two nights in

Belfast

Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. Most of it historically lay in County Antrim west of the River Lagan, with about a third on the east bank in County Down, but it's always been governed as a separate metropolis, with a population in 2024 of about 671,000. Wikivoyage

Population 345,006 (Wikidata)

Live guide From your hotel

Before you go

Emergency numbers in United Kingdom

Visas and entry What your passport needs for United Kingdom

Getting there

Remembered in this browser only, with the last few you used.

Still gathering the markets around Belfast. I'll let you know here when it's all in — or open the live guide.

Best-documented sights

All of them in the guide

Within a kilometre of the centre, ordered by how well documented each is — not by a "best" anyone decided. Each opens on the map in the guide. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited there.

Through the year

  1. Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival

    January, May

    Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival is in January. CQAF also run the Out to Lunch Festival in May

  2. Jazz

    February – March

    Brilliant Corners is Feb / March

  3. City Marathon

    May, September

    City Marathon is in early May. They also stage a half-marathon in September and fun runs at other times

  4. Belfast Book Festival

    June

    Belfast Book Festival is held in Crescent Arts Centre on the QUB campus in early June

  5. Belfast Pride

    July

    Belfast Pride is in late July

  6. Féile an Phobail

    July – August

    Féile an Phobail is a community arts festival in late July and early August

  7. Orange Order Parades

    July

    Orange Order Parades are a piece of living history, catch one if you can.

  8. Belfast International Tattoo

    September

    Belfast International Tattoo is held over two days in September at SSE Arena

Annual events from Wikidata and Wikivoyage (Belfast); descriptions from Wikipedia where it has one, photos from Wikimedia Commons. Dates move year to year — check before you plan around one.

Eating nearby

All 92 places to eat

Somewhere to run

Getting around

Train stations: Belfast Grand Central 660 m, Belfast Lanyon Place 840 m, Botanic 970 m, City Hospital 1.1 km, York Street 1.6 km, Titanic Quarter 1.6 km, Adelaide 2.6 km, Sydenham 3.7 km, Balmoral 4.0 km, Finaghy 5.1 km

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Places © OpenStreetMap contributors, as of 9 October 2026. Description from Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA). Events from Wikidata and Wikivoyage, population from Wikidata.