Discover... Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is an achingly beautiful country, which is now enjoying something of renaissance as a tourist destination, with new cultural attractions being added to its dramatic coastlines, striking mountains, peaceful lakes and valleys.

Amid this varied countryside you will also find friendly towns and villages, the fascinating cities of Belfast and Derry, and a huge number of historical sites, from Neolithic monuments to ruined castles and fine country houses.

In Belfast, a lively, modern city, visitors can tour the huge Ulster Museum to delve into the province’s history, or go to the Lagan Lookout on the quayside to learn about the city’s port. You could explore the narrow 18th century alleyways known as the Entries, or drink in the Crown Liquor Saloon, a lavish Victorian tavern with multi-coloured tiling, stucco ceilings and wooden snugs still in situ.

Outside the city you might head north along the shore of Belfast Lough to the ruins of Carrickfergus Castle, or south and east to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in County Down.

To the south-east of Belfast, the Ards Peninsula lies between the Irish Sea and Strangford Lough. This finger of land has a balmy microclimate that attracts both wildlife and human settlers and remains a lovely, sleepy place to visit. Here you will find the magnificent Mount Stewart house and gardens (now a World Heritage Site), the romantic ruins of the medieval Grey Abbey, and, on Mahee Island in the lough, the 5th century Nendrum Monastic Site.

To the north of Belfast, the spectacular coastlines of Antrim and Derry are a huge draw for visitors, as are the startlingly beautiful Glens of Antrim. You might also want to visit windswept but welcoming Rathlin Island, the last inhabited offshore island in the province, where you can see the remains of settlements dating from the Stone Age to the early Christian period.

There are more fascinating remnants of the past back on the mainland coast: the ruined castles of Dunseverick, from where the Kings of Dalraida controlled much of western Scotland and Northern Ireland 1,000 years ago, and Dunluce, balanced precariously on a headland above a cave, home of the Lords of the Isles who ruled north-east Ulster in the middle ages.

And, of course, you should not miss the Giant’s Causeway, the strange geometric basalt formations stretching out to sea that have inspired legends for centuries.

Derry City, once a centre of sectarian troubles, has begun reinventing itself as a home for culture and the arts. A good way to see the city and begin to understand how warfare influenced its development is to walk the city walls, built by the English in the 17th century and up to 20 feet high and 30 feet thick in places. They have had an active life, most famously during the great siege of 1688-1689, when 30,000 Protestants held out for seven months against the Catholic King James II.

But this was just one of many twists in the city’s history, and memories of the troubles are still raw among the its residents. You can learn more about this traumatic past in the O’Doherty Tower Museum, which gives equal weight to both Catholic and Protestant points of view.

South of Derry, the heather-covered Sperrin Mountains in County Tyrone are dotted with prehistoric monuments, such as Beaghmore Stone Circles: seven circles and ten rows of stones alongside a series of burial sites. Tyrone is also home to the Ulster American Folk Park, which tells the story of emigration to America from Ulster in the 18th and 19th centuries, and Ulster History Park, with reconstructions of Irish life going back to 7000 BC.

County Fermanagh is most famous for its stunning lakeland scenery, which hides more historical secrets. Many of the lakes’ islands are crannógs, artificial mounds built in the Iron Age, while others were important sites for early Christians.

Today, each island offers different sights and experiences to the visitor, including the monastic ruins on Devenish Island, mysterious stone carvings on White Island and the two-faced stone figure on Boa Island, its arms crossed and its staring eyes blazing out defiance from either side of the stone.

Wherever you choose to go in Northern Ireland, you will find a country steeped in history and revelling in its living culture.

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