What It's Like Taking a Guided Day Trip to Belfast from Dublin

If you’re planning a trip to Ireland and wondering about taking a day trip to Belfast from Dublin, you might be considering one of the guided tours. These tours bus you up to Northern Ireland for the day and handle all the logistics for you.

I’ll be honest though, before I took this tour I really wasn’t sure how I was going to like it. I am very use to setting my own itinerary and doing things at my own pace, so I wasn’t sure if I was going to feel boxed in by a set group schedule.

While there were points during my group bus tour to Belfast that I wish I could have changed (for instance, more time at Dunluce Castle), overall this felt like an efficient and easy way to see the highlights of Northern Ireland if you’re staying in Dublin.

So here’s what my experience was like taking a bus tour from Dublin to Belfast, what you can expect on your tour, and some tips to make your trip to Northern Ireland the best it can be!

The Tour I Chose

As soon as I knew I was going to be spending some time in Dublin, I knew I wanted to find a way to get up to Belfast. I’ve long been fascinated by The Troubles (if you’re interested, this is one of my favorite books that will tell you so much more about it). But since I was traveling solo and wasn’t planning on renting a car, I knew that taking a bus tour was going to be the easiest way to make it happen.

I chose this tour for a couple reasons. First, it had really excellent reviews. Second, it was one of tours that included the Belfast Black Cab (many don’t) and this was the number one priority for me.

Overall, I’m happy with my choice, although there are a couple things I wish had been different. But I’m not sure a different tour would have changed anything about that. I think the only way to get more time at some of the places I felt were rushed would be to do a trip to Belfast on my own. So that’s on the list for my next trip to Ireland!

Tourists explore the rugged terrain of the Giant’s Causeway, with scattered reddish rocks in the foreground and distinctive hexagonal basalt columns extending into the sea. The overcast sky and wet landscape emphasize the dramatic, natural volcanic formation along Northern Ireland’s Antrim coast. — Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland

My Experience + Our Itinerary

So, here’s a breakdown of our itinerary, plus my experience and thoughts on each of our stops.

Morning Meeting Place

Our tour picked up at the Starbucks on College Green in Dublin at 7:00 am. Apparently, this is a major point for tours to pick up in the morning, because there were buses all over the place in this area so early in the morning!

So be sure to check in with your tour guide and make sure you get on the right bus!

I also recommend getting here pretty early. I arrived about 15 minutes before departure time, and the bus was pretty much all the way full already!

There was also a pick up spot for the tour at the Dublin Bus Office, but at this spot only a small handful of people got on. Most people get on at the first stop at Starbucks.

Once everyone was on the bus we were off to Belfast, which was about a two hour drive.

Morning Breakfast Stop

Just as we got into Belfast we stopped at a mall called Park Centre. Since it was so early and also a Sunday, most of it was closed. However, there was one cafe that opens especially for the bus tours when the mall is otherwise closed and we were table to grab something to eat and use the restroom.

I definitely recommend getting something to eat here and picking up some snacks if you don’t bring any along with you, because it will be awhile before you have an opportunity for food again.

Even though I had brought some food with me, I got a scone here that I really enjoyed! And I’m glad I did because I went through all my other snacks later in the day.

There is also an ATM here you can use if you need to get some cash (since you are in the UK now and need pounds as opposed to the euros in Dublin). I grabbed just a bit to be able to tip my tour guide at the Black Cab tour.

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Black Cab Tour (or Titanic Belfast)

Choosing Which To Do

Photo of the striking, angular facade of Titanic Belfast, a museum dedicated to the RMS Titanic, featuring silvery geometric panels that mimic a ship’s hull. In the foreground, large rust-colored metal letters spell out “TITANIC” as visitors walk toward the entrance under an overcast sky. — Going to Titanic Belfast is one of the options on this tour.

After the quick breakfast stop your tour will split up. You have the choice to either go on a Belfast Black Cab tour or visit Titanic Belfast (the Titanic Museum).

The Black Cab tour is all about The Troubles in Belfast, and it seemed like this is what most people chose to do. However, there was a good handful that chose Titanic Belfast.

One thing to note: If you struggle with English, they recommend doing the Titanic Museum. The accents are very strong in Belfast. So if you struggle to understand less heavy accents, you might not be able to understand much on the tour.

The group that chose the Black Cab tour left in the cabs from the mall, while the group going to the Titanic Museum got back on the bus to head there.

My Black Cab Tour Experience

We broke into smaller groups to go on the Black Cab tour. We had about 5-6 people in each cab, and our cab stuck with one other cab to tour together.

Our tour guides were two men who had personal experience with The Troubles. They were both Catholic, had both been beaten by the police, and both had friends and family members who were among the innocent killed during The Troubles. And hearing their stories was very powerful.

Our first stop was the Bobby Sands mural on Falls Road, the most famous mural in Belfast.

Bobby Sands was the leader of the 1981 hunger strike to demand that IRA prisoners be treated as political prisoners and give back their Special Category Status. He actually died from his hunger strike along with several other prisoners, and their deaths led more media coverage about The Troubles as well as bolstering IRA recruitment.

Colorful political mural of Bobby Sands on a gable wall in Belfast, featuring a large portrait of him smiling, wearing a red sweater over a collared shirt. The mural includes quotes like “Everyone Republican or otherwise has their own particular role to play” and “Our revenge will be the laughter of our children,” along with text identifying him as a poet, Gaeilgeoir, revolutionary, and IRA volunteer. — Belfast’s Bobby Sands Mural

After this we went to the Peace Wall at Clonard Martyrs Memorial Garden.

I didn’t know this, but these Peace Walls still stretch the city of Belfast, dividing Catholics from Protestants. They were actually supposed to come down in 2023, but they are still up and the gates still close each night so that if you want to go to the other side of the city you have to go the long way around to get to the one gate that remains open.

At the Catholic side of the Peace Wall there is a memorial for the people in that neighborhood who were killed during The Troubles. Our guides shared several personal stories about people they knew who were listed on that memorial.

Memorial courtyard with brick walls lined with black plaques listing names, honoring individuals involved in the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Above the walls is a mural depicting portraits of those remembered, framed in green and set against a backdrop of terraced houses, with floral tributes placed throughout the space. — Clonard Memorial Gardens on the Catholic side of the Peace Wall

Then we drove around to the other side of the Peace Wall, the Protestant side. Here, most of the wall is decorated in one long mural where visitors can sign their names with a message wishing for peace. Our guides had markers and we were able to sign our names.

After that, we headed back and were dropped off at the Titanic Museum to meet up with the rest of the group.

The tour was really great and definitely impactful. However, I do think that if I had booked this tour on my own I would have gotten a slightly longer experience with more stops.

There is definitely more I’d love to see in Belfast, including Crumlin Road Gaol, which you can include when you book some of the Black Cab tours individually and not as part of this bus tour I took.

Dunluce Castle

After meeting back up and getting on the bus at Titanic Belfast, we headed to Dunluce Castle. It was about a one-hour drive from the Titanic Museum.

Dunluce Castle is a medieval castle that’s now mostly beautiful ruins. And most people want to visit it because exterior shots of it were used in Game of Thrones

It really is a gorgeous castle set right on top of the cliffs of Northern Ireland. The views here are incredible!

Pro Tip: Make sure you walk all the way to the back of the castle and over to the left side so you can see the dramatic cliffs with a beautiful arch!

Dramatic coastal cliffs at Whiterocks Beach near Portrush, Northern Ireland, featuring steep limestone formations draped in green grass. The turquoise water and sandy shoreline stretch into the distance under a soft, overcast sky and you can see a arch of limestone in the distance. — These are the views at the back of Dunluce Castle! Amazing!

My only complaint was that we only have about 20 minutes to spend here, and I definitely could have spent more time here!

In the end it worked out for us, because it started to rain. But if it had remained dry I would have loved more time to soak in these views.

Giant’s Causeway

After Dunluce Castle, we went to Giant’s Causeway, just about a 15 minute drive.

Giant’s Causeway is definitely one of the most popular things to see in Northern Ireland. It’s a geological wonder of hexagonal basalt columns created by volcanic activity.

However because we’re in Ireland, of course there is a myth to go along with it though. It’s said that the Causeway was built by the giant Finn MacCool when we was going to fight a Scottish giant. There are a couple of different versions of the story, but the end result is that Finn MacCool ends up tearing up the causeway connecting Ireland and Scotland and this is what’s left.

Because it was raining when we arrived, a new friend I made on the bus and I decided to get something to eat first. (Also, we were very hungry. It was about 1:30 when we arrived here.)

There are two options of places to eat: the Causeway Hotel Restaurant or the The Nook. We chose to eat at the Causeway Hotel Restaurant. I got the Fish & Chips and they were EXCELLENT.

After that it was still raining, but we decided to brave the elements and trek down to Giant’s Causeway.

Tourists in rain gear explore the Giant’s Causeway, walking across the iconic hexagonal basalt columns formed by ancient volcanic activity. The overcast sky and damp rocks highlight the rugged natural beauty of this UNESCO World Heritage Site on Northern Ireland’s coast. — You can walk all around Giant’s Causeway…and I imagine it’s even more crowded when it’s not raining!

From the top there are three ways you can get to Giant’s Causeway: a bus that costs 1 pound, the Blue Train that is easy and paved, or the Red Trail that goes above the cliffs and then climbs down some stairs to get there.

We decided to do the Red Trail, and while on a dry and sunny day this would be glorious, it was not so much in the rain. The stairs were basically waterfalls. And aside from when I have actually be in a swimming pool, I am not sure I have ever been so wet in my life.

But honestly the trail itself wasn’t that difficult, and we made it down to Giant’s Causeway!

It’s a pretty amazing place, and I think the pictures can speak for themselves. However, the rocks were a little slippery because of the rain, and I was starting to feel a little miserable with how wet I was. So I enjoyed the views, climbed up on the rocks a little bit, and then we decided to pay the pound to take the bus back up to the top.

Close-up view of the interlocking hexagonal basalt columns at the Giant’s Causeway, stretching out toward the grey, misty sea. The wet stones glisten under the overcast sky, emphasizing their geometric shapes and natural formation along the rugged Northern Irish coastline.

Driving Back to Dublin

The drive back to Dublin took a little over 3 hours. And let me tell you. Sitting in wet socks and shoes for that long on a bus is not the most fun experience. I really wish I had at least brough a pair of dry socks to change into. (Although they probably would have also been wet because everything in my backpack also got soaked.)

On the way back we stopped about halfway at a gas station for a bathroom break and for an opportunity to buy some convenience store snacks.

And then we played Bingo on the bus for the last half of the trip. I’m not sure that all the tour guides do this, but I did enjoy having a little something to pass the time at the end of the day when I was definitely feeling tired.

Eventually we arrived back in Dublin! Our tour info had said we would arrive back around 8:00 pm, but we got back around 7:00 pm.

Overall Review

So, what did I think of this bus tour to Northern Ireland on the whole?

First of all, I’m really glad I did it. These were places in Northern Ireland I really wanted to see, and doing the guided bus tour was an easy way for me to do it from Dublin.

The Black Cab tour was so fascinating and impactful, the Dunluce Castle and Giant’s Causeway were both beautiful.

However, at every stop I did miss being able to set my own pace a bit. I would have loved a longer version of the Black Cab tour and more time at Dunluce Castle.

So next time I go to Ireland, I’m definitely hoping to spend a couple days in Northern Ireland to spend more time seeing some of these spots (plus more!) at my own pace.

If you’re mostly staying in Dublin though and want the chance to do some of these things, I think this tour is still a great way to go!

Tips for Your Day Trip to Belfast

What to Wear

Be prepared for all kinds of weather! Definitely wear layers, bring a rain jacket and an umbrella, and wear waterproof shoes if you have them!

Weather can change quickly in Ireland, so even if the day looks sunny, it can change to rain fast.

If you don’t have waterproof shoes, I would plan to bring some dry socks and maybe even dry shoes with you.

Money

Because you are traveling from Ireland (an EU country) to Northern Ireland (a UK country) you will need sterling instead of euros. Likely you won’t need much cash, but it’s a good idea to have at least a bit with you.

Our first stop did have an ATM though, so I was able to pick up a bit of cash there.

Passports and Documentation

Lots of people wondered if they needed their passports or any other documentation to cross the border from Ireland to Northern Ireland.

The quick answer is no, you don’t need documentation to cross the border. Because of the Good Friday Agreement, there is no hard border.

However, remember that you are technically going to another country, so I think it’s a good idea to keep your passport with you. (In a plastic bag to keep it dry! Ask me how I know!) I also grabbed my ETA just in case, especially since it’s good for two years and I imagine I might be going back to the UK at some point in the next two years anway.

But we did need any of that.

Food

There are a couple of food stops on the tour, including the cafe for breakfast and Giant’s Causeway for lunch. However, it is LONG day, over 12 hours. So I definitely recommend bringing lots of snacks and water with you.

You also have a lot of time in the bus. And while your guide will spend some of that time talking about what you are seeing, you’ll also have some quiet time. So you might want to bring a book or some headphones to give yourself something to do.