6 Best Sights in Northern Ireland

Devoted to the province's social history, the excellent Ulster Folk and Transport Museum vividly brings the past to life and is a 20-minute drive east of Belfast. The museum first invites you to visit Ballycultra—a typical Ulster town of the early 1900s—which comes alive thanks to costumed guides who practice such regional skills as lace making, sampler making, spinning, weaving, wood turning, forgework, printing, open-hearth cooking, carpentry, basket making, and needlework. The setting is evocative: a score of reconstructed buildings moved here from around the region, including a traditional weaver's dwelling, terraces of Victorian town houses, an 18th-century country church, a village flax mill, a farmhouse, and a rural school. The museum also houses special collections and archives of interest to researchers on topics such as folklife, Ulster dialect, an oral history of linen, and radio and television archives of BBC Northern Ireland. Across the main road (by footbridge) is the beautifully designed Transport Museum, where exhibits include locally built airplanes and motorcycles, as well as the iconoclastic car produced by former General Motors whiz kid John DeLorean in his Belfast factory in 1982. The Transport Museum also houses the TITANICa exhibition, which tells the story of the liner's construction in Belfast and what life was like on board. The museum is on the 70 acres of Cultra Manor, encircled by a larger park and recreation area.

Next door to the Botanic Gardens, the rejuvenated Ulster Museum is a big hit with visitors for its spacious light-filled atrium and polished steel. The museum's forte is the history and prehistory of Ireland, using exhibitions to colorfully trace the rise of Belfast's crafts, trade, and industry. In addition, the museum has a large natural history section, with a famed skeleton of the extinct Irish giant deer and a trove of jewelry and gold ornaments recovered from the Spanish Armada vessel Girona, which sank off the Antrim Coast in 1588. Take time to seek out the Girona's stunning gold salamander studded with rubies and still dazzling after 400 years in the Atlantic. The museum includes a first-rate collection of 19th- and 20th-century art from Europe, Britain, and America. The Modern History gallery tells the story of Ulster from 1500 to 1968 and shows a remarkable range of objects from the history collection, many on display for the first time. A permanent exhibition installed in 2018 presents a somber look at the history of the civil and political conflict in Northern Ireland. "The Troubles and Beyond" recounts in a graphic way the story of three decades of communal violence covering the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s. Through a wide variety of images, including reproduction of wall murals, maps, photographs, and propaganda ephemera, as well as videos, listening posts, and screens, the harrowing story of the conflict, which claimed more than 3,000 lives, is told in an engaging way. Look out for two poignant wall exhibits: the Peace Quilt, a red fabric with white birds representing the dove of peace and a teddy bear as a reminder of the children who suffered the loss of loved ones; and a powerful oil painting by the artist Jack Pakenham, Peace Talks, completed in 1992 as Northern Ireland moved slowly towards a resolution of the Troubles. In 2020, the museum received six etchings by the Dutch master Rembrandt which were gifted as a major acquisition by the Arts Council of England. The delicate etchings, which are on permanent display, date from 1630 to the 1650s. They include Dutch landscapes such as Six's Bridge which Rembrandt made in 1645 while visiting the country estate of Jan Six, a wealthy Amsterdam merchant who was his friend and patron.

The art, history, and nature discovery zones are packed with hands-on activities for children. Kids enjoy the Peter the Polar Bear exhibit and the famed Egyptian mummy, Takabuti.

Sunday morning is the quietest time to visit, but go early before the crowds. Afterward, lay out a picnic in the Belfast Botanical Gardens next door.

The museum tells the tale of the seventh U.S. president, whose parents emigrated from here in 1765. The roof of this thatched cottage was reinforced in 2019 with the addition of underfloor heating and its facade was restored. It is just outside town and is a reconstruction of an 18th-century structure thought to resemble their home. Interpretive panels, illustrating Jackson's story as well as Ulster–Scots history, have been added. The cottage is open year-round, but access from Monday to Wednesday is by arrangement through Carrickfergus tourist office.

The interactive exhibits here bring the ancient myths and stories of early Christian Ireland to life. You can explore how St. Patrick's legacy developed in early Christian times, examine the art and metalwork that were produced during this golden age, and listen to modern debates about Ireland's patron saint. Interpretative boards outline local sites connected with the saint. Self-guided tours of sites linked with St. Patrick last about 70 minutes and take you across a bridge over the River of Words. If time is short, you can opt to watch the IMAX cinema presentation, a 20-minute, 180-degree audiovisual flight that whizzes you around relevant Irish sites—a highlight of the entire exhibition. The center includes a café, gift store, an art gallery, terraced gardens, and a well-stocked tourist information office.

Imposing in its Scottish Baronial fortified grandeur, this is a meeting place for the exclusively Protestant organization set up in 1714 to honor 13 Apprentice Boys who slammed the city gate in the face of the Catholic King James in 1688, sparking the Siege of Derry. The Memorial Hall has been renovated, and next door to it stands a £2 million center that tells the fascinating story of the 105-day siege and chronicles the history of the Apprentice Boys. A look-alike sandstone scale model of Walker's Pillar—blown up by the IRA in 1973—has been re-created. During excavation work in 2014, before the new museum was built, archaeologists unearthed Derry's oldest building, believed to date to at least 1602. The brick-and-wood structure perished during the O'Doherty Rebellion of 1608—predating the historic city walls by several years. Excited archaeologists also uncovered musket balls, a cannonball, pottery shards, clay pipes, and even some intact centuries-old wine bottles—although their drinking maturity has yet to be established. Combined guided tours of the museum, Memorial Hall, and city walls with access to the Royal Bastion and Plinth of Walker's Pillar cost £7 and last two hours.

The history of Derry is chronicled in this tall, medieval, and magical granite tower that houses the Tower Museum. The original building was constructed in 1615 by the O'Dohertys for their overlords, the O'Donnells, in lieu of tax payments. The museum has excellent information celebrating the life and legacy of St. Columba, with a Discovery Zone on the first floor. The vivid Story of Derry, which includes a 15-minute film, covers the city's history, from its origins as a monastic settlement in an oak grove up to the Troubles, which began in 1969 after years of institutionalized discrimination in jobs and public housing. There's also an exhibition—spread over four floors—on the Spanish Armada, thanks to the fact that its fourth-largest ship, La Trinidad Valencera, foundered in Kinnagoe Bay, in County Donegal, in 1588.

If you have already been on an official guided walking tour of the city walls, then you are eligible for a reduced admission fee of £1 to visit museum.