Things to do in Belfast

It’s still hard to talk about visiting Belfast and not mention ‘the Troubles’, the decades-long conflict over whether Northern Ireland should be a part of the UK or not.

The topic keeps coming up, even 25 years after the peace agreement, because it’s still a critical part of the city’s story. With thousands of people killed and neighbourhoods literally fenced off from each other, the conflict changed the face of Belfast and influenced much of what you’ll see today.

During that period, from the late 1960s until 1998 (and for a while afterwards, to be honest), Northern Ireland was hardly a tourist destination, with its reputation as a pseudo-war zone keeping people away for years. And while other parts of the UK invested in the visitor economy, very little was spent on attractions in Belfast.

These days, some of the best things to see in Belfast are still related to the Troubles, and learning about those times is one of the reasons people come here. But, although the issues behind the conflict haven’t completely gone away, there is much more to do than just dwell on the past.

Belfast has emerged as a very different city since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. You can see it in a very simple way with case of the Hotel Europa – once famous for being the most bombed hotel in Europe, it was chosen to host much of the Games of Thrones cast when they filmed here. (And hasn’t that TV show helped put Belfast on the map!)

Some of the changes in Belfast have been part of a concerted effort by authorities to make it a more attractive place to visit – the redeveloped Cathedral Quarter, for instance, or the spectacular modern museum dedicated to the Titanic, which is a highlight of a visit here.

But then there’s also the organic evolution in the city. As…

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