Tour of Belfast, Northern Ireland

Ireland Map . Belfast Map . Bus Tours.

Belfast Castle is situated high on a hillside north of the city centre in Cave Hill Country Park. This castle was built for the 3rd Marquis of Donegall in the1870s. 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. Belfast Zoo is also situated in Cave Hill Country Park. Visit the website for the castle at www.belfastcastle.co.uk.

The castle is not on the Hop On Hop Off bus route, Taxis are the best way to visit.

Belfast City Hall was completed in 1888 to commemorate Queen Victoria giving Belfast the status of a city. This fine building situated in Donegall Square is one of many in the city worth viewing.

The Grand Opera House on Great Victoria Street gives performances Monday - Saturday. These acts vary from theatre - musical, opera, ballet, comedy, concerts and pantomime.

The Botanic Gardens in Belfast are situated south of the city centre off Strawmills Road. Work on the gardens began in 1827 and the glass Palm House was completed in 1852.

The Ulster Museum is situated next to the Botanic Gardens. The museum is open to the public free of charge Monday to Friday 10.00-17.00, Saturday’s 13.00-17.00 and Sunday’s 14.00-17.00. 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.

Wbsite: www.ulstermuseum.org.uk

St Anne's 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.

Belfast University on University Road was designed by Charles Lanyon and completed in 1849. This is another fine building worth viewing.

Stormont Castle and Stormont Parliament buildings are situated 6 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 and not open to the public. However, the surrounding park with kids play areas is open to the public.

Harland and Wolff have sold off the area or their yard known as the Titanic Quarter. This area will be developed into impressive accommodation apartments and business premises. After seeing some plans of the development on the Titanic Quarter website, it looks like 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 till 2002.

After a successful bid at auction by the Department for Social Development, 15th July 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. Website: www.nomadicpreservationsociety.co.uk.

Carrickfergus Castle (the most impressive Norman structure in Ireland) is situated in the town of Carrickfergus, 9 miles north of Belfast. For more information, view the website: www.orangenet.org/carrickfergus.htm .

There are regular busses 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.

More Information . Coach Tours.

62 miles north of Belfast, by the town Bushmills, is 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 and has attracted 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.

About 65 miles north of Belfast, 3 miles east of the Giant's Causeway, is 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 . Coach Tours.

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: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belfast.