I grew up in Armagh but can never recall visiting The Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum previously…read more Although I've now been living away from Armagh for over 20 years I do occasionally return to visit friends and family and thus today took the opportunity to call into this museum to see it. The Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum is small and covers two floors. I was extremely impressed with the standard of display which covers the history of five regiments. It was fascinating looking at the different uniforms, medals and memorabilia. There are a lot of display cases showcasing artefacts and all displays have detailed explanatory text and information. An extremely interesting museum and I would highly recommend a visit if you are in Armagh. Even though it's a small museum there's lots to take in, read and look at so you could spend a full hour or more here. Also contains research facilities, a gift shop and toilets. Entry is free however The Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum is a registered charity so welcomes donations.

We enjoyed a really fantastic day together here at the folk park, met up with another family of 4,…read moreso we had a big gang of 8 walking together through the park, in pouring rain, and it was a perfect day! We had children ages 6-15 and each one thought it was fascinating, the adults, too. It went on a bit too long for me- I was so surprised how many stops there were on the tour- and I ran out of stream! So come well-rested and prepared with good walking shoes and an umbrella, if needed. Cute gift shop. Very nice café. Loved it! Highly

It's been so long since we were here last that we'd forgotten almost all of it. Maybe it's just a…read moreseries of senior moments but I'll tell you what it's superb and a great way to spend 3 or more hours. There's no down side to this place. This is a superb living park where you walk through 18th & 19th century thatched cottages, a blacksmiths forge, a school house, a Roman Catholic Church, a Meeting House, a bank, general stores, barns, log cabins, you'll board a ship (to go from Ireland to America) meet the captain and you'll meet other delightful costumed characters who demonstrate traditional crafts, tell real stories. They are very likely to share good food with you. We had pumpkin pie, a molasses based shoo fly pie, apple pie, fruit cake and other goodies. Many of the buildings were dismantled from their original places in Ireland & America and re-built here. The influential Mellon family feature (banking, oil, steel and shares in HJ Heinz & General Motors) as does the Campbell family. Both families are originally from the area so further adding to the authenticity of the park. There are 44 separate outdoor places to go visit in addition to the exhibitions inside and notably they have a very good Titanic exhibition. So a dry day is essential or at least a dry half day. There's also a very good cafe with tasty food rather than the rubbish a lot of places serve up these days. In fact if I was close by I'd go here to eat without going into the folk park.

We visited the Ulster Museum after we had done quite a few other attractions and decided to only…read morefocus on one of the displays, namely the section dedicated to the Troubles. Extremely informative and well-presented.

Great museum with a wide variety of things- like a national museum. So many genres, and we got…read moreextra lucky that there was an exhibit of current artists with art for sale. That exhibit was gigantic and impressive. Only downside of the museum was no acoustical/ absorption to buffer the screeching children. It was well worth a visit if you have spare time in Belfast.

Went to the Crumlin road jail as it's the top ranked attraction on trip advisor. It was…read moreinteresting that the site is owned by the Govt but run by a private company. It cost £6.50 (had a £2 discount coupon). The last tour of the day is at 4:30pm but it's also cool that the main building is open till late because of the restaurant located inside. Hearing about what went on was truly horrific but overall this was an okay experience for me. I think I was expecting more info about the troubles and the political prisoners but that wasn't really our tour guide's focus. He also started the tour by asking for volunteers but nothing was done involving a volunteer! It's an hour's tour and the visit to the tunnel plus the hangman info was the most interesting bits of the tour for me. Another tip - Don't miss checking out the beautiful but now derelict courthouse opposite the street. The govt sold it for £1 but it's going to take a fair bit of bob to put it back to rights! So overall it was interesting tour but maybe Note: #222 of Yelp 100 challenge for 2016

I had been meaning to come here for absolutely years, and just never got around to it…read more I am a huge fan of anything of historical interest, however my first visit, surprisingly, was for the Ghost tour this Halloween! I booked the tickets online and came along this October hoping for a spooky experience. We were greeted at the gates by security who explained how to get around into the car park, and got parked up with no issues. We waited in the coffee shop 'The Crum' - and had a wine and beer each prior to the tour. When the tour started, we were initially taken into a holding area, and then began by being taken into the tunnel linking the jail to the courthouse, where allegedly, paranormal activity has taken place! Unfortunately (or thankfully, maybe) we experienced no such activity on our trip. We were then taken into a side room where an employee was said to have met a grisly end, and we were instructed to record audio on our phones. Next, we were taken to one of the wings where we could see the cells (and inside the cells) and last but not least, we were shown to the condemned man's cell, and behind the book case to the gallows, before being taken down into the basement. We didn't experience any ghostly going's on in our trip, but I would definitely come back again, this time during the day, so I can get a proper look at the inside of the jail, since the tour I did was in the dark or low light. Recommended!

Anyone who restored any old machine back to its former glory immediately has my respect. This…read moreorganization is actively restoring and preserving local history and a small section of the railway line up to the old abbey on the outskirts of Downpatrick, on some occasions you can get a ride on the steam engines which is great for kids and adults too. Its living history not from a textbook or stuck in a museum, these are working engines and preserving skills that would otherwise not be needed and be lost. Worth checking when trains are running for a visit.

Before planning our trip here, I was unaware that the Titanic originated in Belfast. This museum…read moredid an incredible job of detailing all that went into the ship as well as all that went wrong after they were at sea. The place is very large and the tour takes a couple hours. You're taken through the processes that occurred during the massive undertaking it was to construct the ship, to the setup onboard and ultimately the voltage itself. The place flows very nicely, there's a delightful ride and the pictures/audio tell quite the story. It's a very powerful place. The SS Nomadic outside is the last surviving ferry ship in the fleet was great to walk on and around. This is a must see spot when you're up in Belfast!

I was blown away by this museum! Sure it's an extremely popular historic event with a huge movie…read moreto gather even more attention, but Belfast had done it right. I enjoyed every aspect to the gigantic museum, from the surrounding area , before you enter, to each and every floor full of displays, movies and interactive activities. Masses of people will be there, yet I never felt rushed or overwhelmed as I worked my way through. So many thumbs up to this iconic museum. Must see!

The new town hall is a very welcome addition to ballymena. The centre offers lots of various…read moreperformances usually at very reasonable prices. The centre is really well decorated with some excellent art work. The acoustics are really good as well. In my opinion this is a really positive change for ballymena and improves the image of the area.

This was somewhere I'd always wanted to visit as a child. It sounded so interesting and so much…read morefun, but unfortunately for me, when our school was doing a school trip there, I was sick and couldn't go. I got over that and pretty much forgot about it.. Not long ago we decided to do something for the day, and this was mentioned. I'd remembered how much I wanted to go in the past and thought who not give it a go! To cut a long story short, we got round it in less than half an hour. I should have gone when I was in P2 because that seems to be the age of child a lot of the exhibits are aimed at. Apparently they do 'digital shows' - but none of that was available when we went. They do various demonstrations etc, but again this was not on when we were there. They do do telescope nights in Autumn and Winter which could be really interesting, however Armagh is a wee bit far for me to travel. For anyone interested I believe Queens University offer something similar.

Ok, so we're a tad out of greater Belfast here, but the Planetarium is only 40 minutes from…read moreBelfast, and I was there recently so it's getting reviewed! I hadn't been since we went on a school trip when I was 9 or so. However, I have a friend who's a bit obsessed with space travel at the moment, so we decided to take a little road trip to the Cathedral City to have a nosy. The exhibition space itself is a little dull if I'm honest. I found it interesting enough, and I suppose if you were there with a school group and had a guide, it would be more interesting, but despite the fact that I normally love science museums and astrology, I struggled to stay focused at times! However, we then went to one of the shows, which more than made up for my earlier boredom! Like all planetarium shows, it was inside the big dome. The one we saw was called Violent Universe. I won't spoil it, but it was both awesome and terrifying (and I am now convinced the world will end in 2036). Best bit? It's narrated by Patrick Stewart! He didn't seem to be panicking about the end of the world though, so if Captain Picard isn't worried, maybe I shouldn't be either... The gift shop is small, but has a few interesting things like beautiful poster prints, and freeze dried ice cream (we bought some, haven't been brave enough to try it yet!) and the usual pens and rainbow rubbers. Entrance plus a show is £6 so I reckon it'd be a really good way to keep the little inquisitive people in your life entertained for the afternoon. And if that's not enough to convince you, how about if I tell you that the 4pm show is narrated by David Tennent...?

I have to say, and am sad to do so, but the new museum disappointed me. They have tried to do…read moresomething different and it is spread across a number of floors, but it just seems to lack something. Hard to say what exactly, but it just doesn't, for me, gel as a whole. It is free (which is a bonus) and they do have some very interesting and well thought out sections, but other parts are very poorly designed and thought out. I think some more work needs done on the whole concept of the museum. It can and should, even if it remains free, be a very good feather in the cap of the local community, but still has a long way to go. Locals and visitors alike should want to visit and return again. After our last visit, we didn't think it would draw us in again for a long time.

Not a lot to see really and not worth just going to visit on its own, but it is on the main street…read moreand worth a visit if in the town anyway.

We walked through the Botanical Gardens which are located adjacent to the university. As like…read moreeverything else in Ireland, the whole grounds were bright green and full of different plant species and lots and lots of flowers. I particularly liked their greenhouse. The beautiful white medal perfectly balanced the contrast between nature and industrial features while complementing the space and giving these particular plants a specific place to grow, such as succulents. The rose gardens reminded me of something from Alice in Wind with how the grass paths were weaved between the rose bushes and some of the flowers looked fake because they were so healthy and vibrant.  There are two newer greenhouses that were built specifically for tropical plants. Inside of each of these greenhouses, the temperature and humidity was set to stay at the perfect settings for these tropical plants to thrive. They were multiple stories so that the trees could grow tall and the vines could grow long and even go all the way up to the rafters. A great place to see and spend time on a sunny or partly cloudy day!!

Beautiful grounds near Queen's College in Belfast. So peaceful and sprawling. The grounds…read moremeticulously kept. The grounds included some magnificently lush green lawn for taking in the nice weather being experienced during our stay. The Ferris Wheel was well worth the nominal expense. The rose garden was beautifully laid out.