Creative Tours Belfast
Description
Fun walking tours that let guests experience and enjoy the vibrancy of Belfast’s music and arts scene. Come explore a UNESCO City of Music with Creative Tours Belfast!
Your guide Dolores is an experienced, qualified and fully insured tourist guide. She is passionate about her city and very knowledgeable about its history and about the current music and arts scene. Explore Belfast with her to discover links between the historic development of the town and city and its musical and literary heritage. You will visit special spots off the beaten track and see historic and contemporary music and arts venues. You will hear stories about many of the city’s super talented musicians and other artists – past and present. Interesting tales relating to historic buildings and important moments in history involving music will also be woven in. You’ll also get recommendations for current events and rising local stars
While enjoying both hidden gems and popular visitor sights, tour guests will experience Belfast’s legendary ‘craic’ along the way!
Belfast Music Walking Tour
This is Creative Tours Belfast's most popular tour, delivered in association with the Oh Yeah Music Centre, Belfast’s music hub. Come on a musical journey across the city to hear about the wealth of musical talent in Belfast across a wide range of genres, enjoying a specially curated music playlist along the way. From hip hop to classical and punk; opera to folk and electro pop - and everything in between – Belfast is alive with music, making it a vibrant city to live in or visit. You will discover why Belfast truly deserves the prestigious UNESCO City of Music title it was awarded in November 2021.
The tour ends at the Oh Yeah Music Centre, in the heart of the Cathedral Quarter, that houses a fascinating collection of music memorabilia in its NI Music Exhibition.
Book one of their tours that has an added performance to enjoy a private performance just for the group at Oh Yeah by a local musician, often a rising star of the local scene!
Private Group Tours
If the music tour dates advertised do not work for your Belfast visit, don’t worry. Creative Tours Belfast offers competitive rates to organise a music or other themed tour, at a time and date to suit your group. A group can be from 4 to 20 people.
All tours, including the popular music tour, may also be booked for conference, corporate, and other groups. A tour can be tailored to meet your requirements: from two hours to a full day in length.
To explore a private or group tour please email Dolores: creativetoursbelfast@gmail.com
• Belfast City Highlights – Historic Entries, Street Art and Music
Explore the history of the oldest cobbled streets of this vibrant city, see colourful street art and hear why Belfast is now a UNESCO city of music!
• Belfast Punk Music Walking Tour
Come explore the story of punk music in Belfast, a city where punk meant more, with your passionate punk music loving guide! From the late 1970s, Belfast punk has held a special place in music history, near and far. See legendary venues associated with punk, as shown in the film ‘Good Vibrations’ about the Good Vibrations record shop and label set up in the late 1970s, in a time of conflict. You’ll have fun, hear a great punk soundtrack along the way, and also discover the city’s great contemporary punk bands.
• Cathedral Quarter Arts Trail
This tour offers a thorough and fun exploration of the Cathedral Quarter, often called the cultural quarter of Belfast. Stroll down narrow entries, cross open squares, view historic and landmark buildings, to discover public sculptures and street art, learn about many of the city’s famous writers and hear about our wealth of current music.
• ‘Artists and Activists: Belfast Changemakers’
This guided walk around Belfast’s historic centre, now known as the Cathedral Quarter, will show you artworks or emblems that speak to the campaigning work of some of our changemakers across the years. These few streets bear witness to artists and activists from the 17th century to more recent days who have helped to bring about change across many areas.
• Belfast’s Historic Entries, Street Art and Music
Explore the city’s oldest area, by the banks of the Lagan and Farset rivers, strolling through its narrow streets, known as ‘entries’. Belfast is one of the world’s top city destinations for colourful street art painted by both local and international artists. The modern street artworks in the entries shed light on many fascinating stories from Belfast’s past. You’ll also visit the city’s music hub to view its NI Music Exhibition and hear why Belfast is now a designated UNESCO City of Music.
• The Merchants who Grew a City
A walking tour around Belfast’s industrial heritage, that brings to life the stories of key early merchants who contributed to the industrial heritage of Belfast in the linen, shipbuilding, whiskey, and newspaper industries. Discover how important Belfast’s rivers and port have been.
• Queen’s Quarter
This walking tour takes in the bustling area surrounding Queen’s University. The tour will begin by visiting the main campus of the university, examining some of its best-known and historic buildings. You will also walk around the beautiful Botanic Park with its Palm House and Tropical Ravine, see the Ulster Museum, and explore Botanic Village.
Your Tour Guide
Dolores Vischer of Creative Tours Belfast has lived in Belfast for much of her life and loves to show visitors why she is passionate about this special place. Dolores is a Belfast Green Badge Tourist Guide, a qualification awarded by the UK-wide Institute of Tourist Guiding (ITG). She is a member of ITG and also of the Northern Ireland Tourist Guide Association. She has a Masters Degree from the University of St Andrews in English with French and Spanish (and has reasonable spoken French and Spanish).
Dolores is a passionate and knowledgeable music and arts fan. She plays the Bodhran and drums and has both drummed and sung in bands.
Top Reasons To Visit
- Specialist expertise in music, especially the current scene across many genres - plus in-depth knowledge of all the arts.
- Their tours are fun and entertaining – weaving in stories of local people past and present.
- Music tours often end with a private performance by a local rising star of our music scene.
- Meet and talk to local people and gain access to places you mightn’t otherwise find.
- Your guide is fully-insured and holds an internationally-recognised qualification.
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Belfast Music Walking Tour
This popular tour is delivered in association with the Oh Yeah Music Centre.
Guests will see and hear why Belfast was awarded the prestigious UNESCO City of Music title in November 2021.
From hip hop to classical and punk; opera to folk and electro pop – and everything in between – music plays a significant and important role in the fabric of Belfast, making it a vibrant city to live in or visit.
The tour begins with a visit to the iconic Ulster Hall, a legend in the history of Belfast’s entertainment scene. The route then explores music venues including traditional bars and clubs, historic buildings, open air performance spaces, the city’s newest performance space (2 Royal Avenue), our main arena venues – and even a church! At each stop, the focus is on a different genre of music or aspect of our music heritage.
Along the way guests hear stories about iconic music moments, characters and local legends – past and present – and find out about some rising stars of our contemporary music scene across a range of genres.
Music is played at every stop.
The tour concludes with a visit to Belfast’s own dedicated music hub, the Oh Yeah Music Centre, with a chance to browse the centre’s Music Exhibition, which features memorabilia from Northern Ireland musicians including Snow Patrol, Van Morrison and Stiff Little Fingers.
Guests then settle down to enjoy a special, private performance by a local musician, often a rising star of the local scene!
Practical Details
- The walking tour will last three hours and cover up to 2 miles.
- The tour will take place in all weathers – come prepared please!
- Your guide is a qualified and insured Belfast Green Badge Tourist Guide – and a complete music fan!
- The tour will start outside the Ulster Hall, on Bedford Street, and end with a 40- minute visit to the Oh Yeah Centre.
- A half-hour private performance by a local, talented musician is included.
- Tickets cost £27.50 with performance and £22 without performance . Advanced booking is required.
- The tour runs of a Friday or a Saturday, 3 times a month, from 1-4pm. For dates click here.
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Belfast City Highlights – Historic Entries, Street Art and Music
Take the Belfast City Highlights Tour for a taste of Belfast’s special vibe and to see many of the top spots of interest! For visitors new to the city, it’s a good way to explore the oldest parts of the city centre and discover what you’d like to learn more about. The tour takes in cobbled streets and historic ‘Entries’ or alleyways and locates the city’s oldest public houses. Guests will see colourful and abundant street art along the way and listen to music snippets by some of the city’s many great current musicians to find out why Belfast is a UNESCO City of Music.
This leisurely walking tour begins at the ‘Salmon of Knowledge’ (Big Fish) sculpture on Donegall Quay and ends by Belfast’s oldest public house, Kelly’s Cellars.
This two hour tour may be booked privately for any group.
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The Merchants who Grew a City
A walking tour on Belfast’s Industrial Heritage.
Starting from the ‘Big Fish’ this tour visits the place where shipbuilding in Belfast began and ends after two and a half hours at City Hall. The tour takes in the oldest parts of Belfast and guests will hear about some of the key figures from the 1700s to the early 1900s who pioneered new and successful businesses that resulted in the growth and industrialisation of Belfast. Men like William Ritchie, Francis Joy, Thomas Mulholland, Waddell Cunningham and John Dunville, have each left their legacy. Hear how new industries were developed, including printing and paper making; shipbuilding, linen; whiskey distilling; rope and tobacco manufacture. Belfast grew from a small town with a population of only 25,000 people in 1808, into a prosperous Victorian city with a population of almost 350,000 by 1901. Come and explore our city’s industrial heritage and the part played by our rivers and port.
This two and a half hour tour may be booked privately for any group.
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Introducing Belfast Tour
Meeting by Queen Victoria’s statue in City Hall grounds, this tour gives an enjoyable overview of the development of this city from a small settlement to an industrial Victorian city – and beyond. As you stroll, a range of architectural styles in the city’s many historic buildings will be pointed out to guests. They will explore the oldest streets, entries and church, hear about the city’s liberal past, and find out about many of the public art pieces on display. The tour ends at the Big Fish on Donegall Quay.
This two hour tour may be booked privately for any group.