When my parents first informed me that they were considering coming over to Belfast to visit me I was excited, but also worrying about where to take them out because I didn’t think they’d enjoy clubbing with other students!

Enjoy live music and vibrant nightlife

The best things about studying in Belfast in my opinion are listening to live music and visiting Northern Irish pubs - for my family these were the highlights of the trip. In England our pubs are great fun, however my parents were surprised at how much better the pubs in Northern Ireland were.

To give them the Belfast experience I took them to Cathedral Quarter on a Friday night because there are so many choices for live music bars and pubs. They loved the Duke of York with all of its pretty decorations and enjoyed dancing under the lit up umbrellas to a guitarist. After this, I took them to the Dirty Onion and the Thirsty Goat and once again there was more live music for them to dance to outside under nice fairy lights.

Check out Belfast's live music scene!

Sightseeing in the city

The next day, I took them to Titanic Quarter to visit the museum which again was very interesting for both them and myself. This is a great daytime activity for all of the family to enjoy and you can follow this with a bus tour around the city to see all of the sights. The bus tour takes you right past City Hall which is lovely to get photographs of no matter the time of the year.

Take a sightseeing bus tour of the city

A variety of food and drink options

You can then walk around the city centre to find places to eat or drink because there are hundreds of places to choose from (we went to the Muddlers Club and it was wonderful). After dinner I decided to take them to The Points because it is yet another great live music spot and very Northern Irish pub. This is the perfect pub for people who want a very stereotypical Belfast night out full of Guinness and dancing.

The day after that I decided to take them to Maggie Mays for brunch to try an Ulster fry (they didn’t realise that it was different to an English breakfast until it came out and ended up loving the potato bread addition). There are so many options to chose from and great milkshakes to get and it’s right next to Queen's, so is ideal.

Try out an Ulster fry at Maggie Mays

Explore Queen's campus

After this, I took them for a tour of the university itself to show where I study because even though to us as student we see the Lanyon building everyday, our parents don’t get to and they think it’s beautiful, so it’s the perfect place to show your family. You can either tour them around yourself or book a tour through the university online.

Right by the university there are lots of lunch places along Botanic, Stranmillis and next to the Students' Union. We had a lovely lunch at Deanes At Queen's and it is almost opposite the Lanyon building so it is so easy to get to.

Must-visit spots on campus!

Belfast Giants Ice Hockey

We then went to a Giants game at the SSE Arena after lunch. My family thought this was incredible and even though I have seen the Giants ice hockey matches many times now, I still find them just as exciting every time I watch one. The whole atmosphere at a Giants game feels similar to what you see in American movies and I haven’t been able to find any sport like it elsewhere.  

The SSE Arena is close to a lot of bus stops to get back into the city centre and from there I dropped my family off to the Europa to get a bus to the airport before flying home from a lovely weekend visiting me in Belfast.

@qubelfast We are all Giants in Belfast! @thebelfastgiants #FYP ♬ original sound - Queen’s University Belfast

Year-round activities

To take away from this, the best things to do with your family is of course seasonal dependent but make sure to take them to some fun pubs, nice places to eat, to look around the university; or to a sports game of some sort (Gaelic or Hurling would be great if you want to show them some of the cultural sports they cannot see elsewhere).

In the summer months you can take them to Botanic Gardens to see a concert or for a general walk around. During rainy months a museum such as the Ulster Museum or the Titanic Museum are great daytime activities. You can also take them on history tours such as the Troubles tour or just on a general city sightseeing tour so they can see all parts of Belfast.

If they visit in October you can take them to Oktoberfest; or if they come in December the Christmas Market is amazing and all mothers usually love a bit of shopping at the little stalls.

Enjoy winter wonderland in Belfast

There is always some sort of sports event going on to take them to weather it is football at Windsor Park, an Ulster Rugby match, a Gaelic or hurling game; or my favourite which is the Giants ice hockey. In June/July there is usually the Queen's vs Trinity boat race which is again a lovely time for family to come and visit.

Best of luck entertaining your family and remember that for them, everything is brand new and so even if you go to pubs all of the time and think it will be boring, they will love it because they haven’t experienced it before. Make sure to show them everything about Belfast that you fell in love with when you first started studying here!

Find out more

Information for GB students

Getting to Belfast

Life in Belfast

Charlotte Jennings; Politics and International Relations | Undergraduate Student | London, England I'm a Politics and International Relations student in my third year at Queen's. I am from London and currently live in student housing but lived in Elms BT9 last year. I love to be a busy person and am a member of multiple societies and teams at Queen's. I am also undertaking a charitable project at Queen's called the Zambia project where we host fundraisers in order to collect money and aid for our missionary trip to Zambia. In my spare time I teach water sports in Bangor and so far I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in Belfast even though it is very different to London. I would highly recommend the university to anyone as I have had the best experience here so far and have fallen in love with this country.