I’m now taking you to Northern Ireland.
And if you’re planning a trip to Ireland, let me say this clearly: Belfast deserves more than a day trip. Stay a few nights. Give it a chance to surprise you, because it will.
Belfast is part of the United Kingdom, which means the currency is British pounds and the passport lines are different from the Republic. The city itself is small, around 300,000 people, which gives it an intimacy that larger capitals just don’t have. You can actually get to know a place like this.
What struck me most was the citizenship of its people. Northern Irish residents hold both Irish and British citizenship. But their warmth? That is entirely Irish. You feel it the moment someone holds a door open and asks where you’re from.
The history here is like nowhere else I’ve visited.
We took the Black Taxi Tour, and I cannot recommend it enough. Our driver walked us through the Troubles, the decades-long conflict between Catholic and Protestant communities, with the kind of honesty and nuance you won’t find in a guidebook. We stopped at the Peace Wall, a 45-foot-tall painted barrier that still stands today. And here’s the part that stopped me cold: the gates in that wall still close every single night. Not as a tourist attraction. To keep the peace. That detail hit differently than anything I expected.
Then came my full career pinch-me moment.
My host agency, Trevello, held their gala inside the Belfast Museum, and I sat there at a beautifully set table staring at a replica of the Titanic’s grand staircase thinking, I cannot believe this is my job.
The Titanic was built right here in Belfast, and the museum honours that story with extraordinary care. The replica staterooms, the original furniture, the personal stories of those on board. And then you turn a corner and see the actual violin recovered from the wreck, and the room goes very quiet.
I’ll be honest. I teared up a little.
Belfast isn’t as polished or prosperous as Dublin, and it doesn’t pretend to be. But it is completely safe, deeply welcoming, and so layered in history that every street corner has something to say. Add in the pub scene at night and you have a city that gets under your skin in the best possible way.
If Ireland is on your radar for travel, let’s talk. I’d love to help you build a trip that includes both sides of this incredible island.
