Can you believe that in our 26 and 27 years of being raised and living in Ireland that we had never crossed the border to visit Belfast?

That all changed in February 2019 when myself and Bryan decided to take a trip up North. After all it is only a couple of hours from Dublin on the Enterprise train from Connolly Station. We were also excited that we could book a Game if Thrones tour from the city and also visit Titanic Belfast!

We arrived early enough and stayed in the AC Marriott which had great views from our room of Titanic Belfast and it is also not far from Victoria square. I would recommend this hotel for a short break as it is supper close for Victoria Square.

Day One – Titanic Belfast

On day one we of course went to visit Titanic Belfast. We opted for the tour that included the SS Nomadic which is the last white star line vessel. From my memory the ticket cost £18.50 each for both the museum and the SS Nomadic. The museum is pretty cool and takes you through the shipping industry in Belfast all the way to building the titanic and through to the finding of the shipwreck in the middle of the Atlantic. It is well worth a visit if you are in the city, we found everything really interesting and enjoyed our time there. It was also cool to check out the SS Nomadic but I enjoyed the museum a lot more.

Day Two – Game of Thrones Tour

On day two we had our Game of Thrones tour booked and headed out for an early start to meet the tour group for 7.45am. We opted for the Iron Islands tour as it included a trip to the Giants Causeway.

If you are a Game of Thrones fan you would love this tour! We had an amazing time, the tour was fun, the guide, Adrian (Ser Davos) was great craic and we had a fantastic day. We even want to head back up so we can do the Winterfell tour with them.

We started the tour by visiting the famous steps of Bravos.

We then headed to the cave where Melisandre gave birth to the shadow assassin! The caves were a really cool spot, even if you are not a fan of the show.

Next stop on the tour was Carrick a Rede rope bridge. While Game of Thrones was not filmed in the location, the rope bridge was the inspiration for the Iron Islands! The scenery around the area here was breathtaking and crossing the rope bridge was fun if not a little scary!

We then stopped off for lunch in the Fullerton Arms, a nice little pub and B&B where some of the cast members have stayed while filming.

After lunch it was time to go to Ballintoy Beach and Harbour so we could dress up like the Iron Born! This location was used for a number of scenes for the Iron Islands including the scene where Euron Greyjoy became king.

Next stop was the Giant’s Causeway. By the time we arrived it was full of people! The visit is free once you do not go through the visitor centre and it is about a 20 minute walk down to the main part of the Causeway. While I am glad I saw the causeway I think I was just expecting more, it is definitely worth the visit, don’t get me wrong, it was just a little different then I expected. And you must be careful, Those rocks are very slippery – I nearly fell a couple of times!

The final stop on our wonderful Game of Thrones Tour was to the very famous Dark Hedges, also known as the road to Kings Landing. This is a really cool spot and if you are interested in visiting I would do so sooner rather than later as a number of the trees keep falling down due to bad weather. It was a great way to end the tour and we ran ahead to get some pictures with barley any people visible in them – it was very hard to do, as you can imagine this spot is extremely popular!

We had a fantastic time on this tour and would highly recommend! We are in no way affiliated with the group but always want to share our experience so if interested check them out here.

Day Three – Belfast City Hall and City Centre

Our last afternoon was spent checking out Belfast City Hall and the main centre. We did go down to check out the Queens University however did not take many pictures as it is currently under construction.

Food

There are plenty of restaurants available in Belfast. I will not go into too much detail of where we ate on each day but I would recommend checking out Zizi’s if you love pizza and pasta and also the fish and chips in Bistro 401 when visiting the Titanic Belfast! Some advice I can also give is to make sure that you book restaurants in advance if staying over the weekend! We found it difficult to find an available place to eat on the Saturday night as we are used to just walking in to many restaurants in Dublin, just something to note when planning your trip.

Final Thoughts

Would I go back to Belfast? Definitely!! It is such a cool little city with plenty to do! I cannot believe we had not visited sooner. We are already planning our next trip so we can do the other attractions we missed out on such as a Black Cab tour. If you have any recommendations for our next trip to the city, do share! Of course if you have any questions about our trip just get in contact and we will be happy to help!

Happy Travels,

Nicole