What to expect
Belfast is an intriguing city with a chequered past and its attractions deserve a generous allocation of time if they are to be truly understood. For example, a cursory glance at the Peace Wall won’t do you any good unless you know about both sides of the story (Loyalists and Unionists).
Similarly, a stop at RMS Caroline is useless unless you know something about Belfast’s shipbuilding history and the deep connections between this carrier vessel and the sunken legend ‘Titanic’. Since Belfast’s attractions will require a certain level of time investment, you will frequently feel the need to ‘hop off’ from its hop on hop bus tours.
Like in most European cities (and more so in the case of Belfast) Hop on Hop Off bus tours are meant more as a way of getting your bearings around the city. You will not have to bother knowing much about public transport systems if you have a 2/3 day hop on hop off ticket. Simply use the ticket as a bus transport medium between various attractions and hop off and on whenever you want.
So if most of your sightseeing is planned in daylight hours (most hop-on-hop-off tours don’t operate after 5 p.m.) then these bus tours are a great way to say hello to the city. Unfortunately, Belfast doesn’t have a night hop on hop off bus tour.
Belfast City Tours Hop on Hop off Bus
Belfast City Tour hop on hop off buses aren’t as well known as the red double-decker City Sightseeing buses. Even this operator’s buses are cherry red coloured, though the signage clearly says ‘City Tours’. However, they are really the best option when you want to cover the maximum number of points around the city in minimum time. The City tour circuit covers 30 stops and even includes a trip to the Belfast castle that’s outside the city premises.
What are the stops?
There are 30 stops in total and you can get on/ off at any point.
The first stop is at Castle Place (the beginning of the tour). The Bus then goes to Belfast Harbour Commission-Titanic Quarter –Yardmen Statues-Freedom Corner-CS Lewis Square-Van Morrison Country-Stormont Parliament Buildings- ST Georges Market-Henry Cook Church-Front City Hall-Europa Hotel- Dublin Road-Shaftsbury Square Golden Mile- Queens Botanic Gardens and Ulster Museum- Lisburn Road-Sandy Row Murals- Grosvenor Road (Clonard monastery)-Falls Road Bobby Sands Mural-Falls Road St peters cathedral-Belfast peace wall-Shankhill Road (loyalist murals and spectrum centre)-Remembrance garden-Jail House and old Court- Clifton street cemetery-Water Works-Antrim Road and Landsdown Hotel-Belfast Castle-St Anne’s Cathedral and Cathedral Quarter-Castle Court and Victoria Square shopping centre.
What are the Facilities?
The red double-decker Hop on Hop off City Tours buses have prominent signage and can be recognised from afar.
There is a live guide on board who gives commentary about various attractions in English.
Riders have the option of listening to pre-recorded commentary in Spanish – German – French – Mandarin – Italian on their headphones. However, this well-advertised facility is not available on most buses.
The free brochure is clear and succinct and it shows the pickup times for each stop. There are different guides with different styles on each bus and it is sort of fun to compare them when you have a 72-hour ticket.
Schedule and Timings
The Hop on Hop off Belfast City Tour operates all 7 days of the week. A ticket is valid for 24 hours or 72 hours. In case you don’t hop on or off, then the end to end tour will last for 1 hour 45 minutes only.
In winter i.e. from October to March, the tour runs from 9.45am-3.45pm daily.
In summer i.e. from March-September, the tour runs from 9.45am-4.45pm daily.
The tours begin from outside TK Maxx, Castle Place and there are lots of convenience stores plus a Starbucks and Mac Donald’s around.
Indicative Prices
24-hour Ticket for an adult costs 11 pounds while a child ticket costs 7 pounds. A family ticket (2 adults and 2 kids cost 28 pounds)
72-hour Ticket for an adult costs 12.50 pounds while a child ticket costs 8 pounds. A family ticket (2 adults and 2 kids cost 28 pounds)
What’s the Value Analysis?
A 24 hour Hop on Hop Off tour for an adult is priced at 11 pounds. The ticket includes transport to all 26 spots and 7 pounds worth of savings on tickets (HMS Caroline costs 2 pounds, Titanic Museum costs 3 pounds and Crumlin Road Gaol costs 2 pounds). You also get a free map and discounts on entry fees to many attractions from time to time.
If you end up paying for transport to all these places and the entry fees individually you will end up spending a lot more so the ticket offers good value. Also, the attraction Belfast Castle is outside the city premises and a transfer back and forth from there enables a lot of time and money savings. The first 3 hours of the day of City Sightseeing travel to Belfast Castle (last pickup from the castle at 12.30 p.m.).
Plus you get guided tours of murals and these are difficult to understand without a guided explanation. In the event of doing a self-guided tour of Cathedral Quarter or Peace Walls (Shankill-Falls Road), it’s always recommended to take a guide.
The guides do not read from scripts (usually) and sometimes different guides on different buses will give widely varying accounts that will confuse you and you may feel the need to verify facts on Google. The buses used by this operator are old and are not very comfortable.
Combo Tours and other offerings
The combo tickets combine a visit to some famous destinations (like Giants Causeway) or a series of spots (like Game of Thrones filming locations).
A Giants Causeway and 2-day Full City Tour Combo Ticket costs 32.50 pounds. This allows riders to see North Antrim Coast, Glens of Antrim, the Irish Sea and the famed Giants Causeway. The ticket price includes hop on hop off bus access for the next 2 days after the Giants Causeway Tour.
The Game of Thrones Combo tour will take visitors to many filming locations along North Antrim Coast and gives them outfits and props to recreate battle scenes from the famous TV series. The ticket price includes hop on hop off bus access for the next 2 days after the GOT Tour.
Similarly, there are other tours like Titanic Museum and City Tour and the Jailbreaker and City Tour etc.
They have non-hop on hop off combo tours too that includes port pickup from Belfast port, tours to destinations like North Antrim coast Giants Causeway/ GOT Route (Kings Landing, Storms End, Dragonstone, Iron Islands. These tours are done by an air-conditioned coach.
These tours are followed by a Belfast city tour of primary attractions like Includes International Wall of Murals, Belfast Peace Wall, Falls Road, Shankhill Road etc.
Booking
You can book your tickets online securely from this Viator website.
You can also book your City Tour Hop on Hop Off tickets from the official website or go and get tickets from the booking counter.
Contact details
Diamond Leisure Transport Ltd Twin Spires Centre 155 Northumberland, St Belfast BT13 2JF
Phone: 02890321912; Website
(Call between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for phone bookings)
Belfast City Sightseeing Hop on Hop off Bus
The Belfast City Sightseeing Hop on Hop Off tour has been around for a long time and this is part of a global franchise that does similar tours all over popular European cities like Paris, Rome etc.
The Red City sightseeing buses are instantly recognisable and the Belfast City sightseeing operator holds a 4-star rating awarded by North Ireland Tourist Board. They are organised, punctual and the buses are in better shape than the ones at City Tours. They, however, do not cover Belfast Castle and have fewer stops than City Tours.
What are the stops?
The City Sightseeing Hop on Hop off tour begins at Castle Place and then takes in 22 more stops. The bus goes to Customs House Square, SSE Arena, HMS Caroline, Titanic Belfast, Parliament Buildings, Belmont Road, Hollywood Road/ C.S Lewis square, Lower Newtonards Road (wall murals and titanic mural), St George Market, Belfast City Hall, Great Victoria Street (Grand Opera House), Dublin Road, Shaftsbury Road, University Road, Eglantine Avenue, Falls Road, Falls Road, Falls Memorial Garden, International Wall Murals, Spectrum Tourist Information Centre, Shankhill Memorial Garden, Crumlin Road, Donegall Street.
Schedule and Timings
The City Sightseeing Hop on Hop off tours depart at 10 a.m. from stop 1 Castle Place from outside the Office shoe shop. The bus frequency varied between 30 to 60 minutes
The city sightseeing bus runs from Monday to Saturday 10:00am – 4:00pm and on Sunday from10:00am – 4:00pm
Indicative Pricing
This operator has a different pricing structure for online and counter tickets:
Online
- A 24 hour Ticket for an adult costs 11.50 pounds while a child ticket costs 5 pounds. A family ticket (2 adults and 3 kids cost 29 pounds)
- A 48 hour Ticket for an adult costs 13 pounds while a child (under 15) ticket costs 6.50 pounds. A family ticket (2 adults and 3 kids cost 34 pounds)
Standard booking counter prices
- A 24 hour Ticket for an adult costs 12.50 pounds while a child (under 15) ticket costs 6 pounds. A family ticket (2 adults and 3 kids cost 31 pounds)
- A 48 hour Ticket for an adult costs 14 pounds while a child (under 15) ticket costs 7.50 pounds. A family ticket (2 adults and 3 kids cost 35 pounds)
Facilities
You can join the tour from castle place outside the office shoe shop or on any of the 23 stops throughout the city.
The City Sightseeing Hop on Hop Off bus goes straight up from the ground entrance to the Parliament building entrance (roughly 1 mile), unlike the City Tour bus.
The City Sightseeing Belfast website has a great interactive map that displays sufficient information about all stops and their features. If you are using a mobile device then you can navigate the map by using your fingers.
There is free pickups from a number of hotels like Bradbury Place, Ormeau Avenue, Alfred Street, May Street, Great Victoria Street, Ramada Encore, Madison’s hotel etc. You will find a complete list here. In case you stay at these hotels the receptionist will arrange free hotel pick up/ drop.
City Sightseeing offers a left luggage service through Irish Tour Tickets (right opposite Belfast Opera House). This is very convenient as the storage point is near Europa Bus and Train stations as well as the famed Crown Bar. Simply go to the Irish Tours Tickets Website and book your luggage slot.
There are pre-recorded multi-lingual commentary in English, Mandarin, French, German, Italian and Spanish. There is sufficient depth and accuracy of the commentary though there is no live guide.
The vehicles used by this tour operator are in decent condition and some of them are even adaptable (portable ramp, steps, vehicle lowering systems etc.) to visitors with special access needs. Differently-abled visitors need to call the City sightseeing booking office to arrange their tours.
Combo Tours and other offerings
Besides the City Sightseeing hop on hop off tour, this operator offers combo tours like the Giants Causeway and City sightseeing Tour and the Game of Thrones City Sightseeing Tour and the HMS Caroline and City Sightseeing tour.
All these tour prices include hop on hop off bus access for any 2 days after/ before the place is toured.
City Sightseeing offers a walking tour of the Peace Wall area with 2 live guides who share the Shankill and the Falls Road version of the story. This might be a good substitute for the political black taxi tours that are so popular in Belfast.
Value Analysis
Tickets of City Sightseeing are marginally more expensive than City Tours, but still offer good value when you consider the combined travel cost to all these destinations. The family ticket (2 adults and 3 kids) is especially great value and if you are going with kids and children under 15 then buying the City Sightseeing family ticket makes sense.
The combo tours, however, are priced exactly the same as City Tours. For example, the City Sightseeing Giants Causeway and Antrim Coast tour costs 32.50 pounds and the best part is that the 48 hour Belfast city hop on hop off ticket can be split into two non-sequential days before and after your Giants causeway tour. So if you are doing a combo tour then do the one offered by this operator.
Booking
You can book your tickets online securely from this Viator website.
You can also book your tickets by emailing [email protected] or from the official website of city sightseeing. Book your tickets online preferably as the rates are lower; tickets brought at the counter have higher price points
Contact details
Address: 10 Great Victoria Street. Belfast. BT2 7BA
Phone: 028 90 321 321; Website
A travel addict. Still celebrating the day when he quit his high-profile corporate job to pursue his passion for travel writing.