Once the December holidays began, me and my friends were looking for things to do in Belfast. Since we weren’t working, we all had a tight budget. So this was the major challenge: we wanted to go out and save money at the same time. After planning and researching a bit, we ended up visiting five amazing places in a single day:

First Stop: The Big Fish and the Lagan River

Less than 15 minutes on foot from the City Centre, beside the Lagan river lies The Big Fish, a beautifully printed ceramic mosaic sculpture. The fish is exquisitely designed with each scale known to tell a story about Belfast City. We spent a good while watching the Lagan river and clicking some selfies by The Big Fish sculpture before we headed towards the Titanic Quarter.

Second Stop: Glass of Thrones

This wasn’t planned. We had previously encountered one of the famous GoT stained glass windows at Belfast City Hall but didn’t realise there were more.

When we reached the Lagan Weir footbridge, we came across the glass window representing House Baratheon from the famous HBO series ‘Game of Thrones’, we were thrilled! Then we began to hunt down the remaining glass windows and found three others located in Odyssey Point, SS Nomadic and Titanic Slipways on our way to the Titanic Quarter. It was fun to chase down the locations. If you are a GOT fan, you should definitely try it!

Third Stop: SS Nomadic

SS Nomadic is a ship that was built alongside the famous RMS Titanic in Belfast in 1911 and is regarded as Titanic’s little sister or “mini Titanic”.

Since we were tight on money, we decided to skip entering the famous SS Nomadic ship which would cost us anywhere between £10-£20 pounds. But we were allowed to explore it from the outside and it was absolutely stunning. It truly took us back in time and provided us with a great experience.

Fourth stop: Titanic Quarter

Since the entry ticket to the Titanic Museum located inside the Titanic Quarter was £19 (Adults) we decided to skip the museum. We explored around the gorgeously built Titanic Quarter and waited for the quarter to lit up and it was worth the wait.

Fifth stop: Duke of York

After enjoying the view for a bit, we headed on towards our last destination for the day: the famous narrow cobbled alleyway called the Duke of York.

The Duke of York is a traditional Belfast bar famous for its amazing music and craic! (as they say here).

The street wasn’t that crowded as it was a weekday so we got a chance to take a lot of pictures. It felt like we had the entire street to ourselves. The lighting and vibes there were perfect to end a brilliant day of totally free fun.

Discover more fun in Belfast.

Sneha Parajuli, Nepal

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