18-05-2025
Belfast is perfect quick city break – here's the best way to spend 48 hours there
You can get there in less than an hour on a £30 flight with Aer Lingus
IRISH AYES Belfast is perfect quick city break – here's the best way to spend 48 hours there
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NOW I perhaps know why it's called BelFAST.
If you're after a weekend of good fun, good food and good craic look no further. This place has the lot.
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Belfast city centre is surprisingly walkable
Credit: Getty
And the best thing about it is you can pack in as much or as little as you like.
My wife Lynsey and I are not ones for going somewhere and spending hours sitting around, we like to get out and about.
Given we arrived at Friday lunchtime and left early on Sunday afternoon we had just over 48 hours to do everything we wanted to.
I was keen to experience some culture and to learn a little more about both the Titanic and the Troubles, both huge parts of the city's history.
But I also wanted a Guinness, a Belfast Bap and maybe a cocktail, a whiskey - or both! So happily Belfast ticked all the boxes.
For starters it takes no time to get Emerald Airlines flight touched down less than 45 minutes after it left Edinburgh.
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The Clayton Hotel is an ideal base for seeing the best of what Belfast has to offer.
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The rooms are spacious and a world away from the hustle and bustle outside.
With only hand luggage we were straight out of George Best City airport and into a taxi.
And just 10 minutes later we found ourselves in the heart of the action.
The excellent Clayton Hotel, where we based ourselves, is a five minute walk from City Hall.
From our vast seventh floor room, across from the BBC Northern Ireland, you could see the bustling centre.
Belfast Airport £100million upgrade
And it's no exaggeration to say that almost everything from there was within touching distance.
Our longest walk of the entire trip was to the Titanic exhibition - and that was still just 15 minutes or so.
It's been open since 2012 and has had thousands of visitors but I hadn't been and wanted to see what the fuss was about.
I wasn't disappointed. It's state of the art and it's stunning.
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Robert and Lynsey at the Titanic exhibition which brilliantly tells the tragic story of the doomed ship.
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RMS Titanic
Credit: Alamy
We spent a couple of hours wandering through the different sections detailing how the ship was put one stage there was even a cable car ride which took us through the early building process.
And then, as the exhibition went on, you learn more about its fateful first journey in April 1912.
I won't lie, much of what I thought I knew about its story came from watching the Leonardo Di Caprio movie.
This, though, sets the record straight in a modern, matter of fact way.
The more you see the more tragic the story becomes. One case containing one of the actual lifejackets used on the voyage stopped us in our tracks.
There's also a harrowing image of the wreckage of the huge ship in its final resting place at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
And it got to the stage where we actually bristled at the opportunity of a 'Jack and Rose' style pic on the way out.
We walked away feeling sombre and perhaps in need of a little pick-me-up.
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Sensorium at the Spirit Circle. Half science lab/half gin heaven!
And fortunately Sensorium at the Spirit Circle, a short walk back into the centre, gave us one.
It describes itself as Belfast's most unique cocktail experience and it's easy to see why.
Host Paul takes you through a series of sensory experiments to see what you like.
It's more science lab than bar to begin with as they explain we all have 32 senses, not five as previously thought.
You try and detect flavours by placing droplets on your tongue, and there's even some scratch'n'sniff.
And it's utterly fascinating to learn how many tastes and smells you know, and how many more you don't.
Then, based on your results, their mixologists make you two bespoke drinks.
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Robert trying out his bespoke cocktail at Sensorium.
The first, your Emotional cocktail, is developed on smell alone.
Mine was made up of mezcal, ginger of the indies, sugar syrup and lemon juice and was divine.
But my Sensory cocktail, the drink my subconscious supposedly selected for me, was even better.
This included Kadoo spiced rum, coconut sugar syrup and some mandarin and bergamot. I'll be honest, I could have had more than one!
But it was time for dinner. Italian rooftop restaurant Tetto was less than 100 yards away where the sourdough pizzas were a treat.
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The superb rooftop restaurant at Tetto.
And among the host of brilliant pubs in the area I got my Guinness in The Spaniard, all I'll say is if you ever go you need to check out the decor in the upstairs bar.
The following morning our Value Cabs driver Gerry picked us up for a taxi tour of the city.
Our 90-minute journey focused mainly on the Troubles, visiting the Falls and Shankill Roads.
Why a taxi? It gets to places a tourist bus simply can't. You get off the beaten track and see murals, you can visit memorial gardens celebrating and playing tribute to both sides involved in the conflict.
And it's jarring to learn that, a few decades on, there are still gates in place that close each night to keep those sides apart.
Our tour ended outside the famous Crumlin Road jail in the area which, conveniently, was also our next stop.
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McConnell's Distillery is situated INSIDE the former Crumlin Road jail.
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The McConnell's brand, formerly the biggest in Ireland, is making a comeback.
For 150 years McConnell's was the biggest name in Irish whiskey before two huge fires and then Prohibition took its toll.
The name disappeared completely until the Belfast Distillery Company brought it back, determined to restore the brand to its former glory.
Their all-new distillery, which opened for business just last year, is housed INSIDE the notorious jail's A wing and it's a remarkable place to visit.
As our guide Connor took us on the tour you can still see the prison cell doors, which the architects have kept in place as part of the listed building's £12million revamp.
And as well as seeing how the whiskey is made you get to sample both the 5-year-old and the Sherry Cask, each worthy of McConnell's famous name.
Once again we were back in the centre within 10 minutes with Cafe Parisien our choice for dinner.
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Cafe Parisien is right across from City Hall.
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Belfast's magnificent City Hall is right at the heart of the action.
It has great views of City Hall and the sirloin steak and chicken supreme were just as good.
We ended the night back in the Cathedral Quarter at the iconic Duke of York, used for several scenes in Line of Duty (there are brass nameplates for AC 12 and Steve Arnott).
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The bustling Cathedral Quarter is packed with great bars.
And the following morning I got my Belfast Bap, essentially a full breakfast sandwich, at St George's Market, a short walk from our hotel, before heading back to the airport.
We left having packed a LOT into a little time, but at no point feeling rushed because everything was so close.
That's all you can ask for from a quick city break. It turns out it's called Belfast for a very good reason.
