Getting around Belfast

Public transport

Transport in Belfast is efficient. The city has a good bus service (rather confusingly called The Metro) operated by Translink (tel: +44 28 9066 6630; www.translink.co.uk).

You can buy single tickets or day passes directly from the driver. Alternatively, you can save money by loading trips onto a Smartlink Multi-Journey Card or by buying a dayLink card, which offers unlimited travel for one, five or ten days. Weekly and monthly smartcards are also available. Smartcards are sold at Translink sales outlets throughout the city.

The Belfast Visitor Pass (https://visitbelfast.com/plan/belfast-visitor-pass) allows unlimited bus and rail travel for one, two or three consecutive days, as well as discounts on visitor attractions. You can buy it at the Belfast Welcome Centre.

There are 22 bus stations scattered throughout the city; the main one is the Europa Bus Centre located at Glengall Street, off Great Victoria Street.

Taxis

In Belfast, taxis operate from taxi ranks. One of the main taxi ranks in Belfast city centre is in front of City Hall on Adelaide Street. There are two types of Belfast taxis: the London-style black cabs, and standard saloon cars, which bear the name of the taxi company on the car roof. All taxis display a sign in the car windscreen and both rear passenger windows as well as a yellow roof sign. Never take a taxi without the proper taxi licence signs or plates. It is common practice to tip about 10% of the total fare.

Recommended operators include Value Cabs (tel: +44 28 9080 9080; www.valuecabs.co.uk), fonaCAB (tel: +44 28 9033 3333; www.fonacab.com) and Belfast Cabs (tel: +44 7446 014761; https://belfastcabs.com).

Driving

Belfast is a relatively straightforward city to drive in, although the city is so compact and well served by public transport that most visitors will have no need of a car. If you do decide to drive, there are plenty of car parks in the city centre (charges apply). To pay for off-street car parks or on-street metered parking, you can either pay with coins or register with Parkmobile (www.parkmobile.co.uk) and pay using your mobile phone or online. Parking on Sundays is usually free.

Car hire

Regulations about the age of the person hiring the car tend to differ between hire companies, but generally, drivers must be over 21 years old and have held a licence for a minimum of one year. A deposit must be paid with a credit card. Insurance is compulsory and is included in the cost of the car hire.

Car hire firms in Belfast include Avis (tel: +44 28 9032 9258; www.avis.co.uk) and Budget (tel: +44 28 9023 0700; www.budget.ie).

Bicycle hire

Belfast is a cycle-friendly city with two major cycle routes: the Comber Greenway, which runs for 11km (7 miles) to Strangford Lough, and the Lagan and Lough Cycleway, which offers 33km (21 miles) of tarmacked pleasure. Cycle lanes are slowly being introduced as the city now has its own bicycle-sharing scheme called Belfast Bikes (tel: +44 34 3357 1551; www.belfastbikes.co.uk). There are 350 bicycles spread out across the city in 47 docking stations, and are available to hire daily between 6 am and midnight. Before hiring a bike, you must register either online or at a docking station. The first 30 minutes are free.