’s ‘twelfth’ celebrations, with sticky beer soaked pavements and silly string everywhere!
Nonetheless we were impressed by the grand architecture, the well designed public spaces, and the care and consideration that the city has given to the visitor experience.
Everywhere we looked we saw graffiti, sculptures and public art. It was clear that the city, with its regenerated spaces and industrial conversions, is a buzzing and creative place to be, and we drew many comparisons with our home city of Sheffield, which is experiencing its own post-industrial urban renewal.
Botanic garden
This was our first trip away without our kids in many years and we embraced the freedom of not having to plan an itinerary or book child-friendly activities in advance.
We meandered at ease from the city centre to the Botanic Gardens. This was an easy half an hour stroll, taking in the main retail core, City Hall, and Queen’s University.
When we reached the Botanic Gardens, beautifully manicured summer planting and pristine lawns greeted us.
The palm house and tropical ravine were stunning glass structures, carefully conserved and maintained since Victorian times.
The diversity of plants, including hundreds of cacti and succulents, banana trees, oranges, and orchids was a real highlight of our visit.
Ulster Museum
Set within the Gardens, the Ulster Museum brings together art, history and natural sciences.
In the history section, we focused on the area dedicated to examining The Troubles. We felt that the information presented was both educational and moving. We were impressed with how the museum handled such a complex and significant subject matter sensitively and impartially.
In the art galleries ‘threads of empowerment’, an exhibition of textiles that explored conflict and human rights violations; and ‘Kelpra: artists and printmakers’, a collection of modern geometric prints from the Kelpra studio dating from the 1950s particularly caught our attention.
Titanic Belfast
We hadn’t originally planned to visit the Titanic experience, because we had no particular interest in ships, and because we thought we knew everything there was to know from the film.
However, with time to spare we changed our minds. We would advise booking ahead, as it was very busy and we had to wait over an hour for the next available entry slot. Tickets cost £25 per adult.
The building itself was beautiful, and sits proudly in the regenerated docks area across the river from the city centre.
Visitors follow an interactive self guided route through the attraction which covers Belfast’s shipbuilding heritage, the design and construction of the Titanic, and its sad demise. It was difficult not to be moved both by the tragedy of the Titanic and the deaths of people on board, and also by the pride that the people of Belfast seem to have in the city’s significant industrial heritage.
We were wrong in thinking we knew everything about the Titanic, this museum was so packed with well presented information that we learnt loads! For example, in a particularly poignant exhibit about the errors that led to the disaster, we learnt that many of today’s safety standards such as lifeboat drills and the SOS standard came about because of the Titanic.
Six By Nico
As this was a special birthday weekend away, we ended our time in Belfast with a treat dinner. Belfast has a number of Michelin starred restaurants but they were closed when we visited because it was the weekend of the ‘Twelfth’ parades and celebrations.
We ate at the highly recommended Six by Nico, across the road from our hotel in the Cathedral quarter. This restaurant offers six course tasting menus that change to a different theme every six weeks. When we visited the menu theme was the Amalfi Coast.
While not Michelin starred, the food was still excellent; and the restaurant was packed, and we enjoyed the buzzy atmosphere. It was very nice eating a posh meal (with no kids menu in sight)!
Final Thoughts
We only spent two nights in Belfast, giving us just one full day to explore. But we thoroughly enjoyed our short time here. As we walked around a city that is rebuilding and seeking a more positive future, we were reminded in many ways of Medellin (Colombia). Like Medellin, Belfast seems to be focusing on regenerating public spaces, using art and public investment to create high quality public realm, green spaces and visitor attractions.
There was of course more we could have done in the city, including the famous black taxi tours which visit neighbourhoods affected by the Troubles and take tourists to see some of the city’s many political murals.
Belfast also offers various Game of Thrones related experiences, capitalising on the show having been produced there. And further afield, there is the Giant’s Causeway and stunning countryside to explore. All of this makes us determined to revisit Belfast, and see more of Northern Ireland in future!
