Often overlooked or misunderstood, Belfast has recently seen a surge of interest as artists, musicians and writers reshape its narrative.
It’s a city that rewards the curious traveller – with a burgeoning food scene, deeply felt history, and razor-sharp local humour, it’s close to a must-visit. Ireland’s second-largest city is as good a city break as you’ll find anywhere.
Do
St George’s Market
2–20 East Bridge Street, BT1 3NQ
Think Borough Market without the overwhelming crowds. St. George’s Market has been going since the 1890s and features over 200 market stalls selling fruit, vegetables, antiques, books, clothes, hot food, cakes and buns, arts and crafts, as well as a large selection of fresh fish, all from independent, artisanal producers. When I visited in 2025 for the first time in almost a decade, I found it had gone from strength to strength, becoming something any city on the planet would envy.
Titanic Belfast
1 Olympic Way, BT3 9EP
Titanic Belfast exterior
There is an irony not lost on locals that one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city – and certainly one with the most generous funding – is dedicated to the most famous maritime disaster in history. The doomed ship was built in the Harland & Wolff shipyards in Belfast, where Titanic Belfast now lies. From its Guggenheim-inspired exterior to over 12,000 square metres of floor space, it’s a great way to dive deep into H&W’s crucial role in shaping the city for those who want to extend their knowledge beyond Rose and Jack.
Black Cab Tour
Belfast has grown into a multi-faceted, dynamic, modern city, but its history still weighs heavily. Like with any destination in the world, tourists – whether from the Republic of Ireland, Britain, the US or elsewhere – have a duty to engage and possess a certain level of awareness, but that shouldn’t be off-putting. The Black Cab Tours, guided by drivers who have lived in Belfast all their lives, offer an accessible route into Belfast’s troubled history, and are worth it whether you’ve written a PhD on the topic or feel undereducated, taking you through the murals and peace walls of what was an active warzone not long ago.
Giant’s Causeway
Giant's Causeway at sunset
Any trip to Northern Ireland that doesn’t take in at least some of its countryside is an opportunity missed. From Belfast, you have options, but if it’s your first time, then it’s hard to look past the journey to the Giant’s Causeway. Many go straight up the highway route and back as a box-tick exercise, but instead take your time on the Causeway coastal route, and also stop by Carnlough, Dunluce Castle, Carrick-a-Rede, and the Bushmills distillery. Doable as a day trip, staying over at Portrush or Portstewart for a night and stretching out your stay is never a bad idea.
Street art tour
Political murals are embedded into Belfast’s DNA, but walk around the city centre, especially near the Cathedral Quarter, and you’ll notice an abundance of street art that strays away from political messaging. Backed by the City Council through regeneration projects, Belfast has become one of the world’s street art capitals, and hosts a yearly street art festival that brings some of the world’s best artists to the city to paint for a week. Take a guided tour to learn about how a new generation has reclaimed murals.
seedheadarts.com/street-art/walking-tour
Eat
Ox
1 Oxford Street, BT1 3LA
Street art in Belfast
One of only two restaurants in Belfast with a Michelin star, Ox is the brainchild of Belfast-born chef Stephen Toman and co-owner Alain Kerloc’h, who met in Paris. A true bucket-list spot, Ox is a locavore’s nirvana and one of the best places in the city to savour seasonally available produce, marrying Irish ingredients with French techniques. Expect dishes like Wild Wicklow venison with salsify and fig, local scallop with orange romanesco and lemongrass, and onion galette with burnt apple and fennel pollen. This is the place to book if you want to splash the cash.
Home Belfast
Ox restaurant
22 Wellington Pl, BT1 6GE
Home is a Swiss army knife of a restaurant. If you’re rolling deep with a big group, it ticks every box without sacrificing quality. Sitting smack bang in the city centre near City Hall, Home serves great, locally sourced produce at a reasonable price, with ample vegetarian and gluten-free options. It kicked off as a pop-up in 2011 before securing its permanent residence and was awarded a Michelin Bib in 2014, which it has maintained ever since. Go here for a quality £19 burger and chips, fresh market fish, Irish duck breast and a great Sunday Roast menu. Go for quality food at a fair price.
Mourne Seafood Bar
34-36 Bank St, BT1 1HL
Sea bass at Home Belfast
Nowhere in Belfast knows fish quite like Mourne Seafood Bar. An online fish shop and restaurant, it’s where to go for everything from Carlingford oysters (a London favourite just an hour from Belfast) and classic cod and chips, to its famous seafood casserole and the freshest scallops, sea bass or crab claws. They supply seafood to many Belfast restaurants, but it’s best to head straight to the source.
Amelia Hall
4 Howard Street, BT1 6PG
Oysters at Mourne Seafood Bar
A maximalist pizza and cocktail bar that is decked out in more foliage than most parks, Amelia Hall is one of Belfast’s finest celebratory restaurants. The scene of many an anniversary or birthday, it’s a place to have one too many cocktails – not hard when the options include a hot honey Margarita and Irish Whiskey Sour. The pizzas are generously sized, and they also do an excellent Guinness on draught. Open until 3am on weekends and with live music always on from 8:30pm, expect things to get quite lively. Possibly the best pie in Belfast.
Drink
Bittles Bar
70 Upper Church Lane, BT1 4QL
Amelia Hall exterior
Maybe not the bar to go if you’re doing dry January, as its now-retired owner John Bittles made it into national headlines for refusing to serve a customer a Coke, arguing his pub is for, alleged quote, ‘real drinkers’. Half-pint orders are also apparently a risky move – but for no-nonsense Guinness and whiskey right in the centre, there are few better, and it’s also one of Belfast’s most visually striking, located in the corner of a flat iron building.
Sunflower
65 Union St, BT1 2JG
Bittles Bar exterior
A bolthole favoured by artists in the heart of Smithfield and Union, The Sunflower is free of gimmicks and pageantry. The pub, in its current incarnation, opened in 2012, but it has stood as a public house for over 100 years and retains aspects of the city’s history. Remnants of the past can still be found, most obviously in the form of a maintained security cage on its front door, a relic of the Troubles now mostly removed across the city. Go here for regular trad sessions, local craft beer, and one of the city’s more unique street signs, which reads, “No topless sunbathing: Ulster has suffered enough.”
Kelly’s Cellars
30-32 Bank Street, BT1 1HL
The Sunflower exterior
I dipped into Kelly’s Cellars for a quick pint to wait out a torrential downpour, and ended up staying for three. It’s as quintessential ‘old Irish pub aesthetic’ as you can get, and one of Belfast’s original public houses, hailing back to the 1700s. It marries a warming, welcoming, borderline addictive atmosphere that makes you want to stay all day. It also has some genuine history – it was a meeting place for Henry Joy McCracken and the United Irishmen as they planned the 1798 Rising, commemorated with a blue plaque. Touristy, sure, but for good reason.
Maddens
74 Berry St, BT1 1FJ
Kelly's Cellars exterior
It was suggested to me several times that the best pint of Guinness in Belfast is found at Maddens, another old-school Irish classic. I’m sure that moniker would be debated, but it’s in the running, and is always a popular spot with some sort of music on every night of the week and historical quirks, like having to buzz the front door to be let inside.
Stay
Harrison Chambers of Distinction
45 Malone Road, BT9 6RX
Bedroom at Harrison Chambers of Distinction
Belfast has a deep history, and each room in the Harrison tells the story of a different icon who helped shape the city. No two rooms are the same, and each is packed with unique quirks to discover, from leopard print trinkets and free-standing bathtubs to record players and four-poster beds. Situated right next to the famous Lyric Theatre, Ulster Museum, and Botanic Gardens, as well as Queen’s University, this is an ideal launchpad to explore from.
Europa Hotel
Great Victoria Street, BT2 7AP
Exterior at the Europa Hotel, the most bombed hotel in Europe
It speaks to Belfast’s sense of humour that a hotel could turn its reputation of being the ‘most bombed hotel in the world’ into a genuine draw. During the Troubles, it was bombed 33 times, but as my taxi driver noted when we passed it, “Don’t worry, it hasn’t been bombed in weeks”. Today, it’s a modern luxury spot right in the centre, with a range of luxury suites, live performances and a restaurant that has become a celebrity favourite, with Bill Clinton, Bob Dylan, Brad Pitt and even the Dalai Lama choosing it for their night’s digs.
Room2
32-36 Queen Street, BT1 6EE
Room2 Belfast bedroom
Part apartment, part hotel, Room2 is great for everything from a short city break to more extended stays. With rooms equipped with kitchenettes and interconnected suites perfect for family trips, a downstairs restaurant and bar, a gym and even a pet-friendly ethos, it’s everything you could ever want from a city hotel. The location is perfect, just a two-minute walk from City Hall and a five-minute walk from Cathedral Quarter; just about everything in Belfast is walkable, including, crucially, most of its best pubs and restaurants.
