Travel Guide to Belfast: Northern Ireland's Capital City Has Become One of the Top Spots in Europe

Almost unthinkable in the last thirty years, the city of Belfast / Beal Fierste is now moving away from bombs and balaclavas, and currently enjoying a vibrant and metropolitan-style renaissance.

Resting on the river Lagan and at the mouth of Belfast Lough (which is where the name Belfast comes from – literally “at the mouth of the river”), the city has already had past triumphs, once being one of the major cities in Europe and known as “the Athens of the North” due to the trade associated with the docks.

In fact, the docks are a good metaphor for today’s Belfast, as that area has been hugely regenerated in the last few post-Peace Agreement years, with the addition of the Waterfront Hall arts venue (www.waterfront.co.uk / 02890 334455), and the Odyssey Arena (www.odysseyarena.com / 02890 739074), home of the Belfast Giants.

Fairytale
An ice hockey team that gripped the public’s imagination from day one - perhaps because they were had no affiliations – the Belfast Giants (www.belfastgiants.com) chose the legendary Giant’s Causeway hero Finn McCool as their symbol, and it was almost a Hollywood fairytale when they won the superleague in only their second year - then the play-offs the year after!

IMAX chose to place their first Irish cinema inside the Warner Village Multiplex at the Odyssey too, and it’s gradually grown into a huge complex that has a superclub - The Refinery – a games arcade, a bowling alley and endless bars and restaurants including Soda Joe’s, a classic American 50’s diner, and the Hard Rock Café. There’s even a science museum called W5 – Who, What, Where, When, Why - and the Giant’s home also doubles as a music venue, finally putting Belfast on the tour map for all the world’s top bands and singers.