Belfast

Yes and yes. Titanic Belfast is the rare museum that earns its hype — it sits on the actual Harland & Wolff slipway where the ship was launched, the galleries walk you through Belfast's industrial era as well as the disaster, and the building itself is shaped like four ship prows. Adult tickets are £24.95 in 2026, timed-entry, and cruise mornings sell out the early slots first. Book online before you leave home; the on-site queue on a two-ship day can run 45 minutes.

Yes, comfortably. The Causeway is about 60 miles (100 km) north of Belfast — roughly 1 hour 15 minutes each way by coach, longer if you stop at the Dark Hedges and Carrickfergus Castle. Most ship-sponsored Causeway tours run 7–8 hours door-to-door and get you back with time to spare on a 5pm or later all-aboard. Independent travellers sometimes take a public bus tour (Allen's, McComb's) for around £35–40 per person — cheaper than the ship excursion but no guaranteed return-by-sailaway protection.

It's the cliché and it's also the best two hours you'll spend in Belfast. A Black Cab driver — usually a local who lived through the Troubles — drives you through the Falls Road and Shankill Road, stops at the peace walls, the political murals, and the gates that still close at night between the two communities. Expect £40–50 per hour for up to 6 people, so it's a per-cab not per-person price. Two hours is enough. Drivers are direct, sometimes funny, and not selling you a polished narrative.

Yes. Belfast in 2026 is a normal small European city for visitors — the Troubles ended formally in 1998, peace walls are tourist sites now, and the cruise-relevant areas (Titanic Quarter, Cathedral Quarter, City Hall, Causeway Coast) are unremarkable in safety terms. Petty pickpocketing exists at busy spots like Donegall Place and the City Hall area; violent crime against tourists is rare. The peace walls' interface gates do still close at night in working-class neighbourhoods, but no cruise itinerary takes you there after dark.

You need pounds, not euros — Northern Ireland is part of the UK and uses Pound Sterling (GBP). Cards work everywhere that matters, including Titanic Belfast, the City Hall café, Black Cab drivers (most accept card now), and Translink buses. Carry £20–40 in small notes for pubs, the odd cab whose reader is 'broken,' and tipping. You may receive Northern Ireland-issued banknotes (Bank of Ireland, Ulster Bank, Danske) — they're legal tender across the UK but English shops sometimes refuse them, so spend them before you leave the island.

Some, yes. The Dark Hedges (Kingsroad) is on the standard Giant's Causeway day-trip route — most coach tours stop for 15 minutes. Cushendun Caves (where Melisandre gave birth to a shadow) and Ballintoy Harbour (Iron Islands) are doable on dedicated Game of Thrones tours, around £45–60 per person from Belfast, but they replace the Causeway rather than add to it. Winterfell (Castle Ward) is south of Belfast in County Down — a different day entirely. Pick one corner of the GoT map; you can't have all of it.