Castle Espie Wildfowl & Wetlands Centre
County Down
Situated 2km southeast of Comber, off the Downpatrick road (A22), Castle Espie is a haven for huge flocks of geese, ducks and swans. The landscaped…
Must-see attractions in Northern Ireland
County Down
The British monarch's official Northern Ireland residence is this rambling, late-Georgian mansion, which was built in 1797 for Wills Hill, the first…
County Fermanagh
Part of the Marble Arch Caves Global Geopark, Cuilcagh Mountain Park was established to restore and preserve the blanket bog – one of Ireland’s biggest –…
Counties Fermanagh & Tyrone
Beetling, the final stage of linen-making, involves pounding the cloth with wooden hammers, or beetles, to give it a smooth sheen. This 18th-century mill…
County Down
This scenic forest park, 3km west of Newcastle, offers lovely walks and bike rides along the River Shimna and across the Mournes' northern slopes…
Derry (Londonderry)
Just off Rossville St, this excellent museum chronicles the history of the Bogside, the Civil Rights Movement and the events of Bloody Sunday through…
County Londonderry
The broad, 2.5km beach of Portstewart Strand is a 20-minute walk south of the centre along a coastal path, or a short bus ride along Strand Rd. Parking is…
Murlough National Nature Reserve
County Down
At the Murlough National Nature Reserve, footpaths and boardwalks meander among the grassy dunes leading to a wide sandy beach with great views back…
Belfast
Stormont's dazzling white neoclassical facade is one of Belfast's most iconic, occupying a dramatic position at the end of a gently rising 1.5km avenue…
Belfast
Northern Ireland's most prestigious university was founded by Queen Victoria in 1845. In 1908 the Queen's College became the Queen's University of Belfast…
County Fermanagh
Spooky, moss-grown Caldragh Graveyard contains the intriguing Dreenan Figure. It's often called a Janus figure, but it's actually two separate figures…
Belfast
Built in 1870 for the third Marquess of Donegall, in the Scottish Baronial style made fashionable by Queen Victoria's Balmoral, multiturreted Belfast…
Belfast
Across the road from the Ulster Folk Museum, the Transport Museum has steam locomotives, rolling stock, motorcycles, trams, buses and cars. Most popular…
Belfast
Though scarred by three decades of civil unrest, the former battleground of West Belfast is one of the most compelling places to visit in Northern Ireland…
Belfast
Home to 120 species, Belfast Zoo has spacious enclosures set on an attractive, sloping site; the sea lion and penguin pool with its underwater viewing is…
Derry (Londonderry)
As you enter the city across Craigavon Bridge, the first thing you see is the Hands Across the Divide monument. This striking bronze sculpture of two men…
County Fermanagh
White Island is the most haunting of Lough Erne's monastic sites. At the eastern tip of the island are the ruins of a small 12th-century church with a…
County Fermanagh
This National Trust–owned neoclassical palace sits in 600 hectares of beautiful parkland containing a lake that's home to the UK's only nonmigratory…
Belfast
The Solidarity Wall is a collection of murals expressing Republican sympathies with, among others, the Palestinians, the Kurds and the Basques.
County Down
According to legend, St Patrick died in Saul, where angels told his followers to place his body on a cart drawn by two untamed oxen, and to bury the saint…
County Fermanagh
Enniskillen Castle, a former stronghold of the 16th-century Maguire chieftains, guards the western end of the town's central island, its twin-turreted…
Belfast
Built in imposing Hiberno-Romanesque style, St Anne's Cathedral was started in 1899 but did not reach its final form until 1981. As you enter you'll see…
County Down
This Cistercian abbey was founded in 1193 by Affreca, wife of Norman knight John de Courcy, the builder of Carrickfergus Castle, in thanks for surviving a…
Belfast
The most visible sign of the divisions that have scarred the area for so long are the so-called 'peace walls' that controversially divide Belfast's…
Belfast
Established in 1788 to 'improve the mind and excite a spirit of general inquiry', the Linen Hall Library houses some 260,000 books, more than half of…
County Down
Ulster's most famous – but rarely visited – Stone Age monument is a strangely elegant tripod dolmen (tomb chamber), that looks as if a giant's hand has…
Harland & Wolff Drawing Offices
Belfast
The designs for the Titanic were first drawn up here at the original Harland & Wolff drawing offices. Now part of the Titanic Hotel, the drawing offices,…
County Antrim
Planted by the Stuart family in the 18th century as the formal entrance to their property, these shadowy, gnarled, entwined beech trees are now among…
County Down
These supposedly curative spring waters are traditionally associated with St Patrick – it is said he scourged himself here, spending much of the night…
Belfast
In the Botanic Gardens is the unique Tropical Ravine, a huge red-brick greenhouse built in 1889. It was designed by the gardens' curator Charles McKimm to…
Counties Fermanagh & Tyrone
Meaning 'stony site' in Irish, An Creagán (20km east of Omagh) is a great starting point for exploring the ecology of the surrounding bogs and the…
County Fermanagh
This forest park lies at the western end of Lower Lough Erne, where the Cliffs of Magho – a 250m-high and 9km-long limestone escarpment – rise above a…
County Antrim
The central keep of Ireland's first and finest Norman fortress was built by John de Courcy soon after his 1177 invasion of Ulster. The massive walls of…
Counties Fermanagh & Tyrone
This 6th-century monastic site overlooking Lough Neagh is home to one of Ireland's best-preserved and most elaborately decorated Celtic stone crosses. The…
County Down
Newtownards is overlooked by Scrabo Hill, 2km southwest of town. It was once the site of extensive prehistoric earthworks, which were largely removed…
Counties Down & Armagh
Despite its name, this nature reserve is not an island but a peninsula of land on Lough Neagh's southern edge. The reserve protects a range of habitats –…
County Down
Built by Norman knight John de Courcy for the Cistercians in 1180 on an earlier Irish monastic site, Inch Abbey is visible across the river from Down…
County Antrim
Ireland's oldest independent brewing company, dating from 1981, produces superior brews including caramel-malt Twisted Hop, Buck's Head double IPA, Barney…
County Down
Downpatrick's 18th-century jail now houses the county museum. In a former cell block at the back are models of some of the prisoners once incarcerated…
Glenarm Castle & Walled Garden
Glens of Antrim
Since 1750, Glenarm has been the family seat of the McDonnell family, earls of Antrim; it's currently the home of Lord and Lady Dunluce. The castle itself…
