BELFAST · NORTHERN IRELAND
Shipyard cranes, basalt columns, the road to Westeros.
Causeway day trips, Titanic Quarter, Black Taxi tours and the Game of Thrones filming locations you came for. Belfast, the Antrim Coast and the corners of Northern Ireland in between.
Only in Northern Ireland
Three things you can’t do anywhere else.
Coach tours, walking tours and museum visits exist in every city. These three don’t. The conflict told from inside the taxi, the slipway where the world’s most famous ship was launched, the road that became Westeros. Plan the rest of the visit around them.
On the walls
The Troubles, first hand
Belfast Black Taxis are driven by people who grew up on the Falls or the Shankill, often on opposite sides. Two hours, the murals, the peace gates, the bonfire grounds. You can read about the Troubles anywhere; you can only hear them told this way from inside one of these cabs.
- 1 Cab Tours Belfast Famous Black Taxi Tours
- 2 Private Black Taxi Belfast City Tour
- 3 Belfast’s Political Mural Taxi Tour
On the slipway
Where Titanic was built
Belfast is the only city where you can walk the actual slipway Titanic launched from in 1911. Harland & Wolff's drawing offices, the Pump House, the dry dock RMS Olympic was fitted out in — all still here. Titanic Belfast itself sits on the bow position of the ship’s berth.
- 1 Titanic Belfast Entrance Ticket: Titanic Visitor Experience Including SS Nomadic
- 2 Giant’s Causeway and more including Titanic Experience Ticket Tour from Belfast
- 3 Giant’s Causeway and Titanic Experience from Belfast Port
Beyond the city
Westeros, in real life
Northern Ireland was the main filming home of Game of Thrones for a decade. The Dark Hedges (the Kingsroad), Cushendun Caves (shadow baby), Ballintoy Harbour (Iron Islands), Castle Ward (Winterfell exteriors). Most locations are within an hour of Belfast and you can knock several off in a day.
- 1 Game of Thrones and Giant’s Causeway Full-Day Tour from Belfast
- 2 From Belfast: Game of Thrones, Iron Islands & Giant’s Causeway
- 3 From Belfast: Game of Thrones Winterfell Locations Trek
The day every visitor books
If you only do one trip out of Belfast.
It’s nearly always the same trip. Up the Causeway Coast, basalt columns at midday, the Bushmills road on the way back. Start here.
The classics
Belfast’s Most Popular Tours
Giant’s Causeway days, Titanic Belfast, Black Taxi rides and the Game of Thrones location loops. The tours every visitor lands on.
By place
Pick a corner of Belfast & the coast.
The Titanic Quarter for the shipyard story. The Giant’s Causeway for the basalt columns. The Antrim Coast for cliff drives. Carrick-a-Rede for the rope bridge. The Murals for the politics still on the walls.
By tour type
Or pick how you want to spend the day.
Black Taxi if you came for the history. Causeway coach if you came for the cliffs. Walking tour if you came to taste the city. Game of Thrones location loops for the Westeros obsessives. Two-hour quick visits if you’re just off the cruise ship.
The coast trip
The Causeway days.
The Antrim coast in one go — Carrick-a-Rede in the morning, the basalt columns by noon, the Bushmills road on the way back. Three tours we’d book first if the Causeway is the reason you came north.
Around the city
Black Taxi tours, by people who lived through it.
Two hours, mostly conversation. The murals on the Falls and the Shankill, the peace walls between them, the bonfire grounds. Our three favourites for getting the Troubles told by the people who were standing there at the time.
Beyond Belfast
Westeros, mapped.
The Iron Islands at Ballintoy, the Kingsroad at the Dark Hedges, Pyke up at Lordsport, Winterfell at Castle Ward. Three filming-location days we’d pick for the Game of Thrones obsessive who’s already done the Studio Tour.
Plan it yourself
Build a Causeway Coast day.
The three stops every full-day Antrim trip is built around. Most coach tours hit them in the order below; if you’re driving you can reverse it to beat the crowds at the Causeway car park.
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1
Morning · 9:00am
Carrick-a-Rede
The 20-metre rope bridge to the fishermen’s island. Sea cliffs to the west, Rathlin on the horizon, basking sharks below if you’re lucky.
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2
Midday · 12:00pm
Giant’s Causeway
40,000 hexagonal basalt columns dropping into the Atlantic. Time it for low tide and walk out to the Organ. The Visitor Centre, the cliff trail and a stop at the Bushmills Inn.
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3
Afternoon · 3:00pm
The Dark Hedges
The avenue of beech trees planted in the 1700s and famous since season two of Game of Thrones. Worth the detour back through Stranocum and Ballymoney before the run home.
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