Travel

Get in

 

By plane

 

Belfast has two airports:

George Best Belfast City Airport

• George Best Belfast City Airport (airport code BHD) - is just 2 miles from Belfast city centre, with magnificient views of the city of Belfast or Belfast Lough offered to passengers on approach and departure. The airport principally serves routes to domestic UK and Ireland, however bmi has extensive worldwide connections the Star Alliance Network. Airlines using the airport include:
  • Aer Arann to Cork
  • bmi to London Heathrow (connections to bmi's international network and the Star Alliance)
  • Manx 2 to Blackpool and the Isle of Man.
  • Euromanx to the Isle of Man.
  • flybe to Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield, Edinburgh, Exeter, Galway, Glasgow, Guernsey, Inverness, Jersey, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool John Lennon, London Gatwick, Newcastle, Southampton Manchester and Rennes.
  • Ryanair to London (Stansted), Glasgow (Prestwick), East Midlands and Liverpool.

The terminal is served every twenty to thirty minutes from 06.00 - 22.00 by the 600 Airport bus (£1.30 single, £2.20 return). Depending on traffic, the journey to Belfast's Laganside and Europa Buscentres should take no more than fifteen minutes. Ask at the airport information desk for a free shuttle ride to the near-by Sydenham railway station for trains towards Bangor, Belfast and Portadown. Considering the airport's proximity to the city, taxis cost less than £10 to most parts of the city and are an economical choice for small groups.

 

Belfast International Airport

• Belfast International Airport (airport code BFS) is further away from Belfast than City Airport, but offers significantly more international destinations. Continental Airlines has connections available to destinations throughout the Americas and beyond.
  • Aer Lingus to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Budapest, Geneva, Faro, London-Heathrow, Malaga, Nice, Rome Fiumincino. British Airways codeshare with Aer Lingus to London, and offer international connections from Heathrow.
  • Air Transat (seasonal) to Toronto
  • bmibaby to Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester and Nottingham East Midlands
  • Continental Airlines to New York (Newark)
  • Easyjet to Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin Schoenefeld, Bristol, Edinburgh, Faro, Gdansk, Geneva, Glasgow, Ibiza, Krakow, Liverpool John Lennon, London Gatwick, London Luton, London Stansted, Malaga, Newcastle, Nice, Palma, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Prague, Rome Ciampino, Venice
  • Globespan to Orlando Sanford and Toronto
  • Jet2 to Barcelona, Blackpool, Chambery, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Leeds Bradford, Malaga, Milan-Bergamo, Murcia, Palma, Pisa, Prague, Tenerife South and Toulouse
  • Manx2 to the Isle of Man
  • Wizz Air to Warsaw and Katowice
  • Zoom to Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax (from June 2007)

The terminal is served up to thirty minutes from 05.35 - 23.20 by the 300 Airport bus (£6 single, £9 return). Depending on traffic, the journey to Belfast's Laganside and Europa Buscentres takes about forty-five minutes. Taxis should cost no more than £25-£30 to Belfast City Centre.

From Dublin

It is also possible to get to Belfast from Dublin Airport 100 miles to the south. Ryanair, Aer Arann and Aer Lingus (the national airline of the Republic of Ireland) serve many international destinations in Europe and North America (including Boston, Los Angeles and New York). Hourly buses link Dublin Airport and the Belfast Europa Buscentre.

By train

 

Despite decades of underinvestment and service cutbacks, Northern Ireland Railways (a division of Translink, Northern Ireland's public transport operator) manages to maintain a small but increasingly reliable passenger rail network around the province, with four 'domestic' lines radiating out from Belfast.Great Victoria Street Station is in the Centre of Belfast on as the name suggests Great Victoria Street Just yards from the Grand Opera House and Beside the Europa Hotel the Great Victoria Station is part of a Combined Bus/rail Station the bus centre being called Europa Bus Centre look for the sign above the door to access the station from the Great Victoria street itself "great Northern mall" the so called "Central Station" is not very Central at all its about half a Mile from the city centre

• • Belfast - Bangor
  • Belfast - Portadown
  • Belfast - Larne
  • Belfast - Coleraine - Londonderry/Derry or Portrush

Service is most frequent and reliable on the Portadown - Belfast - Bangor corridor, on which new trains offer frequent and fast suburban service. The line to Londonderry/Derry is exceptionally beautiful as it passes along the north coast after Coleraine, however travellers should note that the railway line is slower (two hours or more) than the equivilent Ulsterbus Goldline express coach (one hour and forty minutes). Contact NIR for information on tourist passes for exploring Northern Ireland by bus and train: with integrated bus and train stations in most major towns, the province is easily explored without a car.

'International' service to Dublin (with connections to other destinations in the Republic of Ireland) is offered by the Enteprise, a modern, reasonably comfortable, but relatively slow train jointly operated by Northern Ireland Railways and Iarnrod Eireann (who operate trains in the Republic of Ireland). Journeys between Dublin and Belfast take over two hours, and there are up to eight trains a day, offering two classes of service. The train is frequently late and takes a less direct route than the road, but offers some superb views and is still generally quicker than equivalent busses.

By bus

 

Ulsterbus (a division of Translink, Northern Ireland's public transport operator) operate the intercity bus network in Northern Ireland. Bus Éireann jointly operate cross-border services with Ulsterbus and operate almost all intercity routes in the Republic of Ireland. The Belfast to Dublin Airport and Dublin route is becoming increasingly competitive, with independent operator Aircoach offering a regular service from Dublin and Dublin Airport to Belfast. Bus Éireann offer a €7 single fare from Dublin Busaras (bus station) and Dublin Airport to the Europa Buscentre in Belfast; Ulsterbus offers similar specials in the opposite direction. There is also a daily bus to Cork, via Athlone and one to Galway via Cavan.

Under the Eurolines banner, Ulsterbus offer 2 daily services to Glasgow and Edinburgh, and 2 daily services to London via Manchester and Birmingham. All of these are via the fast ferry Stranraer. Connections are available via National Express to virtually every destination in mainland Great Britain.

For less independent travellers, you can also book day trips from Dublin to Belfast on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. This includes a bus trip to Belfast followed by a black taxi cab ride through the two neighbourhoods and a visit to the peace wall. See Paddywagon Tours for info.

Bus transport in Northern Ireland is incredibly expensive outside Belfast City Centre, which is bordering on the steep. Fortunately the City is small enough to walk anywhere comfortably. The possible exception to this rule is the 'Maiden City Flyer' Ulsterbus express service to Derry which is frequent, comfortable and reasonably priced.

There is also a bus based Park and Ride facility available, see National Park and Ride Directory

By car

 

Belfast is the focus of the road network in Northern Ireland, and as such is very well connected to the road network in Northern Ireland. While there are only three motorways in Northern Ireland (M1, M2 and M22), the rest of the country is very well provided for with high quality trunk roads.

Access to Belfast from the Republic of Ireland has never been better. Due to the great improvements the peace process in Northern Ireland has gained, crossing the border into Northern Ireland is now nothing more noticeable than a change in signposts and road markings. The M1 connects Dublin to Dundalk and almost to the border with Northern Ireland. The M1 is 83km long and has one toll over the bridge of peace in Drogheda (€1.70 for a car).

Car rental

 

Belfast is not as well served by car rental companies as is Ireland in General. Some Irish car rental companies offer a drop off option in Belfast while others have locations in Belfast City. If you plan to rent a car in the Republic of Ireland and drive it into Northern Ireland be aware of the additional insurance cost. Dan Dooley are the only car rental company operating in Both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland not to charge for additional cross border insurance.

• Avis Rent a Car Ltd - 69-71 Great Victoria Street
• Dan Dooley - Belfast International Airport. Offers meet and greet service at Belfast City Airport and in the Belfast Docks.
• Budget - Great Victoria Street
• Europcar - 105 Great Victoria Street
• Thrifty Car Rental Ireland - Drop off option at Belfast International

By boat

• Frequent sailings across the Irish Sea connect Belfast to mainland Great Britain. All the operators listed below offer special promotions throughout the year, and some also offer through ticketing with rail and bus services at each end.
  • Stena Line offer two types of service from the Port of Belfast to Stranraer in Scotland, with up to six sailings a day. The HSS Stena Voyager is a high speed catamaran (the fastest ferry from Northern Ireland to mainland Great Britain) and the Stena Caledonia is a more traditional and slower ferry. Stena offer 'rail and sail' tickets with Scotrail train connections to destinations in Scotland from Stranraer: the railway station is directly adjacent to the ferry terminal in Stranraer.
  • Stena Line also offer up to three sailings a day from Larne (accessible from Belfast by train or bus) to Fleetwood, near Liverpool.
  • Norfolk Line offer daytime and nightime crossings to Birkenhead, near Liverpool. Cabins and meals are available.

Seat61.com offers informed and independent advice on how to book combined train and ferry tickets from any railway station in Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

Get around

 

The centre of Belfast is small enough to be explored by foot. Translink operate Belfast's urban bus network, called Metro (previously Citybus). Buses run along colour coded high frequency routes that radiate from the city centre from around 6am until 11pm. All major bus routes start or pass through Donegall Square, and a Metro information kiosk is located on the north-western side of the square. Tourist passes are available from here, or for the more frequent traveller, you can purchase and pre-load a Smartlink card with credit for bus trips.

On Friday and Saturday night, Metro Night Link buses operate limited service from Donegall Square to Antrim, Ballygowan, Ballynahinch, Downpatrick, Bangor, Carrickfergus, Comber, Lisburn, Newtownabbey, and Newtownards. These pass through most suburban areas of Belfast, however the fixed fare system means that a taxi may be better value if you're only travelling within Belfast.

If your time is limited, the open-top 'Belfast Sightseeing' bus tours are recommended, costing about £10 per person for a 2 hour journey. You will be shown the sights in the city centre and suburbs including famous murals painted on the ends of terraced houses during 'The Troubles' in the Falls Road area, the Harland and Wolff shipyards where the Titanic was built and Queens University. The guides are friendly, well informed and interesting, although many locals still remark that is unusual to see bright red open top tour buses passing through once troubled neighbourhoods. You may prefer a less obvious exploration of the city.

Belfast is now famous for its Black Taxi tours of the city, which are highly recommended, and can be arranged by most hostels, hotels and at the tourist office (47 Donegall Place, above the Boots pharmacy, just north of the City Hall). These tours are given by regular taxi drivers who have worked through the troubled years, and have a wealth of knowledge and very personal experiences, which they are glad to share during a tour that can last up to two hours.

Also of interest are the shared taxi routes of North and West Belfast. These run along set routes and cost around £1, no matter how long the journey. Their origins date from the darkest days of the toubles, when city bus services were frequently disrupted by violence and attacks. There are fixed locations in the City Centre where these begin their routes, and will generally queue until filled with 4 or 5 people. Note that minicabs (regular saloon cars with taxi licence plates and illuminated roof signs) generally do not operate as black taxis.