Belfast has found a new energy and vibrancy shown in the creative industries that will soon be showcased in an eight-month cultural celebration.
In the three decades since the Good Friday Agreement, Belfast has been a city transforming. It has found a new energy and vibrancy shown in the creative industries that will soon be showcased in an eight-month cultural celebration.
The city’s burgeoning film industry has seen the cameras rolling on productions such as Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast, Game of Thrones (the prequel A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms starts filming in and around the city soon), Conversations with Friends, and Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves.
Lagging behind Dublin in the gentrification stakes, Belfast also offers a more economical city break than the capital of the Republic of Ireland, where hotel prices are among the highest in Europe.
And while Dublin is the obvious choice for a St Patrick’s Day visit, Belfast is no less celebratory – this is the saint’s heartland.
Expect live, traditional music from 10 March, culminating in a parade on 17 March. South of the city, you can follow the trail of the 5th century “Apostle of Ireland” to Downpatrick, County Down, where his grave stands in the grounds of the church he established in AD432.
When that party is over, another will be getting going. While Brexit put paid to Belfast and Derry/Londonderry’s bid to be joint European Capital of Culture 2023, Belfast is delivering an alternative cultural programme this year.
Belfast 2024 starts next month with “the city’s biggest ever creative and cultural celebration.” Expect public art, exhibitions, music and a partnership with the Eden Project, running until November.
For more information, see visitbelfast.com and ireland.com (links open in new window)
Where to stay
One of the newest places to stay in the centre is room2, a fully-electric “low carbon hometel” on Queen Street with a café, tearoom, restaurant and gallery. Subtly mid-century-styled rooms start at £119.
In the leafy Queen’s Quarter, near Botanic Gardens and Queen’s University, The Harrison has idiosyncratic charm throughout its 16 rooms in carefully restored Victorian merchants’ townhouses that start from £145.
Maritime heritage
Titanic Belfast had a multimillion-pound revamp last year. The museum tells the story of the ill-fated liner that was launched from the city’s Harland & Wolff shipyard on 31 May, 1911.
New elements of the Titanic Experience include four galleries, an exhibition entitled “The Pursuit of Dreams”, a 7.6-metre-long scale model of the SS Titanic and many items and artefacts that have never been on display in Northern Ireland before.
Visitors can also visit the liner’s sister ship the SS Nomadic, docked on the waterside.
The Harland & Wolff headquarters, where White Star Line ships were designed, now plays host to the Titanic Hotel.
Art and understanding
One of the most illuminating and entertaining ways to educate yourself about Belfast’s complicated past is to slide into the back seat of a black taxi tour (£60 for two).
Over a few hours, drivers follow a route through the divided neighbourhoods of East and West Belfast and past the striking political murals emblazoned on walls, as well as the peace walls – the largest of these is the one that divided the loyalist Shankill Road from the nationalist Falls Road.
Botanic Gardens make up part of the Queen’s Quarter, which takes its name from the Queen’s University campus. Its showpiece is the dome-topped, wrought iron Palm House designed by Sir Charles Lanyon in 1839. Its two wings were completed by pre-eminent glasshouse designer of the period, Richard Turner, who was also responsible for the Palm House at Kew Gardens in London.
The grounds feature the Ulster Museum with its far-reaching collection that extends through art, archaeology, history and the natural sciences.
It’s boom times for Belfast’s culinary scene. Home is the latest recipient of a Bib Gourmand award. The dishes on its well-priced menu include coconut, red lentil and squash broth.
Waterman is a neo-bistro serving flavoursome assemblies of ingredients, including venison ragu and pecorino. It also does a weekend brunch and Sunday roasts.
One of Belfast’s hottest tables remains the Michelin-starred The Muddlers Club, named in honour of the secret society that used to meet there 200 years ago. Chef Gareth McCaughey creates seasonal tasting menus that have earned him a Michelin star.
The National Trust-owned The Crown Liquor Saloon is a Grade A-listed Victorian gin palace in the centre of the city.
The Sunflower holds regular events and has an array of craft beers and wood-fired pizzas.
The neighbourhood to watch
Belfast’s most charming neighbourhood is the Cathedral Quarter, a jumble of cobblestoned streets anchored by the 19th century St Anne’s Cathedral.
They are lined with restaurants, two of the centre’s best cafés (Neighbourhood Café and Established Coffee), independent shops and cultural spaces that include The Mac theatre.
Just on the edge of the Cathedral Quarter is one of Belfast’s newest cultural spaces, 2 Royal Avenue, a restored art deco bank – now a multi-use space with an Arabic café, exhibition centre and events.
With CS Lewis Square dedicated to the author, the edgier neighbourhood of East Belfast is attracting a young crowd with its cultural spaces, such as The Banana Block, housed in a former linen mill. Lengthy queues form at Flout!, in the Portview Trade Centre, for its New York-style pizza slices.
Green spaces
Stroll around Belfast Castle, a Scottish Baronial-style pile set on a hilltop overlooking the city. There has been a castle here since the Normans arrived in the 12th century, but today’s 19th century building was donated to the city by its former occupants, the Donegall family.
It’s on the edge of Cave Hill Country Park, which is dotted with archaeological sites, shady woodlands and quirky geological features, such as Napoleon’s Nose, which is said to have inspired Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. There are three walks, including the 2.4-mile Estate Walk, which on a clear day offers panoramas that stretch as far as the Scottish coast.
Source: inews.co.uk (link opens in new window)