Belfast

Northern Ireland travel report 2018

I got invited to Northern Ireland by tourism Northern Ireland for a 4 day trip. And it all started with my flying from Stockholm to Dublin and going by taxi to Belfast, or that was the plan. But on the way to airport in Stockholm I got info that my plane was canceled but no more info on why. I got booked on a 5 hours later plane to Copenhagen and then on to Dublin. But luckily I meet up with Charlotte from Readyfortakeoff that was going on the same press trip and on the same plane. But she had been rebooked on an earlier flight and with some luck I was able to change my tickets so I got on the earlier flight to.

So now we flew thru London and then Dublin where a taxi was waiting for us, with the delay during the day we were both pretty tired so the taxi trip went on fast.

Got to our hotel Malmaison in Belfast and had a smooth checking but we didn´t have a lot of time before it was time to meet up with Mika from Finland who also was on the press trip and head out for our dinner at Holohans at the Barge.

We had a great dinner and got a lot of time to get to know each other and after dinner we were tired but I and Mika went to The Thirsty Goat for a beer before we went back to the hotel.

The second day we went for a Back Taxi Tour around Belfast and it was one of the best things during this trip to Belfast because we got so much interesting information about Belfast and we got a great overview of Belfast so we knew what to do and where to go after the tour. I really recommend that you try it out and if you do make sure you get Billy to drive you because he was the best.

After that we went to the Titanic Museum which I can recommend if you really really like Titanic. I think I found about 20% off what was there interesting but museums are not for everyone.  After that we headed back to town and bought some snacks for tomorrow’s trip on the way back to the hotel. Then we did some exploring of the town before dinner and ended up having a beer at Bootleggers. We had a good time there and meet up with the final member of the press trip Janicke from Norway and then we were off to James Street South Bar & Grill. After a busy day in Belfast everyone was tired after dinner so we went back to the hotel because we have a early start the next day.

The third day started early with a Game of Thrones coach tour along the causeway coastal route. The tour take the whole day and you can definitely go on this even if you know nothing about Game of Thrones because of all the beautiful places you stop by. I would say if you like Game of Thrones it is an added bonus. Because you don´t only stop at places that has something to do with Game of Thrones.

We were gone for almost 11 hours before we got back to our hotel but the time flies because you make so many stops and you get enough time on each stop so it doesn’t feel like that long. Our driver was Derek and I think he did a good job before every stop to tell us what to look. And if you get him as your driver you will definitely get a lot of dad jokes on the way but it helps passing the time while driving between the spots. One tip from me regarding the whole tour is to skip going over the rope bridge that you have to pay extra for. Sure it is a rope bridge that is high up but it is not long and on the other side you can´t do much or walk far so mostly just going back again and it cost 8 GBP.

After the tour we only had 15 min at the hotel before we had our dinner reservation at Hadskis and luckily it was not far from the hotel.

The fourth day we had to right after lunch (the taxi picked us up at the hotel at 14:00). So I started of the day pretty slow walking around Belfast before my lunch reservation at OX. I had to try at least to squeeze in a restaurant with one star before going home. And I didn´t have a lot of time because the open at 12, and a sitting takes about 1,5-2 hours. But I managed and I was lucky to get an interview with Stephen Toman who is a chef and co-founder of the restaurant. After a perfect tasting menu I hurried back to the hotel to catch the taxi back to the airport in Dublin.

And on the way home I didn´t have any canceled planes only a little delay.

Below you can see all my photos from the trip:

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