Our Ireland Adventure: Titanic Belfast, Belfast’s Troubled History, and a Few Travel Lessons

After exploring so much of Ireland’s history and beautiful countryside, our family continued north to Belfast, Northern Ireland. We had a full day planned, starting with Titanic Belfast and followed by a bus tour around the city. It was a day filled with history, learning, and a few practical travel lessons that are worth sharing!

Exploring Titanic Belfast

We planned almost a full day at Titanic Belfast, and we came pretty close to getting our timing just right! The museum had something for everyone in our group, which can be a challenge when you’re traveling with children of such different ages.

One of the best surprises for our younger girls, ages five and seven, was the children’s guide. Instead of simply listening to information, they got to participate in a scavenger hunt, searching throughout the museum for different items. It gave them something specific to look for and helped keep them engaged as we explored.

Our older girls, ages eleven and thirteen, took a different approach. They enjoyed reading the exhibits alongside their dad, taking in the information and learning more about the story of the Titanic.

Titanic Belfast tells the story of the famous ship, from the city’s shipbuilding history to the Titanic’s construction, maiden voyage, and tragic sinking. It was fascinating to learn about the people and work behind such a well-known part of history. Even though our children approached the museum differently depending on their ages, there was something for each of them to discover.

The museum also had two options for food: a deli where you could grab something quick and a sit-down restaurant. We chose the deli and picked up a snack to hold us over until our planned dinner later that evening.

Seeing Belfast by Bus

In the afternoon, we took a hop-on hop-off bus tour around Belfast. These tours are a great way to see a city when you're traveling with a large group, especially when you want to cover a lot of ground without having to coordinate transportation for fifteen people!

One of the most memorable parts of the tour was seeing the walls and gates that still divide some neighborhoods in Belfast. I wish I had caught every detail of the guide’s explanation, because this part of the city has a complicated and painful history.

Understanding Belfast’s Peace Walls

The walls we saw are often called peace walls or peace lines. They were built in parts of Belfast to separate predominantly Catholic and nationalist communities from predominantly Protestant and unionist communities, particularly during periods of intense violence known as the Troubles.

The Troubles lasted for decades, beginning in the late 1960s and continuing through much of the 1990s. The conflict involved questions about Northern Ireland’s constitutional status and its relationship with the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Religious identity often overlapped with political and national identity, although the conflict was not simply a matter of Catholics and Protestants disagreeing about religion.

Violence, intimidation, and fear deeply affected ordinary families. In some neighborhoods, people were forced from their homes, and barriers were erected to help prevent attacks between communities. Gates in some walls can still be closed at certain times.

The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 was a major milestone in the peace process, establishing a framework for power-sharing and addressing Northern Ireland’s political future. But peacebuilding is an ongoing process, and some of these physical barriers remain decades later.

Seeing the walls in person was a sobering reminder that history isn't always something we leave behind in a textbook. Its effects can still be seen in the streets where people live today.

Traveling with our children gives us opportunities to talk about difficult subjects in age-appropriate ways. Belfast offered an opportunity to think about how fear and conflict affect communities, why peace matters, and how much work it can take to rebuild trust.

Dinner Plans Take a Different Turn

After spending much of the day at Titanic Belfast and touring the city, we had planned to finish the evening with a more traditional dinner. But, as often happens when you're traveling with a large group, plans changed at the last minute!

Instead of the sit-down meal we had originally envisioned, we ended up getting food from street vendors. It wasn't quite the dinner we'd planned, but flexibility is an important part of traveling with fifteen people. Sometimes you have to adjust, go with what's available, and enjoy the adventure as it unfolds.

A Practical Travel Tip: Carry Cash

One lesson we learned during our time in the Causeway Coast area was to carry some cash with you.

We found that cash could be useful when visiting local businesses and places to eat, so I wouldn't recommend assuming that every place will accept cards. Having cash available gives you more options and can save you from scrambling to change your plans when you're hungry!

It's a small detail, but it's the kind of practical lesson that can make family travel a little easier.

Settling In Along the Causeway Coast

For this part of our trip, we stayed in two separate but nearly identical houses in the Causeway Coast and Glens area. Both properties were owned by Peter and booked through Airbnb.

Having entire houses to ourselves was wonderful. With fifteen people traveling together, having enough room to spread out makes a big difference! The houses were so similar that it felt like our two family groups had matching accommodations, and we absolutely loved them.

Finding suitable lodging had been one of the biggest challenges of planning our Ireland trip, so it was a relief to settle into places that worked so well for our families. After a full day of exploring Belfast, we were happy to have comfortable places to return to and get ready for the next part of our adventure.

A Day of History and Family Adventures

Our Belfast day gave us a little bit of everything: an engaging museum experience for the children, a chance to see the city and learn about its complicated history, and the usual unexpected changes that come with traveling as a large family group.

Titanic Belfast was a highlight because everyone could engage with the exhibits in their own way. The bus tour gave us a glimpse into Belfast's more recent history, including the lasting effects of the Troubles. And our evening reminded us that travel plans don't always unfold exactly as expected—and that's okay!

My biggest takeaways from this part of our Ireland adventure: look for activities that engage children of different ages, leave room for flexibility in your schedule, and carry cash when exploring the Causeway Coast area.

Next, we continued our adventures along Northern Ireland's beautiful coastline, where we would see some truly unforgettable sights!