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From Dublin: Belfast, Monasterboice & Birthplace of Titanic
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From €69 per person
Belfast has spent years making up for the headlines it dominated for the wrong reasons, and it’s worked - the city is now one of the most visited on the island of Ireland. This full-day tour from Dublin takes you there and back with two genuinely worthwhile stops along the way.
The first is Monasterboice, set in the quiet County Louth countryside. This early Christian settlement is home to two medieval churches thought to date to the 14th century or earlier, a 10th-century round tower that monks once climbed to escape Viking raids, and some of the finest Celtic crosses anywhere in Ireland. Muiredach’s High Cross, with its detailed biblical scenes carved in the 9th century, is considered the best of its kind in the country. Entrance to the two churches is included in your tour price.
In Belfast, you’ll have time to explore a city that’s been through a remarkable transformation. Your 100% Irish guides have strong relationships with communities on both sides of the peace walls and can give you real context for what you see - the murals, the politics, the culture of both the Ulster Irish and Ulster British communities. There’s also the option to take a black cab tour of the city centre to see the main sights and hear the stories from the people who lived them.
At Monasterboice, go straight to Muiredach’s High Cross first, before the group gathers. It stands about five metres tall and the carved biblical panels - the Last Judgement on the west face, the Crucifixion on the east - are the ones scholars travel to see. Read them bottom to top; the panels are a narrative, not a random display. The round tower is 10th century and one of the best-preserved in Ireland. The whole site takes thirty to forty minutes properly explored.
Timing at Monasterboice: the site is open year-round and free to access outside the church entrance fee included in your tour. It’s a working historic site, not a theme park - no café, no visitor centre, just the crosses and the tower in a quiet County Louth field. Wear flat shoes; the ground around the crosses is uneven.
In Belfast, the black cab tours of the Falls and Shankill Roads that the guide mentions are the most useful two hours you can spend in the city. The drivers typically grew up in these communities and give you a ground-level account of the murals and the peace wall that no guidebook can replicate. Agree the price before you get in.
If you’re extending the trip: Drogheda is the nearest town to Monasterboice - the medieval port on the Boyne where St Laurence’s Gate is the best-preserved town gate in Ireland and the preserved head of St Oliver Plunkett is in a glass case on West Street. Drogheda is also the base for the wider Boyne Valley - Newgrange and Knowth are fifteen minutes west, the Battle of the Boyne site is six kilometres up the river. The Boyne Ramparts walk traces the south bank from the centre past the 1855 railway viaduct toward Oldbridge and back.
Getting the most from Belfast free time: bring cash. The black cab tours, street food markets near City Hall, and the smaller Victoria Square cafes all prefer it. The city centre is compact and walkable - Cathedral Quarter (a ten-minute walk north-west of City Hall) has the most interesting pubs and street art.
If you want a drink in Belfast, the Crown Liquor Saloon on Great Victoria Street is the obvious starting point - a Victorian gin palace owned by the National Trust and still run as a working pub, with intact tiled snugs and gas-lit interiors. Get a snug if one’s free. Kelly’s Cellars on Bank Street goes back to 1720 and is where the United Irishmen plotted the 1798 rising; low ceiling, old whitewash, trad sessions at weekends. The Saturday food market at St George’s on May Street (Fri 8-2, Sat 9-3) is a short walk from the Titanic Quarter and far better value than the in-museum café.