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The North’s largest city by some distance, with a inhabitants of some 270,000 within the inner city rising to 600,000 across its wider metropolitan area, Belfast has a pace and bustle you’ll discover nowhere else in Northern Ireland. For many, however, the city will always be remembered as the main target of the Troublesthat dominated Northern Ireland’s politics for almost three decades from the late Nineteen Sixties and scarred so many lives. Certainly, because the North continues to return to terms with the aftermath of the peace process, instigated by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the city remains in some ways on a knife’s edge, always anticipating some new predicament to emerge.

In look Belfast closely resembles Liverpool, Glasgow or some other industrial port across the water, and, similarly, its largely defunct docklands– in which, famously, the Titanic was constructed – are undergoing massive redevelopment. Although the city centre is still characterized by numerous elegant Victorian buildings, there’s been an infinite transformation here, too, not least in the larger prosperity of the shopping streets leading northwards from the hub of Belfast life, Donegall Square. But economic improvement isn’t mirrored in each side of Belfast life. Some areas of the city display apparent economic decline, most notably North Belfast and the as soon as-thriving so-called Golden Mile (now little more than a silver two hundred yards at every finish). On week-nights the city centre can resemble a ghost town, though there’s little doubt that Belfast continues to thrive culturally. Theatre and the visual arts are flourishing, and there are many places to catch the city’s booming traditional-music scene.

A few days are sufficient to get a really feel for the city, though it is an effective base from which to visit virtually anyplace else in the North. In the city centre, concentrate on the glories ensuing from the Industrial Revolution – grandiose architecture and magnificent Victorian pubs – and the rejuvenated space from Ann Street to Donegall Street now known because the Cathedral quarter. To the south lies Queen’s University and the in depth collections of the Ulster Museum, set in the grounds of the Botanic Gardens. A climb up Cave Hill, a couple of miles to the north, rewards you with marvellous views of the city spread out around the curve of its natural harbour, Belfast Lough. The River Lagan flows towards Belfast Lough alongside the jap side of the city centre and gives riverside walks, and can be the focus for probably the most radical development in the previous couple of years, the Laganside, targeted on the Waterfront Corridor and the Odyssey Advanced across the water. In East Belfast, throughout the river past the nice cranes of the Harland & Wolff shipyard, lies suburbia and really little of interest apart from Stormont, the former Northern Irish parliament and residential to the trendy Assembly. The city’s as soon as-formidable security presence and fortifications at the moment are virtually invisible, however the iron blockade known as the Peace Line still bisects the Catholic and Protestant communities of West Belfast, a grim physical reminder of the city’s and country’s sectarian divisions – and there are particular flashpoints such because the Short Strand in East Belfast and North Belfast’s Ardoyne area that it is still inadvisable to visit.

Belfast has a broad range of lodging, particularly on the top end of the market. However, there’s still a relative dearth of budget places. Much of the city’s accommodation is concentrated around Nice Victoria Street and south of the centre within the university quarter, particularly on and round Botanic Avenue and within the network of streets running between the Malone and Lisburn roads. Many hotels and guesthouses are geared towards business travellers and so ceaselessly provide significant reductions for weekend breaks; most hotels provide free wi-fi.

Consuming out in Belfast could be very much a movable feast with new places popping up and others vanishing or relocating. There are plenty of options for meals through the day in the centre and on the southern end of the Golden Mile, starting from new cafés (many of which in the city centre keep open till 8.30pm on Thurs nights) to traditional pubs (which usually only serve lunch but in some cases proceed providing meals until 9pm).

Many of the city’s well-established restaurants are round Donegall Square or within the university area. Bear in mind that they’re often totally booked on Friday and Saturday evenings, so reserving a table’s essential unless you’re prepared to eat early. There’s a fair selection of cuisine, from trendy Irish and European, with French and Italian especially standard, to a smattering of Indian and East Asian restaurants. Standards are usually high and sometimes exceptionally good value for money. The selection is limited for vegetarians but many places include veggie options on their menus.

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