Belfast City Break

Our two-night break started with a quick 50-minute flight from Manchester into Belfast City Airport, only a 15-minute transfer to the city centre. We were staying just outside the city in the Titanic Quarter at the Titanic Hotel. An excellent 4* star hotel which was originally the drawing offices at the shipyard, which has been restored into a luxury hotel, while keeping many elements of the original building, especially the drawing offices. Just wandering around this hotel, you are immersed in the history of the building with the luxury of a 4* star hotel. The rooms are elegantly designed and comfortable, but for us the location of the hotel was one of the main reasons for our stay here, it is opposite the Titanic Belfast Museum, being a lover of History somewhere I have always wanted to visit, but also I wanted to see what Belfast had to offer. As always with a city break, I like to start with a hop on hop off bus, to explore the city but also to learn of places of interest and to get my bearings. This bus tour not only takes you around the interesting sites of Belfast, but also shows you the murals together with great and at times cheeky commentary from the bus drivers! We booked the full Titanic experience that was on offer, the museum, discovery walking tour and a visit to SS Nomadic, a tender used to the Titanic and the last remaining White Star Line Ship, this combination tickets really brings together how important the building of the Titanic was for Belfast. We also did a free tour of Belfast City Hall, a magnificent building in the heart of the city, the tour showed where their Parliament is held as well as many interesting facts. A must if you would like to hear all about the history of Belfast. I can also recommend the food at the Titanic Hotel, and we also enjoyed an afternoon tea at the Europa Hotel. All in all, a very enjoyable though short weekend (2 nights) in Belfast, but did we get to see all we wanted to see, yes, we did, it needed some planning, but it still didn’t feel rushed. With good transport links, hospitality, food and history definitely a place I would recommend for a short city break.