Northern Ireland · United Kingdom
Where to stay in Belfast
Belfast is a city in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, home to about 345,000 people. This guide covers 2 hotels in Belfast, with about 329 rooms between them. Every one carries a published guest score, and the list below is ordered by it.
- Places to stay in this guide
- 2
- Best months
- July
- Nearest airport
- BHD4 km · George Best Belfast City Airport
- Currency
- GBPpound sterling
- Time zone
- Europe/London
- Language
- Cornish, English, Irish
About
About Belfast
Belfast is the capital, largest city and main port of Northern Ireland. It stands on the banks of the river Lagan, and is connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel.
This noble city is named for a mud bank and is built upon sludge. The lower River Lagan is tidal and receives a dozen small tributaries (nowadays culverted) which drop their silt, forming banks of sand and mud. The lowest point at which you could ford the river at low tide is where the Lagan road bridge now crosses, and in Irish this is Béal Feirste, "river-mouth of the sand-bank ford". The tributary joining at that point, the Farset, is likewise named for the mud bank, not vice versa.
Wikipedia and Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Things to do
What to see and do in Belfast
See
Belfast city centre is focused on Donegall Square and Belfast City Hall. The main thoroughfare north from the square is Donegall Place, a retail street leading to the Cathedral. The centre is bounded to the east by the River Lagan, to the south by Donegall Pass, and to the west by the convenient but ugly dual carriageway Westlink. The centre is safe enough at all hours but falls very quiet after 8PM.
- City Hall
- St Malachy's Church
- Saint Anne's Cathedral
- Northern Ireland War Memorial Museum
- Belfast Exposed
- Belfast Central Library
- The Legal Quarter
- Lagan Weir
- Queen's University
- Botanic Gardens
- Ulster Museum
- Royal Ulster Rifles Regimental Museum
Do
- Waterfront Hall
- SSE Arena
- Grand Opera House
- Lyric Theatre
- Metropolitan Arts Centre
- Queens Film Theatre
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Where to stay
The best-rated places to stay in Belfast
Ordered by guest score as each operator publishes it, weighted by the number of reviews so a handful of perfect scores does not outrank thousands of very good ones. Scores are shown on their own scale.
| # | Place to stay | Rooms | Guest score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leonardo Hotel Belfast hotel | 270 | 85/100 14,705 reviews |
| 2 | Travelodge Belfast Central hotel | 59 | 3.3/5 1,673 reviews |
Schematic: the city centre in orange, each place to stay as a dot, distance rings in kilometres.
Where to stay
More hotels in Belfast
25 hotels within 25 km of the centre, as recorded in Wikidata. Each name links to its encyclopedia article where there is one.
| Hotel | Opened | From centre |
|---|---|---|
| Europa Hotel | 1971 | 0.4 km |
| Merchant Hotel | 0.6 km | |
| Malmaison Hotel, Belfast | 1879 | 0.5 km |
| Ten Square | 2000 | 0.1 km |
| Benedicts Hotel | 0.9 km | |
| Citi North | 2.3 km | |
| Cordia Serviced Apartments | 2.2 km | |
| Dunadry Hotel and Gardens | 17.8 km | |
| Dunamoy Cottages & Spa | 22.0 km | |
| Grand Central Hotel | 1893 | 0.4 km |
| Hilton Belfast Hilton Worldwide | 1998 | 0.7 km |
| Holiday Inn Belfast City Centre | 0.6 km | |
| Keef Halla Country House | 16.2 km | |
| La Mon Hotel & Country Club | 9.0 km | |
| Maryville House Tearooms & Boutique B&B | 3.5 km | |
| OYO Avenue House OYO Rooms | 1.9 km | |
| OYO Cavehill Castle Hotel OYO Rooms | 2.1 km | |
| OYO Queens Quarter OYO Rooms | 1.2 km | |
| Peartree Hill | 8.9 km | |
| Radisson Blu Hotel Belfast | 0.7 km | |
| Ravenhill House | 2.9 km | |
| Rayanne House | 7.6 km | |
| Tara Lodge | 1.0 km | |
| The Flint | 0.3 km | |
| The Stormont Hotel | 5.9 km |
When to go
The best time to visit Belfast
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Belfast are July. July is the warmest month, with average highs of 18 °C; October is the wettest, with about 113 mm of rain.
Comfortable means average daytime high between 18 °C and 29 °C and under 80 mm of rain in the month. Averages for 1991–2020 over the surrounding area, a grid square about 50 km across, so a coast or a nearby mountain can make the town itself warmer or cooler. Data: CRU TS v4.10, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia (Open Database License).
Getting there
Getting to Belfast: airports and arrival
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is George Best Belfast City Airport (BHD), about 4.4 km from the city centre in a straight line; Belfast International Airport (BFS, 20 km) and City of Derry Airport (LDY, 93 km) are also within reach.
Getting in
Bus 600 runs every 30 min from the airport to Queens Square, Victoria Square, Wellington Place and Grand Central Station. It runs 6AM-10PM daily, taking less than 15 min, adult single fare is £2.30 in 2026. Taxis might cost £15 to most parts of the city, but check at the outset whether the fare you're quoted includes the £2.50 airport supplement, or the taxi driver may try to add it on when you arrive. Train: Sydenham railway station is just southwest of the terminal and there's a free shuttle bus. Walk to the 600 bus stop and press the buzzer to call the shuttle.
Getting around
Walk to all the central sights. The centre is within a mile or two of the Botanic Gardens, Queen's University and Titanic. Belfast buses are run by Translink, a public corporation, check their website for timetables and fare deals such as day tickets. A single adult fare within city centre is £1.80 in 2026. There are three types of buses, which run from around 6AM to 11PM, plus Friday and Saturday night buses.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
BHD · George Best Belfast City Airport
BFS · Belfast International Airport
LDY · City of Derry Airport
Local knowledge
Eating, drinking and staying safe in Belfast
Stay safe
Belfast is for the most part a safe, welcoming city. Though there's trouble beneath the surface, it's locals settling old scores, and tourists aren't involved. After dark you should avoid the "interface areas" noted earlier, and keep your wits about you around Shaftesbury Square (between QUB and Grand Central Station), Botanic Station and Strandtown. Beyond that, just follow the same obvious rules you'd follow in any other big city. Keep your nose and big mouth out of local politics (which stretch back 300 years), and expect some banter if you wear the wrong colour of football jersey. Keep well away from rowdy youths, who may attack unprovoked.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Good to know
Accessibility, parking and families in Belfast
How many places to stay in this guide offer each, in their operators' own words.
of 2 places
of 2 places
of 2 places
of 2 places
of 2 places
Questions
Belfast: questions travellers ask
What are the best-rated hotels in Belfast?
By published guest score: Leonardo Hotel Belfast (85 / 100 · 14,705 reviews · www.leonardo-hotels.com (operator's own guest score)); Travelodge Belfast Central (3.3 / 5 · 1,673 reviews · www.travelodge.co.uk (operator's own guest score)).
When is the best time to visit Belfast?
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Belfast are July. July is the warmest month, with average highs of 18 °C; October is the wettest, with about 113 mm of rain.
Which airport is closest to Belfast?
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is George Best Belfast City Airport (BHD), about 4.4 km from the city centre in a straight line; Belfast International Airport (BFS, 20 km) and City of Derry Airport (LDY, 93 km) are also within reach.
Are there accessible hotels in Belfast?
1 place in this guide list accessible rooms.
What currency is used in Belfast?
pound sterling (GBP).
Nearby
Destinations near Belfast
Sources: city facts from Wikidata and Wikipedia; airports from OurAirports; climate from CRU TS v4.10 (University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit), 1991–2020 monthly means, 0.5° grid; places to stay, guest scores and amenities from each operator's own public pages. How this guide is made.