Portadown is a working town on the River Bann, twenty-five miles south-west of Belfast. It built itself on linen, the railway and the canal, in roughly that order - and when those went, it became a market town, a commuter town and an awkward question. It is not a tourist town. Pretending otherwise would be a lie.
What you can do here is drink in one of the great Victorian pub interiors on the island, walk a 32 km canal towpath that pre-dates anything similar in Britain, and stand on a bridge over the Bann where coal barges from Tyrone changed direction in 1742. The Bramley apple orchards start at the edge of town. In May the whole of north Armagh smells of blossom.
The marching season - the weeks around the Twelfth of July - is sensitive. Drumcree church is on the edge of town. The Garvaghy Road is a real road that real people live on. If you're passing through that week, be a quiet guest. The rest of the year, the town gets on with its life, which is mostly retail, football and the school run.
Come for a Wednesday in apple-blossom week. Walk the canal an hour south. Have lunch back in town. Go and see Armagh proper before dark.
Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.
The Newry Canal opened in 1742 - twenty years before Bridgewater. It runs from the Point of Whitecoat just south of town all the way to Newry. The towpath is now a 32 km greenway.
Walks & outings → 02 Hub of the NorthPortadown was the great junction of the Great Northern Railway - Belfast one way, Derry another, Dublin a third. The locomotive shed was one of the largest outside the capitals. Trains still stop. The Enterprise to Dublin runs hourly.
Stories & lore → 03 DrumcreeFrom 1995 the standoff over the Orange Order's return route along the Garvaghy Road defined Portadown internationally for half a decade. The march has not gone down the road since 1998. Read about it before you ask about it.
Stories & lore →None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:
On the corner of West Street and Mandeville Street. The McConville family have run it since 1865 - the current interior is from a 1890s rebuild, with ten original snugs, bell-pushes for ordering, and tiled floors. One of the great pub interiors in Ireland. Don't drink anywhere else first.
Trading since 1944. Traditional bar at the front, lounge behind. Quiet weeknights, busier on the weekend.
Family-run pub at Laurelvale, a few minutes south on the Markethill road. Voted Best Casual Dining in Northern Ireland by the local food awards. They do pizza from an outdoor stove.
| Place | Type | € | Local note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maisie's | Bistro & bar | ££ | 5-7 Mandeville Street, around the corner from McConville's. Tapas-leaning menu, local produce, decent wine list. The first place locals send visitors who want a sit-down dinner. |
| Zio | Italian | ££ | Millenium Court on William Street. Mediterranean and Italian - pizza, pasta, steaks. Long-running, popular with families. Book Friday. |
| DejaVu | Street food | £ | Loaded fries, burgers, chicken - the casual end. Useful for a fast lunch before the canal walk. |
| Place | Type | Local note | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seagoe Hotel | Hotel | 22 Upper Church Lane, just off the M1. 34 rooms, a courtyard bar and restaurant, free parking. The main hotel option in town - good for a one-night stop on the way north or south. | |
The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.
Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.
There is no bad time. There are different times.
The reason to come. Apple blossom in May across the Armagh orchards - book an orchard tour and walk the canal afterwards.
The first two weeks of July are marching season. Town gets quiet on the Twelfth itself. Visit before or after.
Bramley harvest. The orchards are full and the cider festival in Armagh city pulls in the producers.
Short days, grey skies. The pubs are at their best in December. The canal towpath is a mudbath after rain.
If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.
It isn't one. Use it as a stop, not a stay. Armagh city is twenty minutes south and has more for a tourist.
Unless you understand what's going on and why, this is not the week. Streets close. Half the businesses do. The atmosphere is for locals.
Read about it on the train in. Don't make a stranger explain their politics to you - they have a job in the morning.
The town is six minutes off the motorway. McConville's alone is worth the detour. So is the canal.
M1 Junction 11. Belfast 40 minutes north-east. Dublin 90 minutes south. Armagh city 20 minutes south-west on the A3.
Translink Goldline runs hourly between Belfast and Armagh through Portadown. Local Ulsterbus links to Lurgan, Banbridge, Craigavon.
The Enterprise (Belfast Grand Central-Dublin Connolly) calls at Portadown roughly hourly Mon-Sat. Northern Ireland Railways commuter trains to Belfast every half hour at peak.
Belfast International (40 min by car) and Belfast City (35 min) are both close. Dublin Airport is around 90 minutes by car or train-and-shuttle.