Belfast Travel Forum

Hello,

How rude of me to ask the quickest way OUT of Belfast?! Perhaps your advice will convice us to stay in Belfast for a long breakfast in January:

We're flying into Belfast International on a Thursday in January, arriving at 5:25 in the morning (!) We have yet to purchase our flights onward to Aberdeen. Which is the better option?:

Fly out of Belfast City airport via Flybe at 12:20pm - would involve a transfer between airports and a long wait. Also, I've heard that Flybe sometimes cancels flights for no reason at all. GBP 50 for two.

Fly out of Dublin airport via Ryanair at 11:50am would involve a transfer into Belfast to Jury's Hotel, and then Aircoach http://www.aircoach.ie/ leaves every hour at the half (7:30, 8:30 etc) for a 2.5 hr ride to Dublin airport. 42 EURO for two and the coach is 14 Euro for two.

Of course, being winter time, we may expect some delays. We'll also need to clear customs in Belfast, and arrive well in time to check in for the next flights.

What are your recommendations? The shuttle bus that goes into Belfast from the airport - does it stop at the Jury's Hotel? Any 'hitches' that you can anticipate? Do Dublin and Belfast have 'rush hours' that would significantly slow down travel at certain times?

If we stay in Belfast, where's the best breakfast in town ;)?

Thanks...

Lisa and Scott

I would recommend travelling to Dublin for the onward flight. The aircoach is both comfortable and punctual. With almost 6.5 hours to spare you would certainly make it with enough time and you could get an Irish breakfast in Dublin airport! Ryanair flights from Dublin airport are very reliable too. Some people complain about Ryanair leaving you in the lurch but I have flown with them countless times - 5 or 6 times a year for the past few years - and I have never had a problem either with delays or cancellations.

Hope this helps you somewhat!

I can't imagine why you'd wish to subject yourself to such a complicated transfer to Dublin but the airbus terminates at the Europa Bus Station which is about 100 yards from the Jurys Inn on Great Victoria Street.

http://www.translink.co.uk/airbusservice300.asp

Alternatively you could get a great breakfast in Belfast and have a wander around this compact city centre before getting a cab to the City Airport for about £7. Once at the airport there is a food hall on the upper level with a view of the runway and beyond to the dockyard. You could also ask the check-in staff for access to the business lounge, I've tried it several times with mixed results and it generally depends on the staff member.

Another alternative would be to get the 0815 Easyjet flight from Belfast International to Edinburgh (currently showing at £18), airbus to Edinburgh Haymarket or Waverley Stations (£3) and train onto Aberdeen that takes you over both the scenic Forth & Tay rail bridges (from £9.50).

http://www.easyjet.com/en/book/index.asp
http://www.flybybus.com/
http://www.thetrainline.com

I think if you're in Northern Ireland you ought to see some of it before you leave! How much time do you have? The Antrim coast is amazing, along with the Giant's Causeway, Dunluce castle and Bushmills.
If you end up going into Belfast City and are near the Europa Hotel, where the bus and train complex is, make sure you pop across the street to one of the best pubs in the world, the Crown.
All the best
Gene

Hi everyone and thanks for your recommendations...

Sorry about the delayed response.. as a business owner this is the busiest timeof the year. Looking forward to our trip in January thats for sure!

As it happens, Zoom Airlines has bumped our international flights ahead by one day, and our Ryanair flights out of Dublin are booked. That means we might have some time in both northern Ireland and Dublin! That doesn't mean, however, that I will be officially 'awake' for it..

So... I will be looking into all sorts of options and asking some specific questions as they come.

Thanks again, and enjoy the holidays!

Lisa

Car rental and driving along the coast:

We've driven a Dutch rental car in the UK with success ;) but the car was physically set up like we're used to, was an automatic transmission and all we needed to do is drive on the 'wrong' side of the the road and cope with roundabouts.

Here in Canada we drive manual / standard transmission... how do you think we'd fare renting a manual car from the Belfast International Airport and driving it north to Bushmills, Dunluce, etc.? Are there many roundabouts? or double-roundabouts (horrors!)?

Hi
There's a way to get to these places with a minimum of roundabouts. I can't remember how many but you can head out of the airport towards Templepatrick. There's two or three you'll navigate by the time you're through Templepatrick. But the traffic shouldn't be heavy this way. Then continue on to the A57 until Larne. You'll encounter a few here. Once you're on the coastal road you can follow the A2 all the way up the Antrim coast with nary a roundabout and one of the most beautiful scenic drives in the world!

Hi there, I'm going to start a new question in this forum regarding an alternative plan to tour the North Antrim coast using the Coaster bus between Coleraine and Larne...