See

Ulster Museum

Excellent comprehensive museum, covering natural history, archaeology, history including the Irish conflicts, textile and fashions, and a large collection of art. The original neoclassical building was extended in the 1970s in a modern Brutalist style. It's part of the National Museums of Northern Ireland, who also run the Transport and Folk museums at Holywood, and the Ulster American Park at Omagh.

Address: Stranmillis Road BT9 5AB
Getting there: in the Botanic Gardens
Hours: Tue-Sun 10AM-5PM
Price: Free
Website: ulstermuseum.org (opens in a new tab)

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Listing from Wikivoyage: Belfast, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Updated 28 Sept 2026. Something wrong? Tell us.

Close by

See
Botanic Gardens
Established in 1828 and becoming a public park from 1895, this is an extensive leafy green space, popular with office workers and students from nearby QUB. The Palm House, completed in 1840, is an elegant cast-iron glasshouse by Lanyon and Turner (who went on to build similar glasshouses at Kew, London and Glasnevin, Dublin) with a cool and a tropical section. Near it is the Tropical Ravine House, where visitors walk around a raised balcony observing tropical flora and fauna. There are also extensive lawns, a herbaceous border as long as the Zambezi, a rose garden and woodlands. Presiding over the main entrance is a statue of Lord Kelvin.
Daily 07:30-duskFree
See
Queen's University
August red-brick Victorian building in Tudor style modelled on Magdalen College Oxford, with extensive grounds. On University Square note the fine Union Theological College: the Northern Ireland Parliament spent its early years here until Stormont was ready in 1932.
Welcome Centre Mon-Fri 8:30AM-4PM
Do
Queens Film Theatre
Belfast's art house and repertory cinema, and the main venue for the Belfast Film Festival.
Eat
Scalini
Excellent pizzeria and trattoria near QUB, they make sure you realise they're Italian.
Tue-Thu 5-10PM, Fri-Sun 4-10PM