Dublin and Belfast, Ireland's Great Cities

Dublin and Belfast are showcase cities for 'New Ireland' - a land of motorways and multiculturalism planned and developed in between double-decaf lattes and time-outs at the latest spa. With 60% of the population under 40, the memories of uncertain Ireland, north versus south, are fast receding in the face of unfettered optimism brought on by prosperous times.

Once lumped with Beirut, Baghdad and Bosnia as one the four 'B's for travellers to avoid, Belfast has pulled off a remarkable transformation from bombs-and-bullets pariah to hip hotels and hedonism. Since the cessation of the Troubles, it's newfound confidence and optimism is something to behold.

Belfast successfully pulls off a high-wire act of balancing the old with the new. Visitors can sup a Guinness or three in a traditional Victorian pub, or seek a trendier tipple at one of it's many new designer bars, such as the extravagant Café Vaudeville.

You can learn more about Belfast's troubled past with a visit to the powerful political murals of West Belfast. Belfast's tradition of political murals dates from 1908, when images of King Billy (William III, Protestant victor over the Catholic James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690) were painted by unionists protesting against home rule for Ireland. The tradition was revived in the late 1970s as the Troubles wore on, with murals used to mark out sectarian territory, make political points, commemorate historical events and glorify terrorist groups. Many visit the murals as part of a Black Taxi tour, which comes with an eye-witness commentary.

Moving south, in the Republic of Ireland, Dublin is a city bursting with confidence, which is hardly surprising considering that the last two decades have seen it transformed from a delightful backwater struggling to get by, into a swinging metropolis with no limit to its ambitions. Heritage and hedonism live side by side in Dublin, reflected in the elegance of its Georgian architecture and the garrulous sociability of its citizens. Take a Temple Bar pub crawl, view the Book of Kells at Trinity College, go for a stroll in St Stephen's Green, or take in the view from the Gravity Bar in the Guinness Storehouse ��� the sights are world class.

Dublin and Belfast, everything that's grand about modern Ireland.