Ulster Museum: Belfast Travel Guide (4.7★)

Two buildings in one

Look at the façade before you go in. The original 1929 wing is a pale stone classical block in Renaissance style. Bolted onto it is a 1970s Brutalist extension in raw concrete, all cantilevered boxes and hard angles. The 2009 renovation joined the two around a tall central atrium. From there, ramps and a lift carry you through the floors.

The museum stands at the gate of Botanic Gardens, off Stranmillis Road. That puts the Victorian glasshouse of the Palm House a few minutes’ walk away. Queen’s University’s red-brick Lanyon Building is just beyond the park.

What to find on each floor

Three collections share the building, and they are very different. Don’t skip these:

• Takabuti, an Egyptian mummy that has been in Belfast since 1834 and is one of the museum’s best-known residents.
• The Girona treasure, gold and jewellery recovered from a Spanish Armada ship wrecked off the Antrim coast in 1588. Look for the gold salamander pendant.
• The Edmontosaurus skeleton and the natural history galleries, which are where children tend to stop.
• The Troubles and Beyond, a frank gallery on the conflict in Northern Ireland, told with objects, photographs and testimony.
• Irish art, with work by Paul Henry, John Lavery and William Conor in the upper galleries.

Allow two to three hours for the highlights. Give it a full afternoon if you plan to read the history panels properly.

Working around the Belfast weekend crowd

This is one of Belfast’s most visited attractions, and weekends show it. Weekends are busiest from 11am to 5pm, with families filling the natural history floors. If Saturday or Sunday is your only chance, arrive when the doors open at 10am. You’ll get roughly an hour before the 11am build-up.

A weekday is the easier choice, but remember the museum is closed on Mondays. It keeps the same hours every other day, 10am to 5pm. Last entry before closing leaves little time, so don’t start after 3pm.

General admission is free, as it is at all National Museums NI sites. Some temporary exhibitions can be ticketed. Check the National Museums NI website before you go, because prices aren’t posted anywhere else ahead of time. Bags are the main thing staff will ask about. Large luggage is awkward in the galleries, so drop it at your hotel first.

Getting there and pairing it

The museum has no station of its own, but the trains get you close:

• Train: Botanic station is about a ten-minute walk along Botanic Avenue and through the gardens. City Hospital station is a similar distance.
• On foot: From City Hall it’s around 25 minutes south, past Shaftesbury Square and up Botanic Avenue’s cafés.
• Car: Parking is limited around the gardens and Queen’s Quarter streets. Public transport is simpler.

Pair the museum with Botanic Gardens: walk the rose garden, the Palm House and the restored Tropical Ravine. Then eat on Botanic Avenue or Lisburn Road. On a weekend, a good plan is the museum at 10am, then the gardens once the galleries fill up after 11am.