Eight of these thirteen are in Belfast, which makes a good part of the list walkable or a short bus ride. Titanic Belfast stands on the actual slipway where the ship was built and launched, and the SS Nomadic, the last White Star Line vessel afloat, sits in Hamilton Dock on the same ticket. HMS Caroline, the last survivor of the 1916 Battle of Jutland, is moored nearby at Alexandra Dock. Away from the water, the Ulster Museum holds Takabuti and the Girona gold, free to enter and closed on Mondays, while the Linen Hall Library has been going since 1788 and keeps the definitive archive of the Troubles.
Two entries are the same hill. Cave Hill rises straight off the city, with three waymarked trails and Belfast Castle at the bottom, and McArt’s Fort is the Iron Age rath on its summit, the point the view comes from. On the Falls Road, Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich fills a former Presbyterian church with a gallery, a bookshop and free traditional music on Saturday lunchtimes.
The rest want a car. Bushmills, licensed since 1608, is a few minutes from the Giant’s Causeway and folds into a north coast day; Cushendun, a National Trust village of Cornish-style cottages with red-sandstone sea caves, is further round the same coast. Lisburn’s Irish Linen Centre and the Whitehead Railway Museum are shorter runs out of the city, though Whitehead’s steam trains only turn out on summer Saturdays. Ballycastle Museum is shut for restoration until 2028.
Built on the slipway where the ship was launched, with nine galleries running from the shipyard to 1912 and the SS Nomadic included.
Licensed to distil since 1608, the tour takes in mash tuns, copper pot stills and warehouses before a tasting, minutes from the Causeway.
Three waymarked trails up the basalt scarp on the Belfast skyline, free to walk, with Belfast Castle and its café at the foot.
A National Trust village of whitewashed Cornish-style cottages at the mouth of the River Dun, with sea caves that played the Stormlands.
The last ship afloat from the 1916 Battle of Jutland, seen in a 45-minute tour of crew quarters, engine room and Drill Hall.
13 of 13 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Belfast, antrim
Titanic Belfast stands on the actual slipway where the ship was built and launched, in a building 38 metres tall – the height of Titanic's hull. Nine galleries trace her story from the Belfast shipyard to the 1912 sinking, and one timed ticket includes the SS Nomadic, the last surviving White Star Line vessel.
Bushmills, antrim
Old Bushmills has held a licence to distil since 1608, making it the world's oldest licensed whiskey distillery. Tours walk you through the mash tuns, the copper pot stills where the spirit is triple-distilled, and the warehouses, finishing with a tasting. It sits on the River Bush a few minutes from the Giant's Causeway, so it pairs naturally with a Causeway Coast day.
Belfast, antrim
The basalt hill on the Belfast skyline, its profile capped by Napoleon's Nose and the Iron Age promontory fort of McArt's Fort, where Wolfe Tone met the United Irishmen in 1795. Three waymarked trails, Belfast Castle and its café below, and free entry, minutes from the city centre.
antrim
At the mouth of the River Dun, Cushendun is a National Trust conservation village of whitewashed, Cornish-style cottages designed by Clough Williams-Ellis. Its red-sandstone sea caves played the Stormlands in Game of Thrones, and the woods around Glenmona are among the best red-squirrel spots in Northern Ireland.
Belfast, antrim
HMS Caroline is the last surviving ship from the 1916 Battle of Jutland, moored at Alexandra Dock in Belfast's Titanic Quarter as a floating museum. A 45-minute guided tour takes you through the restored crew quarters, the original engine room and a Drill Hall where a projection recreates the battle. She was the second-oldest ship in Royal Navy service when decommissioned in 2011.
Lisburn, antrim
Housed in a 17th-century market house on Lisburn’s Market Square, this free museum brings the flax-to-fabric process to life with live spinning and hand-loom weaving. The collection runs from linen damask woven for Queen Victoria to a Sybil Connolly gown worn by Jackie Kennedy, and the same building doubles as the town’s local-history museum.
Belfast, antrim
The Linen Hall is Belfast’s oldest library, founded in 1788 and still a subscribing library funded by its members rather than the state. Its Northern Ireland Political Collection – around 250,000 items – is the definitive archive of the Troubles, and it also holds a collection of books by and about CS Lewis. Free to enter, with a £3 suggested donation.
Hamilton Dock, antrim
The SS Nomadic is the last surviving White Star Line ship. Launched in 1911 as a tender to the Olympic and Titanic, the 70-metre steamer now sits restored in Belfast's Hamilton Dock as a museum ship, with admission bundled into the Titanic Experience ticket next door.
belfast, antrim
The Ulster Museum holds the only dinosaur bones ever found in Ireland, the Egyptian mummy Takabuti, and the gold recovered from the Armada wreck Girona off the Antrim coast. Entry is free, it’s closed Mondays, and the collections run from Neolithic axe heads to Francis Bacon.
Whitehead, antrim
The Whitehead Railway Museum fills the old 1907 Excursion Station, working base of the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland since 1966. Five galleries and a live restoration shed let you get up close to century-old locomotives, climb onto a footplate and watch volunteers rebuild carriages by hand. On summer Saturdays a short steam train runs on demand along the yard.
Ballycastle, antrim
216 Falls Road, antrim
Belfast, antrim
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