13 Awesome Things to do During a Weekend in Belfast

When I was planning our itinerary to Ireland, Northern Ireland almost didn’t make my list. I wasn’t sure we’d have enough time to see everything we wanted if we included it. But I heard enough people say that no visit to the island was complete without a visit to Northern Ireland. So we decided to make it work. We ended up spending our first weekend in Belfast.

And I’m so glad we did! Belfast is one of the coolest cities I’ve been to in Europe that still feels relatively undiscovered by mass tourism. The city is still somewhat known for the terrorist attacks by the IRA in the 80s/90s called “The Troubles.” Though it is safe nowadays, it still carries reminders of the recent past.

The vibe in Belfast is young, hip and progressive. The city was buzzing with energy while we were there, despite the cold and damp weather typical of November.

If you’re thinking of visiting Belfast for a weekend city break, I highly encourage it!

Here are 13 ideas of things to do during a weekend in Belfast.

Visit the Titanic Experience and SS Nomadic

In the early 1900s, Belfast was known for constructing luxury ships for the White Star Line. Also known as the company that built the Titanic. Belfast men worked hard to build the tragically sinkable “unsinkable” ship. The city lost workers and Belfast residents both in the process of building the ship and in the sinking.

The Titanic Experience is now one of the most popular things to do in Belfast. It’s a museum dedicated not only to the construction and lore of the Titanic, but also its history of industry. 

The start of the Titanic Experience teaches about the history of the Ulster region and how Belfast was first known for its linen industry. Then, it shows how it became the center of ship building and how the Titanic happened. The third and most important part of the museum is all about the ship building, sinking. And its lore and long-lasting impact on the city. 

The museum has artifacts ranging from original blueprints of the build to notes from the architects and payroll of employees. It also has examples of rooms from first, second and third class cabins. Parts of the museum were also immersive. For example, a ride that takes you through sights and sounds reminiscent of building the Titanic. There is also a room where you can stand and experience a tour of the Titanic through the boiler rooms, cabin, captain’s nest and decks.

Included in the Titanic Experience is admission to the SS Nomadic. 

The SS Nomadic is the skiff that helped people board the Titanic from certain ports. Most boats like the SS Nomadic were pretty basic. However, the White Star Line wanted the Nomadic to give its passengers a small taste of the luxury they would experience onboard Titanic. It also had a long life outside of servicing the Titanic, which you can learn about onboard the skiff. 

Stroll the Belfast Maritime Mile

After visiting the Titanic Experience and SS Nomadic, you can walk the Maritime Mile. The Maritime Mile is a walking trail along the River Lagan. It extends from the Titanic Experience to the Lagan Weir footbridge that connects the Titanic Quarter to the downtown area.

In addition to the Titanic Experience, you can visit other landmarks along the Maritime Mile. They include:

• The Titanic Slipways: This area shows where the Titanic stood before it was launched. If you don’t want to go through the entire Titanic Experience museum, this area can be a good place to learn a little history of the Titanic and Harland & Wolff for free.
• Glass of Thrones: These large free-standing stained glass windows decorate the maritime mile. They celebrate a decade of filming Game of Thrones in Northern Ireland. All stained glass windows represent a prominent family from the show.
• The Dividers: This giant sculpture made of bronze and stainless steel towers over the walking trail. It frames the River Lagan and downtown Belfast and has been standing since 2002.

Visit the Salmon Sculpture

A large salmon statue constructed from blue and white mosaic tiles stands across River Lagan from the Maritime Mile. This statue is an iconic sculpture along the waterfront of the River Lagan and adorns the Donegall Quay.

The sculpture’s name is ‘Salmon of Knowledge’ or ‘The Big Fish.’ It was constructed in 1999 to celebrate the fish returning to the River Lagan. Its tiles have text and images related to Belfast history. 

Inspiration for the Salmon of Knowledge came from the tale of the Boyhood Deeds of Fionn. This story depicts a salmon gaining ultimate knowledge by eating hazelnuts. The salmon then imbues the knowledge upon whomever eats him. Legend says kissing the sculpture brings wisdom. 

Prop up the Leaning Albert Memorial Clock Tower

The Albert Memorial Clock is one of the most iconic sites in Belfast. This major landmark is located in the Queen’s Square, near the River Lagan. It was built as a memorial to the late Prince Albert and makes up a key part of Belfast’s skyline.

An interesting fact about the Albert Memorial Clock Tower is that it’s built slightly leaning. You can take a picture pretending to hold it up like the Tower of Pisa.

Learn about “the Troubles” at the Peace Wall

Apart from the Titanic, one of the things Northern Ireland is most known for is “The Troubles.” The Troubles refer to a 30-year conflict that ended in 1998 and revolved around the Irish Nationalists and Republicans feuding. It was a dark period of history for Northern Ireland. There is still plenty of evidence of it today as the conflict ended less than 30 years ago. 

One of the places you can go to learn about the conflict is known as the Peace Wall. This wall in West Belfast is covered in murals and stands as a testament The Troubles and dedication to keeping peace in Northern Ireland. Here, you can read a bit about first-hand accounts of The Troubles and see commitments to peace in art.

The best way to see the Peace Wall is supposedly as part of a Black Cab Tour. On a Black Cab Tour, someone intimately familiar with the conflicts takes you to the wall and other spots important to the conflict and shares history lessons. Unfortunately, I didn’t plan ahead well enough to book one of these tours, so we ended up exploring the Peace Wall on our own. I still got a lot out of seeing it without a tour, so this can be a good option if you want to save money or fall short on planning.

Browse the stalls at St. George’s Market

St. George’s Market is a local food and crafts market downtown, and is only open on the weekends. If you are in Belfast on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday you must add this to your itinerary. 

The market has been around since the 1890s and is a staple of the community. Here, you can purchase local crafts, food and drinks. If you’re looking for souvenirs or traditional food like a Belfast Bap, you can find it here.

Visit City Hall

I don’t often add government buildings to my itinerary when visiting cities, but I made an exception for Belfast’s City Hall. City Hall is a gorgeous building inside and out. There are twice-daily free tours of City Hall where you can also learn more about Belfast’s History if you choose, or you can just have a look around at the architecture and decor. The building is in the center of the city in Donegall Square, so you don’t even have to go out of your way to visit it if you’re touring the city and just want to pop in to see it.

When we visited Belfast, it was around the holiday season, so City Hall also had a Christmas Market out in front, and a giant Christmas tree inside, which added a little extra magic and ambiance to the building.

Admire the Street Art

I wrote about the murals of the Peace Wall above, but it’s only a small part of Belfast’s street art scene. One of my favorite parts of walking through the city was admiring all the intricate street art that graced walls all over the city. These murals are truly works of art and adds to the overall vibe of Belfast being a young, hip, progressive city. 

My favorite stretch of street art was located on Kent Street, near the Sunflower Pub.

Experience Pub Culture

You can’t visit this island without experiencing some of the pub culture, and my favorite was in Belfast. There are pubs throughout the city, basically down every alleyway, and they are packed on the weekends starting as early as 5 or 6 in the evening (at least in the winter). 

The reason Belfast pubs were my favorite was because they were so vibrant and full of energy. Many also played traditional music several nights of the week. It was enough to just sit down, have a pint and soak in the scene around you. 

Listen to a Trad Session

A major part of pub culture is live traditional music, also known as “trad sessions.” Most pubs will have signs informing you of their trad music nights, and you’re sure to find one if you’re there on a weekend.  

Trad sessions are a fun part of Irish culture because they are not put on for show. They typically consist of musicians sitting around a table, playing instruments like the harp, tin whistle and banjo and occasionally singing. The trad session in the Sunflower Pub was my favorite throughout our entire time on the island. It felt organic, with different musicians going in and out of the session. One woman with a hauntingly beautiful voice sang an old Irish tune in the original Irish. It just felt like watching friends have a fun jam session.

Shop at Victoria Square

If you’re looking for a place to shop in Belfast, Victoria Square is the area for you. It is in the center of town and filled with any kind of shop you could want. There are also a lot of little alleys you can go down to find food and pubs in this area when you get hungry. One restaurant is a seafood restaurant with award-winning fish and chips called Fish City. The fish and chips are not too breaded and live up to their reputation.

Eat Traditional Irish Food at the Oldest Building in Belfast

Right in Queen’s Square, you can find McHugh’s Pub, claimed to be the oldest building in Belfast. The building was built in the early 1700s and was originally a private residence before being converted to a pub a few years later. It underwent some major renovations in the 1990s, but still retained some of its original features like its dark wood beams.

You can just stop in for a pint of Guinness or a Belfast Stout. And you can also have a meal here, as their menu is full of traditional Irish food. I had a traditional Irish stew, and it was thick and delicious. 

Take a Day Trip to Giant’s Causeway and the Old Bushmills Distillery

If you’re in Belfast, you’d be remiss to not take a day trip over to Giant’s Causeway and the Old Bushmills Distillery. Located about 90 minutes from Belfast, Giant’s Causeway is a UNESCO World Heritage Site where you can see thousands of basalt columns against the sea. These columns are officially the result of a volcanic fissure eruption. However, legend says it was built by a giant named Fionn who was challenged to a fight by a Scottish giant and built it so the two could meet.

Not far from Giant’s Causeway is the Old Bushmills Distillery, which claims to be the oldest Irish whiskey distillery in the world. You can take a tour of the distillery to learn about the barrels, blending and bottling process then get a taste at the end of your choice of whiskey.

It’s easy to visit both of these places as a day trip from Belfast, even if you don’t have a car. There are a lot of organized tour groups that leave from Belfast and visit both spots. You can find them through sites like Viator, Get Your Guide and Airbnb Experiences. 

Note that the Old Bushmills Distillery is not open on Sundays, so you will need to visit on Saturday if you’re only in Belfast for the weekend.

Other Ideas:

If the ideas I’ve listed above don’t really appeal to you, or you have more time in Belfast, there are plenty of other things to do. Some things I looked into but didn’t have time to do include:

• Ulster Museum: Art and science museum covering a comprehensive history of Northern Ireland, from the early days to the recent past.
• Botanic Gardens: Historic gardens dating back to the 1800s featuring the Palm House Conservatory and Tropical Ravine House.
• Game of Thrones Tour: A lot of the popular HBO series Game of Thrones was filmed in Belfast and across Northern Ireland. You can take an official studio tour, or a sightseeing tour around filming locations in the area.
• Queen’s University: The Queen’s University in Belfast is one of the oldest universities in the UK and supposed to have a lovely campus.

Belfast Logistics:

Safety:

A lot of people will think of Northern Ireland’s relatively recent history of conflict and wonder if visiting Belfast is safe. I felt perfectly safe the entire time I was there, but primarily stuck to the city center. I read that it’s best to stick to the city center at night for safety.

Where to Stay:

If you can, the best place to stay in Belfast is Queen’s Square, or other neighborhoods near the city center. This is particularly true if you’re only visiting for a couple of days. This neighborhood will give you the best access to major attractions while also being close to fun pubs and good food. 

We stayed in an Airbnb next to McHugh’s Pub, which I really enjoyed because the owners put in a lot of special local touches. There are a lot of complaints nowadays about Airbnb due to its reputation of people purchasing homes just for the purpose of having short-term rentals, but this Airbnb was not like that at all. It was also cheaper than hotels in the area.

Transportation:

If you stay in the city center, Belfast is very walkable. They also have a good public transit system that can take you farther out in the city if you want to visit, for example, West Belfast for the Peace Wall.

Although we had a car, we minimized driving in the city as much as possible. The streets are narrow, and there are a lot of one-way streets that make navigating difficult. There is not much free parking in the city center, and you will likely have to park in a paid parking garage at a shopping center if you choose to have a car.

All-in-all, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Belfast, as it wasn’t a city that was previously much on my radar. Have you ever been, or do you want to visit?