Guidebook for Belfast
Sightseeing
Historically very significant, a local attraction which is close by and featured on the 'hop-on hop-off'bus tours of the city.
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Crumlin Road Gaol Visitor Attraction and Conference Centre
53-55 Crumlin RdHistorically very significant, a local attraction which is close by and featured on the 'hop-on hop-off'bus tours of the city.
This is a piece of history captured wonderfully in a 2-3 hour experience - you can quiet easily spend much longer here so set aside loads of time for this.
324 Recomendado por los habitantes de la zona
Titanic Belfast
1 Olympic WayThis is a piece of history captured wonderfully in a 2-3 hour experience - you can quiet easily spend much longer here so set aside loads of time for this.
The Titanic was built in Belfast and it is a shame not to visit this homage to the tragic ship. Downside is, its not cheap.
Not keen on the cafe here (there are lots better close by)
145 Recomendado por los habitantes de la zona
TEC Belfast
17 Queens RdThe Titanic was built in Belfast and it is a shame not to visit this homage to the tragic ship. Downside is, its not cheap.
Not keen on the cafe here (there are lots better close by)
Queen's University Belfast was founded in 1810, one of the United Kingdom's 10 oldest universities, and remains the Royal Belfast Academic Institution.
The present university was first chartered as "Queen's College, Belfast" in 1845, when it was associated with the simultaneously founded Queen's College, Cork, and Queen's College, Galway, as part of the Queen's University of Ireland – founded to encourage higher education for Catholics and Presbyterians, as a counterpart to Trinity College, Dublin, then an Anglican institution. Queen's College, Belfast, opened in 1849. Its main building, the Lanyon Building, was designed by the English architect, Sir Charles Lanyon.
The Irish Universities Act, 1908 dissolved the Royal University of Ireland, which had replaced the Queen's University of Ireland in 1879, and created two separate universities: the current National University of Ireland and Queen's University of Belfast.
A trip to see Queens University is highly recommended, it is a beautiful building and located in a vibrant part of the city.
From the City Centre you can get the 8a or 8b bus, this stops outside Queens University, or it is a pleasant 20min walk.
80 Recomendado por los habitantes de la zona
Queen's University Belfast
University RoadQueen's University Belfast was founded in 1810, one of the United Kingdom's 10 oldest universities, and remains the Royal Belfast Academic Institution.
The present university was first chartered as "Queen's College, Belfast" in 1845, when it was associated with the simultaneously founded Queen's College, Cork, and Queen's College, Galway, as part of the Queen's University of Ireland – founded to encourage higher education for Catholics and Presbyterians, as a counterpart to Trinity College, Dublin, then an Anglican institution. Queen's College, Belfast, opened in 1849. Its main building, the Lanyon Building, was designed by the English architect, Sir Charles Lanyon.
The Irish Universities Act, 1908 dissolved the Royal University of Ireland, which had replaced the Queen's University of Ireland in 1879, and created two separate universities: the current National University of Ireland and Queen's University of Belfast.
A trip to see Queens University is highly recommended, it is a beautiful building and located in a vibrant part of the city.
From the City Centre you can get the 8a or 8b bus, this stops outside Queens University, or it is a pleasant 20min walk.
Food Scene
There is nothing you can find fault with here! The service is amazing & the food is out of this world. If you are a curry fan, this is the place to go!
Kathmandu Kitchen
11 Botanic AveThere is nothing you can find fault with here! The service is amazing & the food is out of this world. If you are a curry fan, this is the place to go!
Drinks & Nightlife
Its seeped in history/culture.
Its central and its a good starting point!
78 Recomendado por los habitantes de la zona
Kelly's Cellars
30-32 Bank StIts seeped in history/culture.
Its central and its a good starting point!
Parks & Nature
Great view of Belfast, its quiet and great if you love a good walk in the Countryside.
57 Recomendado por los habitantes de la zona
Cave Hill Country Park
Antrim RoadGreat view of Belfast, its quiet and great if you love a good walk in the Countryside.
Botanic Gardens is a public park in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Occupying 28 acres (110,000 m2) of south Belfast, the gardens are popular with office workers, students and tourists. They are located on Stranmillis Road in Queen's Quarter, with Queen's University around the corner.
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. Then it became a public park in 1895 when the Belfast Corporation bought the gardens from the Belfast Botanical and Horticultural Society.
The gardens' most notable feature is the Palm House conservatory. The foundation stone was laid by the Marquess of Donegall in 1839 and work was completed in 1840. It is one of the earliest examples of a curvilinear cast iron glasshouses in the world. Designed by Charles Lanyon and built by Richard Turner. Belfast's Palm House predates the glasshouses at Kew and the Irish National Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin, both of which Turner went on to build. The Palm House consists of two wings, the cool wing and the tropical wing. Lanyon altered his original plans to increase the height of the latter wing's dome, allowing for much taller plants. In the past these have included an 11 metre tall Globe Spear Lily. The lily, which is native to Australia, finally bloomed in March 2005 after a 23 year wait. The Palm House also features a 400-year-old Xanthorrhoea.
The Botanic Gardens are around the corner from Queens University, so the 8a & 8b bus will get you there or it will take you 20min to walk here from the city centre.
191 Recomendado por los habitantes de la zona
Botanic Gardens
1 Colenso ParadeBotanic Gardens is a public park in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Occupying 28 acres (110,000 m2) of south Belfast, the gardens are popular with office workers, students and tourists. They are located on Stranmillis Road in Queen's Quarter, with Queen's University around the corner.
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. Then it became a public park in 1895 when the Belfast Corporation bought the gardens from the Belfast Botanical and Horticultural Society.
The gardens' most notable feature is the Palm House conservatory. The foundation stone was laid by the Marquess of Donegall in 1839 and work was completed in 1840. It is one of the earliest examples of a curvilinear cast iron glasshouses in the world. Designed by Charles Lanyon and built by Richard Turner. Belfast's Palm House predates the glasshouses at Kew and the Irish National Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin, both of which Turner went on to build. The Palm House consists of two wings, the cool wing and the tropical wing. Lanyon altered his original plans to increase the height of the latter wing's dome, allowing for much taller plants. In the past these have included an 11 metre tall Globe Spear Lily. The lily, which is native to Australia, finally bloomed in March 2005 after a 23 year wait. The Palm House also features a 400-year-old Xanthorrhoea.
The Botanic Gardens are around the corner from Queens University, so the 8a & 8b bus will get you there or it will take you 20min to walk here from the city centre.
Arts & Culture
The Ulster Museum is located at the main entrance of Botanic Gardens & has around 8,000 square metres of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasures from the Spanish Armada, local history, numismatics, industrial archaeology, botany, zoology and geology. It is the largest museum in Northern Ireland, and one of the components of National Museums Northern Ireland. The Ulster Museum was closed for nearly three years (2006 to October 2009) while it was under renovation. It re-opened to the public on 22 October 2009, on its 80th anniversary. The renovation work was supported by the National Lottery and the Northern Ireland Executive's Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure.
The Ulster Museum was founded as the Belfast Natural History Society in 1821 and began exhibiting in 1833. It has included an art gallery since 1890. Originally called the Belfast Municipal Museum and Art Gallery, in 1929, it moved to its present location in Stranmillis. The new building was designed by James Cumming Wynne.
In 1962, courtesy of the Museum Act (Northern Ireland) 1961, it was renamed as the Ulster Museum and was formally recognised as a national museum. A major extension constructed by McLaughlin & Harvey Ltd to designs by Francis Pym who won the 1964 competition was opened in 1972 and Pym's only completed work. It was published in several magazines and was until alteration the most important example of Brutalism in Northern Ireland. It was praised by David Evans for the "almost barbaric power of its great cubic projections and cantilevers brooding over the conifers of the botanic gardens like a mastodon".
Since the 1940s the Ulster Museum has built up very good collection of art by modern Irish, and particularly Ulster-based artists.
In 1998, the Ulster Museum, which includes Armagh County Museum, merged with the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and the Ulster-American Folk Park to form the National Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland.
In July 2005, a £17m refurbishment of the museum was announced, with grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL, usually pronounced as 'Dee-Kal'). In October 2006 the museum closed its doors until 2009, to allow for the work. Illustrations of historic interest of interiors before alterations will be found as nos 183 and 237 in Larmour, P. 1987. The redevelopment drew criticism from many significant figures in the architectural community and the Twentieth Century Society, especially for changes to the Brutalist character and dismantling of the spiral sequence of rooms in the Pym extension.
The museum reopened in October 2009, eighty years to the day since its original opening. Within a month over 100,000 people had visited the museum. The reopening saw the introduction of Monday closure, which has received criticism from the public and in the press. All NMNI sites are to close on Mondays.
The Ulster Museum contains important collections of Irish birds, mammals, insects, molluscs, marine invertebrates, flowering plants, algae and lichens, as well as an archive of books and manuscripts relating to Irish natural history. The museum also maintains a natural history website named Habitas. In the late 1980s and the early 1990s it had a permanent exhibition on dinosaurs which has since been scaled back considerably. There is also a collection of rocks, minerals and fossils.
142 Recomendado por los habitantes de la zona
Museo de Ulster
Botanic GardensThe Ulster Museum is located at the main entrance of Botanic Gardens & has around 8,000 square metres of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasures from the Spanish Armada, local history, numismatics, industrial archaeology, botany, zoology and geology. It is the largest museum in Northern Ireland, and one of the components of National Museums Northern Ireland. The Ulster Museum was closed for nearly three years (2006 to October 2009) while it was under renovation. It re-opened to the public on 22 October 2009, on its 80th anniversary. The renovation work was supported by the National Lottery and the Northern Ireland Executive's Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure.
The Ulster Museum was founded as the Belfast Natural History Society in 1821 and began exhibiting in 1833. It has included an art gallery since 1890. Originally called the Belfast Municipal Museum and Art Gallery, in 1929, it moved to its present location in Stranmillis. The new building was designed by James Cumming Wynne.
In 1962, courtesy of the Museum Act (Northern Ireland) 1961, it was renamed as the Ulster Museum and was formally recognised as a national museum. A major extension constructed by McLaughlin & Harvey Ltd to designs by Francis Pym who won the 1964 competition was opened in 1972 and Pym's only completed work. It was published in several magazines and was until alteration the most important example of Brutalism in Northern Ireland. It was praised by David Evans for the "almost barbaric power of its great cubic projections and cantilevers brooding over the conifers of the botanic gardens like a mastodon".
Since the 1940s the Ulster Museum has built up very good collection of art by modern Irish, and particularly Ulster-based artists.
In 1998, the Ulster Museum, which includes Armagh County Museum, merged with the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and the Ulster-American Folk Park to form the National Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland.
In July 2005, a £17m refurbishment of the museum was announced, with grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL, usually pronounced as 'Dee-Kal'). In October 2006 the museum closed its doors until 2009, to allow for the work. Illustrations of historic interest of interiors before alterations will be found as nos 183 and 237 in Larmour, P. 1987. The redevelopment drew criticism from many significant figures in the architectural community and the Twentieth Century Society, especially for changes to the Brutalist character and dismantling of the spiral sequence of rooms in the Pym extension.
The museum reopened in October 2009, eighty years to the day since its original opening. Within a month over 100,000 people had visited the museum. The reopening saw the introduction of Monday closure, which has received criticism from the public and in the press. All NMNI sites are to close on Mondays.
The Ulster Museum contains important collections of Irish birds, mammals, insects, molluscs, marine invertebrates, flowering plants, algae and lichens, as well as an archive of books and manuscripts relating to Irish natural history. The museum also maintains a natural history website named Habitas. In the late 1980s and the early 1990s it had a permanent exhibition on dinosaurs which has since been scaled back considerably. There is also a collection of rocks, minerals and fossils.