Belfast City Hall

Description

• Free Public Tours

  Belfast City Hall offers free public tours every day. Led by an experienced guide, tours last around one hour and include the history of Belfast City Hall and its finest features. The tours are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Visitors must register 10-15 minutes before the tour is due to start at the visitor exhibition and guided tours reception. Although public tours of Belfast City Hall are free of charge, donations are kindly accepted for the development of the tour service. Donation boxes can be found at the main reception desk.

  Free Public Tour Times 

  • Public tours are currently not running.

   

• Private Group Tours

  Private tours are offered to commercial tour operators at a charge. For information about charges, availability and to make a booking, please email or phone a member of the Belfast City Hall team. All tours for commercial tour operators must be booked in advance and outside of public tour times.

• Visitor Exhibition & Gift Shop

  Belfast City Hall’s east wing on the ground floor hosts a visitor exhibition, which can be accessed through its own dedicated reception area. The exhibition offers a journey from the city’s past to the present, showing the vibrancy and diversity of Belfast City Hall across six themed zones.

  Stretching over 16 separate rooms, and presented within the original architecture of Belfast City Hall, you can explore the various rooms, pause for thought in the reflection space or take time out for lunch or refreshments in The Bobbin coffee shop.

  The exhibition is free for individuals (there’s a charge for commercial groups), but for £3.50 you can hire headphones and listen to an audio tour, available in a range of languages. You can also buy a commemorative booklet for £1.

  You can book in person at the visitor exhibition and reception desk in Belfast City Hall, by phone on 028 9027 0456 or by email at visitcityhall@belfastcity.gov.uk

  Visitor Exhibition and Gift Shop Opening Times

  Monday to Friday: 9.30am-5pm
  Saturday and Sunday: 10am-5pm (last admission 4pm)

  The Bobbin coffee shop Opening Times

  Monday to Friday: 8am-4.30pm

• Grounds of Belfast City Hall and Titanic Memorial Garden

  The perfectly manicured lawns surrounding City Hall contain a wealth of memorials to the history, people and events associated with the city. Among the most poignant are the Cenotaph built in memory of all those who died in the First World War and the Titanic Memorial Gardens which name all 1,512 victims of the disaster. The Titanic Memorial Garden is situated on the east side of Belfast City Hall.

  The garden was built around the existing Titanic monument which was designed by Sir Thomas Brock. The garden is set on two levels with the upper level containing a nine metre long plinth supporting 15 bronze plaques which list, in alphabetical order, the names of 1,512 people who perished on RMS Titanic. This is the first time that the names of everyone who perished have been recorded on one monument. ‘The Belfast List’, as it is now known, is a key feature of the memorial garden.

  Also worth seeing are the grand front gates of City Hall which bear the City Coat of Arms and are accompanied by two fine lamps which are adorned with seahorses and cherubs who each hold items representing the industrial and manufacturing heritage of the city.

• Visitor App

  A visitor app is free to download from the Apple App Store and the Google Play store. It includes a rich and engaging audio tour that guides each visitor through the visitor exhibition and all of its displays. The app will also help you self-guide around the grounds of City Hall or its famous collection of stained glass windows. Search ‘Belfast City Hall’ on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.