Other Tours Available
Each walking tour is available upon request, at competitive rates, for a group of between 4 and 20 guests.
A guided, three-hour minibus tour can be arranged, in partnership with the Oh Yeah Music Centre, for the 'Belfast Bus Music Tour'.
Private, guided taxi or minibus tours are also available for:
'Belfast Creatives: Artists, Writers, Musicians’ or
'The Belfast Punk Music Tour’.
The above two private, guided, taxi or minibus tours, can be arranged for 2-14 people, lasting between 2 and 4 hours - your call.
We can arrange to collect you from your accommodation in Belfast City Centre.
Email or ring Dolores to enquire
CreativeToursBelfast@gmail.com
Cathedral Quarter Arts Trail
The Cathedral Quarter of Belfast is now very much the city’s cultural quarter. It is also the heart of old Belfast the town.
Take this tour for a thorough and fun exploration of its narrow entries, cross open squares, view historic and landmark buildings, to discover public sculptures and street art, learn about many of the city’s famous writers and hear about our wealth of current music.
Starting on Waring Street, opposite The Merchant Hotel, this two-hour tour will take in the Oh Yeah Music Centre, The MAC, Writer’s Square, Exchange Place, the ‘Four Corners’ and more, before ending in Joy’s Entry.
Spinning Yarns, Exploring Belfast's Linen Quarter
A guided walk of a vibrant Belfast district, combining heritage, entertainment, history, culture and craic!
From the heart of the linen industry in the 1800s - when Belfast was nicknamed Linenopolis - to a vibrant and distinct quarter in Belfast city centre today, this fun and informative walking tour links past and present, helping you see what’s on the streets in a new light and just how much there is to do and enjoy in this unique district.
Along the way, your experienced Belfast tour guide will share many entertaining ‘yarns’ - stories of people and events across 250 years that relate to what you are seeing. For example:
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Where the largest bell in the city rings out from and why it was silenced for a time!
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The venue where Italian tenor, Luciano Pavarotti, sang for his UK debut in 1963, and another where Led Zeppelin in 1971 first played live the famous song ‘Stairway to Heaven’.
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Where linen and other workers would go for their weekly baths before homes were modernised!
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How a modest record shop set up in the late ‘70s is now celebrated in a film, a musical and by colourful street art in an open-air gallery.
The leisurely route will take in buildings of impressive architecture, iconic entertainment venues, historic and quaint bars, exciting outdoor public spaces and markets, colourful street art, unique gems of shops, great places to eat and drink and much more.
You will hear how the town of Belfast grew across the 1800s and what exciting developments are now reshaping the Linen Quarter as a vibrant area for 21st century hospitality and socialising. You’ll see some of its earliest entertainment venues, including the iconic Ulster Hall and Grand Opera House, that are still integral and popular venues in today’s Linen Quarter, as well as other historic buildings including St Malachy’s Church and The Crown Bar. The stories connecting street art and public statues on Great Victoria Street and our past will be teased out, and you’ll hear what part a river under your feet played. Plus, as a vibrant UNESCO City of Music, you’ll hear about some of today’s great local musicians, as well as yarns about big name visits of the past.
This new walking tour has been developed by Creative Tours Belfast in association with the Linen Quarter BID (Business Improvement District).
Belfast’s Historic Entries, Street Art and Music
Explore the city’s oldest area, by the banks of the Lagan and Farset rivers, strolling through its narrow streets, known as ‘entries’. Belfast is one of the world’s top city destinations for colourful street art painted by both local and international artists. The modern street artwork in the entries shed light on many fascinating stories from Belfast’s past. These include the city’s liberal past in the late 1700s and how the town refused to become a slave trading port, the city’s years of conflict, and our well-known poets and writers.
This two-hour tour around the heart of old Belfast town will also include in a visit to the city’s music hub to view its NI Music Exhibition to help you see and hear why Belfast is now a designated UNESCO City of Music.
Historic Pubs, Cathedral Quarter
Take a leisurely stroll on a Sunday afternoon to find out a little about some of the historic pubs of Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter - the oldest part of the city!
Each pub you will hear about on this walking tour, from Kelly’s Cellars to the Dirty Onion, The Duke of York to White’s Tavern, and The Morning Star to McHugh’s, has fascinating tales and links to our city’s history that will be teased out. You’ll learn why several establishments claim the city’s ‘oldest pub’ title, which of them is in fact the oldest tavern – according to your Belfast Green Badge specialist guide - and what precisely the ‘oldest’ claims of some of the others relate to!
Exploring the oldest part of Belfast town before it became a city in 1888, you’ll hear about early merchants and importers, where secret societies met, the pick-up points for mail coaches, old jails, former whiskey warehouses, newspapers of long ago, and more.
The tour will start from outside Kelly’s Cellars at 2pm. The tour will end 4pm outside McHugh’s, where you may choose to stay on to enjoy a drink or coffee and perhaps an afternoon traditional music session.
The tour will cover up to 1.5 miles and will take place whatever the weather, so please come prepared. No refreshments are included as part of the tour ticket, but we will stop for a break along the way, when you may purchase a drink.
The Merchants Who Grew A City Belfast’s Industrial Heritage
Take this enjoyable walking tour around the oldest parts of Belfast central in the city’s industrial heritage, and become acquainted with key figures from the 1700s to the early 1900s who pioneered new and successful businesses that resulted in the growth and industrialisation of Belfast. For example, meet the Mulholland family behind the then largest linen business in the world. Make the acquaintance of William Ritchie and Edward Harland, two giants of the city’s shipbuilding industry.
Hear about the Dunville family behind one of the city’s biggest whiskey companies – a tale of fame, fortune, tragedy and revival. Hear how the oldest newspaper in the English language was brought to life in 1737 by Francis Joy.
Come explore our industrial heritage, see the legacy left behind by the early merchants and learn about the part played by the city’s rivers and port.
Queen’s Quarter
Focusing on the bustling area surrounding Queen’s University, in the south of the city, this tour will begin by visiting the main campus of the university, examining some of its best-known and historic buildings. We will then visit the beautiful Botanic Gardens Park, taking in its impressive Palm House and Tropical Ravine. You will see the Ulster Museum, and explore Botanic Village.
A two-hour tour starting at the front door of the University Lanyon Building.
Belfast Creatives: Artists, Writers, Musicians
Come experience the rich cultural side of Belfast in a private taxi tour!
The longer the tour you book, the more you’ll see and enjoy. Tailored to your interests, tours start from one hour, up to four hours.
On the tour you will see a range of sculptures across the city and much cool street art – and hear a little about them, as well as seeing art galleries and artist studios, including the home of the Turner Prize-winning Array Collective.
Many great writers across the centuries are associated with Belfast and you’ll visit spots connected to a range of them. Become acquainted with Jonathan Swift and how this city influenced ‘Gulliver’s Travels’; visit C S Lewis Square to encounter characters from Narnia; hear about poets, including Nobel Prize recipient Seamus Heaney and Belfast’s poet laureate Sinead Morrissey. Plus, see some of the places written about by our contemporary, successful novelists, including Man Booker Prize winner Anna Burns. And we won’t forget our theatres and playwrights.
The taxi will also take you to where a few of our best-known musicians were born, educated or first performed, including Van Morrison, Snow Patrol, Ruby Murray and Gary Moore. You’ll see recent street art pieces recognising the importance of punk to Belfast, as well as passing some of the city’s iconic music venues. Your guide will outline what’s on during your stay - after all, Belfast is a designated UNESCO City of Music!
To enquire about a private taxi tour with a specialist music and arts guide for your group of one to five people, with collection from your city centre hotel,
Please email creativetoursbelfast@gmail.com
or ring Dolores +44 (0)7305 754028
