Things to Do in Belfast in 2 Days

We spent two days in Belfast, which is such an interesting and very historic Irish city. If you’re looking for a Belfast itinerary, then you’re in the right place. Two days is the right amount of time to spend right in the city centre, while another couple days can be spent on day trips.

Belfast is quite pedestrian-friendly, and I do recommend allowing yourself time for walking around and getting lost. We saw plenty of Victorian buildings, visited the botanical gardens, and ducked into some cozy cafes and places to eat. We stayed near the Crown Bar area (just south of the city centre), which had so much great ethnic cuisine, and was convenient as a lot of day tours tended to leave from that area.

Belfast is a nice city, with a different feel than other Irish and European cities, and a good base for visiting Northern Ireland.

Day 1 in Belfast: Titanic and Cathedral Quarter

1. Visit the Titanic Museum

The Titanic Museum opened in 2012, and is located at the exact location where the famous ship was built and designed.  It is now considered to be Belfast’s #1 attraction. The Titanic Museum is at least a 2-3 hour commitment, so you should allocate half a day to exploring the whole immersive museum.

You book a time slot for the museum; luckily you can change when you arrive if there’s availability. We showed up at the museum earlier than we expected, so we were able to change our tickets to allow us to get inside earlier.

The Titanic Museum isn’t conveniently located, to anything. You can get there via public transit, or by taking an Uber (which is what we did.)

I visited the Titanic Museum with my husband and two kids (12, and 4 years old.) Learning about the loss on the Titanic was very sad, as the museum help you empathize with the pain this caused people; the passengers and their families. My 12 year old found it interesting that you can look up passengers, whether they survived or not by age, class, nationality and name. The museum is so in depth, with so many artifacts, things to read, and immersive exhibits – you could spend all day here if you wanted to!

The Titanic Museum in Belfast also contains one of the only 12 of the original Titanic lifejackets left in the whole world! its apparently on loan so im not sure how long itll be there for.

2. Walk around the Cathedral Quarter

Cathedral Quarter is the social and cultural hub of the city. It’s around 2km from where the Titanic is located, so you can either walk there in 25-30 minutes, take public transit, or an Uber.

The area is very walkable, with even some pedestrian-only throughfares. Plenty of cafes, restaurants and places to eat in the area. Things to see as you’re walking around the Cathedral Quarter:

• St. Anne’s Cathedral (beautiful on the inside if you happen to go in!), its also known as Belfast Cathedral, and the reason for the name of the neighbourhood
• City Hall: It’s the heart of the Belfast city centre. Its been open for over 100 years, and inside it has a visitor exhibition of the city’s history, and there’s a Titanic Memorial Garden outside.
• Duke of York Pub – a really beautiful, antique pub with vintage look on the inside

There is food served onsite at the Titanic Museum, but the Cathedral Quarter is also a good place to grab food, and finish off the day.

Day 2 in Belfast: Visit the Crown Bar Area

1. Visit or Take Pictures of Crown Bar

The Crown Bar is a beautiful bar that has been open since the 1880s. We took photos from the outside only but if you want to have a drink, then you should book online. It always looked busy every time we walked past it.

2. Explore street art and the foodie scene

The neighbourhood surrounding Crown Bar has excellent restaurants and a lot of really good ethnic restaurants. We stayed in this area (it’s a good place to stay in Belfast) and felt spoiled with the delicious, and affordably priced cuisine in the area.

Some of the best places to get food in the area are:

• Nu Delhi Restaurant Lounge, eat in and take out, very authentic Indian food. You can order online
• Kanagawa Sushi & Ramen (pictured above), such a cozy spot for ramen, sushi and other Asian food. They also have really nice cocktails topped with fresh flowers – came here for my husband’s birthday and it was perfect
• Afternoon Tea at the Europa Hotel – the Europa Hotel (acrosss from Crown Bar) does a High Tea – book a table in advance here

3. Do a Black Cab Tour

The iconic Black Cab Tours teach you about the history of Belfast and Northern Ireland, and they also take you around the city where you can see some things that aren’t usually on the typical tourist itinerary (such as street murals, etc.)

Black Cab Tours are about 90 minutes long, and you ride around in – you guessed it, a black cab. All ages are welcome, and the cost is ‘per car’ (so, the more paying adults you have riding, the cheaper itll be.)

It wasn’t until recently that I realized how rough things had been living in Northern Ireland, and the battles between the Protestants and Catholics, the terrorism associated with it.

There’s a great book if you’re looking for books set in or about Ireland called Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland.

4. Get outside at the Belfast Botanic Gardens

The Botanical Gardens are a nice way to ‘get outside’ in Belfast and enjoy some lush greenery, gardens. There’s a playground for kids, walking trails. It’s right beside Queen’s University, so its popular with students, as well as families and tourists.

Other Must-Dos While You’re in Belfast

Don’t make the mistake of visiting Belfast only and not seeing what’s outside of it. Northern Ireland is one of the most gorgeous parts of the entire Irish isle and most of that beauty is found north of Belfast.

Coming all the way to Belfast, and not seeing the beauty that lies north of it would be a waste. Here are some of the key things to do outside of Belfast:

1. Game of Thrones Studio Tour

another thing to do in belfast if you’re a game of thrones fan is the game of thrones studio too. i sent my husband here for his birthday. its not right in belfast but in Banbridge, about a 40-minute drive. There are many tours to choose from that will bring you here from Belfast.

My husband said the Titanic attraction was by far much busier with more people visiting and he enjoyed a quieter day at the Game of Thrones studio.

2. Northern Ireland coach tour

This probably goes without saying, but dont see only Belfast- make sure you explore the northern coastline, the glands of atrium and some of the stunning sights.

Here are some of the notable things to check out, when choosing a day tour or driving yourself:

• Giants Causeway
• Carrbridge
• Dark Hedges
• Bushmills Distillery
• Dunluce Castle, used in both Game of Thrones and Chronicles of Narnia (one of the most impressive abandoned castles in Ireland)

All of this is only within 1-2 of the Belfast city centre and there are so many tours to choose from.

In our case, we wanted a tour that included kids under ,5 which was harder to find as most of thhem are full day tours and only allow kids over a certain age. however we did find one for all ages, and we had a great time.

Where to Stay in Belfast

• Europa Hotel (right acrosss from the Crown Bar),
• The Merchant Hotel in Cathedral Quarter, right near the City centre, and a reasonable distance from almost everything
• 3-bedroom house on Charles street south – this is where we stayed. It’s around the corner from Crown Bar, and near areas where tour groups meet. It’s a 20 minute walk to the city centre, and the Botanical Gardens. LOTS of great restaurants nearby

Belfast is one of UK’s best coastal cities, and worth a visit. I hope that I’ve given you plenty of ideas on how to spend your time in Belfast!