Northern Ireland Attractions

Exploris, situated in Portaferry (County Down), is one of Northern Ireland’s primary tourist attractions and the only public aquarium and seal sanctuary in the country. It was opened by Prince Charles in 1994 and gives visitors the opportunity to touch and hold a variety of living marine animals which are looked after and guarded by experienced guides and marine biologists. Exploris is primarily focused around the rehabilitation of seals, but visitors can see all kinds of marine life including, Moon Jellyfish, Common Starfish and the Thornback Ray. The attraction is very family oriented and is an educational experience. There are exhibitions and activities suitable for children of all ages.

The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the NE coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (4.8 km) northeast of the town of Bushmills. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, and a National Nature Reserve in 1987 by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven and eight sides. The tallest are about 12 metres (39 ft) high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres thick in places. The Giant's Causeway is today owned and managed by the National Trust and it is the most popular tourist attraction in Northern Ireland.

Belfast Castle is set on the slopes of Cavehill Country Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland in a prominent position 400 feet (120 m) above sea level. Its location provides unobstructed views of the city of Belfast and Belfast Lough. The castle boasts an antiques shop, a restaurant and visitors centre and it is a popular venue for conferences, private dining and wedding receptions.

The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum is situated in Cultra, Northern Ireland, about 11 kilometres (7 miles) east of the city of Belfast. It comprises two separate museums, the Folk Museum and the Transport Museum. The Folk Museum endeavours to illustrate the way of life and traditions of the people in Northern Ireland, past and present, while the Transport Museum explores and exhibits methods of transport by land, sea and air, past and present. The museum ranks among Ireland's foremost visitor attractions and is a former Irish Museum of the Year. It is one of three national museums of Northern Ireland.

Belfast Zoo is one of the top fee-paying visitor attractions in Northern Ireland, receiving more than 300,000 visitors a year. Located in north Belfast, the zoo's 55-acre (22 ha) site is home to more than 1,200 animals and 140 species. The majority of the animals in Belfast Zoo are in danger in their natural habitat. The zoo carries out important conservation work and takes part in over 90 European and international breeding programmes which help to ensure the survival of many species under threat. The prairie dogs are of particular interest, as their tunnels extend throughout the park, rendering any open space looking like a giant game of 'whack-a-rat'. Much merriment was caused when the zoo was praised for letting the prairie dogs run wild and free, an accident that was caused after much effort was spent preventing them from digging out of their enclousre but noone...

The Ulster Museum is located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and has around 8,000 square metres of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasures from the Spanish Armada, local history, numismatics, industrial archaeology, botany, zoology and geology. It is the largest museum in Northern Ireland, and one of the components of National Museums Northern Ireland. The Ulster Museum was closed for nearly three years (2006 to October 2009) while it was under renovation. It re-opened to the public on 22 October 2009, on its 80th anniversary. The renovation work was supported by the National Lottery and the Northern Ireland Executive's Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure.

Belfast Botanic Gardens is a public park in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Occupying 28 acres (110,000 m2) of south Belfast, the gardens are popular with office workers, students and tourists. They are located on Stranmillis Road in Belfast's university area, with Queen's University nearby. The Ulster Museum is located at the main entrance. The gardens' most notable feature is the Palm House conservatory. The foundation stone was laid by the Marquess of Donegall in 1839 and work was completed in 1840. It is one of the earliest examples of a curvilinear cast iron glasshouse in the world. Designed by Charles Lanyon and built by Richard Turner, Belfast's Palm House predates the glasshouses at Kew and the Irish National Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin. Turner went on to build both of these glasshouses. The Palm House consists of two wings, the cool wing and the tropical wing which contains...

St Anne's Cathedral, also known as Belfast Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Church of Ireland in Donegall Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is unusual in serving two separate dioceses (Connor and Down and Dromore), yet being the seat of neither, it is therefore not a Cathedral in the truest sense of the word, a Cathedral being a church housing the seat of a bishop, it is however titled as such. It is the focal point of the Cathedral Quarter, Belfast.

The Ormeau Baths Gallery (OBG) in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is one of Ireland's premier contemporary art spaces. It curated exhibitions by prominent international artists including; Yoko Ono, Gilbert & George, Victor Sloan, Bill Viola, Hans Peter Kuhn, Stan Douglas, David Byrne, Willie Doherty and Alastair MacLennan. There are four main galleries with a total exhibition space of 10,000 square feet (1,000 m2). It is located on the site of a Victorian Bath House. In 1995 its conversion to an art gallery once again restored the venue to the public realm. Hugh Mulholland, previously the founder and Director of Context Gallery in Derry, was the Director of the Ormeau Baths Gallery from 1997 until the gallery's closure. The gallery programme included a mix of solo and group shows; national and international in all art disciplines.