Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [531]
Europcar (www.europcar.co.uk) George Best Belfast City Airport ( 9073 9400); Belfast International Airport ( 9442 2285)
Hertz (www.hertz.co.uk) George Best Belfast City Airport ( 9073 2451); Belfast International Airport ( 9442 2533)
The Ireland-wide agency Dooley Car Rentals ( 0800 0778 774; www.dooleycarrentals.com; Airport Rd, Belfast International Airport, Aldergrove) is reliable and offers good rates – around £130 a week for a compact car, with no extra charge for driving cross-border to the Republic. You have to pay an extra £55 up front for a full tank of petrol, but if you return the car with an almost empty tank they’re cheaper than the big names.
Taxi
For information on the black cabs that ply the Falls and Shankill Rds, see boxed text, Click here. Regular black taxis have yellow plates back and front and can be hailed on the street.
Minicabs are cheaper, but you have to order one by phone. Companies to call include Fona Cab ( 9033 3333) and Value Cabs ( 9080 9080).
Train
There are local trains every 20 or 30 minutes connecting Great Victoria St and Central Stations via City Hospital and Botanic Stations. There’s a flat fare of £1.30 for journeys between any of these stops.
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AROUND BELFAST
LISBURN & AROUND
The southwestern fringes of Belfast extend as far as Lisburn (Lios na gCearrbhach), 12km southwest of the city centre. Lisburn Tourist Information Centre ( 9266 0038; Lisburn Sq; 9.30am-5pm Mon-Sat) is on the town’s main square.
Like Belfast, Lisburn grew rich on the proceeds of the linen industry in the 18th and 19th centuries. This history is celebrated in the excellent Irish Linen Centre & Lisburn Museum ( 9266 3377; Market Sq; admission free; 9.30am-5pm Mon-Sat), housed in the fine 17th-century Market House.
The museum on the ground floor has displays on the cultural and historic heritage of the region, while upstairs the award-winning ‘Flax to Fabric’ exhibition details the fascinating history of the linen industry in Northern Ireland – on the eve of WWI Ulster was the largest linen-producing region in the world, employing some 75,000 people.
There are plenty of audiovisual and hands-on exhibits – you can watch weavers working on Jacquard looms and even try your hand at spinning flax.
Buses 523, 530 and 532 from Belfast’s Upper Queen St go to Lisburn (£2.60, 40 minutes, half-hourly Monday to Friday, hourly Saturday and Sunday), or catch the train (£3.50, 30 minutes, at least half-hourly Monday to Saturday, hourly Sunday) from either Belfast Central or Great Victoria St Stations.
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ULSTER FOLK & TRANSPORT MUSEUMS
Two of Northern Ireland’s finest museums (Map; 9042 8428; www.uftm.org.uk; Cultra, Holywood; per museum adult/child £5.40/3.40, combined ticket £6.80/3.90; 10am-6pm Mon-Sat, 11am-6pm Sun Jul-Sep, 10am-4pm Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm Sat, 11am-5pm Sun Oct-Feb, 10am-5pm Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm Sat, 11am-6pm Sun Mar-Jun) lie close to each other on either side of the A2.
On the south side is the Folk Museum, where farmhouses, forges, churches and mills, and a complete village have been reconstructed, with human and animal extras combining to give a strong impression of Irish life over the past few hundred years. From industrial times, there are red-brick terraces from 19th-century Belfast and Dromore. In summer, thatching and ploughing are demonstrated and there are characters dressed in period costume.
On the other side of the road is the Transport Museum, a sort of automotive zoo with displays of captive steam locomotives, rolling stock, motorcycles, trams, buses and cars.
The highlight of the car collection is the stainless steel–clad prototype of the ill-fated DeLorean DMC, made in Belfast in 1981. The car was a commercial disaster but achieved fame in the Back to the Future films.
Most popular is the RMS Titanic display (www.titanicinbelfast.com), which includes the original design drawings for the Olympic and the Titanic, photographs of the ship’s construction and reports of its sinking. Most poignant are the items of pre-sailing