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.

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.

A gallery and framers which shows a diverse range of contemporary artworks. Paintings, sculptures,…read moreprints, drawings - they have it all. Canvas staff are friendly and allow you to have a browse at your own leisure. The one and only drawback is that it is such a small space.

I am basing my review on a launch of an exhibition I attended here in November of last year…read more It was a great little show where 50 artists submitted 2 small canvasses each to the show. The canvasses filled the walls and it was fun trying to guess the pairs artists had submitted. My friend had two fantastic paintings in this show, but some of the stuff submitted was real amateur crap. Like stuff drawn with markers with tinfoil stuck on it. I mean come on! For someone like my friend, who has a degree in Fine Art, works in an artist studio and is trained to a high level to be exhibiting her work beside some messers using markers was a bit questionable for me. I would agree with the other reviewer in saying the standard of art Canvas show is average.

Amazing little gallery located in Queen's University. Great range of exhibitions. Although small in…read moresize it shows a wonderfully diverse range of art works. Well worth dropping into for a look.

This festival is a real gem, and is a welcome addition to the cultural activities of Belfast!It is…read morelocated this year in Botanic Gardens which makes it a central and easily accessible place for all those of Belfast and beyond! To start off, the food is provided by the finest chefs from the restaurants of Northern Ireland. I was there yesterday and I was lucky to sample food from the chefs of La Boca, Mourne Seafood Bar and the Fitzwilliam Hotel. There is a wide range of food to cater to all tastes, including vegetarians. As for the music, it is mainly of the cover band variety, but when the bands are tight and very engaging like Flash Harry and Rumours Of Fleetwood Mac, the lack of originality can be overlooked! There a wide range of pricing plans, ranging from £5 for five sampling tokens and admission in the lunch time hours to the "Premiere Club Taste Fest" package for £50 which gets you entry to every day, 25 food tokens and a free drink of your choice.It is up to you what you need most! I wish this Festival the best of luck and hope it grows stronger in the years to come!

Ok, so positives first:…read more The food! Yummy! There's so much variety and you get to sample food from the best of NI's chefs and restaurants - Belfast's Merchant, Portadown's Yellow Door - they're all there and the food is (generally) divine. The entertainment is also pretty good. Last year when I went it was the Strictly Come Dancing band and two of the dancers (this was great for me - I'm a massive Strictly fan!) and this year, I saw Flash Harry, who are a really very good Queen tribute band. And now the negatives - it's so expensive! You can burn £30 or £40 without thinking, which stings a bit! Actually, that's about the only negative I can think of. I was going to mention the weather, since it was a total wash out, but it seems unfair to use that against them. It's an incredibly well organised event that's well worth going to, even if it will set you back.

I do love a good night out at the flicks, and if you are a fan of film this is the place to be!…read moreBelfast has plenty of options for watching the usual big budget fayre but for the more discerning viewer the QFT always has something on offer. I've cried at cartoons, laughed at documentaries and rocked out at the rockumentaries. You should also keep an eye out for their special events. Last week I saw the new Hockney documentary which included a live link up to the artist's studio in LA and was shown in tandem with 200 cinemas across the UK. It was awesome. I took my Dad who usually falls asleep within 15 mins of anything, and he was on the edge of his extremely comfortable seat! The new bar area is a lovely ,relaxed space, and it makes a nice change to smell culture rather than overpriced sickly popcorn! ;-)

The QFT is one of the few independent cinemas left in Belfast (probably in Northern Ireland…read moreactually). It's the place to see modern, largely independent films. It's also a great place to see films like Coco Before Chanel or La Vie En Rose - pretty well known and successful films, but not mainstream enough for the chain cinemas. You'll get a mix of students, film buffs and Guardian reader types (I mean no offence, I include myself in that group!) here, all enjoying the chance to see something different, challenging, and hopefully more interesting than some of the films available in bigger screenings. The only criticism I have is of the screens themselves. There isn't a lot of leg room (not a problem for me, I'm 5ft3", but anyone over about 5ft6 would have trouble), and only some of the seats are elevated. At a screening of Coco Before Chanel, the only seat I could get was in the third row and as a result, I could see the bottom of the screen. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but when the film is subtitled, it's a pretty fatal flaw. Thankfully, my French isn't terrible, so I was able to fill in some of the blanks, but others weren't so lucky. There are always some great films and talks on at the QFT during the Belfast Film Festival, so whether you're a casual fan or a total film buff, this place is worth checking out.

I am obsessed with theatre, in a Glen Close crazy kinda way. I'm also a little shocked at the lack…read moreof attention being given to the lyric. It is internationally renowned, the starting ground for many careers (such as Liam Neeson) and one of the most wonderful theatres I've been to. Currently being refurbished, the new theatre will have three performance spaces. It's difficult to review this, considering I have no crystal ball, however the plans and drawings on the lyrics website for the new theatre look impressive. This is not a theatre to be intimidated by; the staff are incredibly friendly and the bar is, as far as I can remember, reasonably priced. It's a nice excuse to get dressed up, but if you don't, well that's OK too. Ticket prices are normally around £10, which I think is pretty reasonable. The most recent productions I've seen at the Lyric, have been The Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Miser. The former being one of my favourite productions and moreover my long suffering boyfriend liked it; he has never liked anything he has seen at the theatre and normally leaves cursing what we've seen and cursing me! The Lyric remains my favourite theatre in Northern Ireland, for classic and contemporary plays, surprises and a great night.

Dana Masters originally from South Carolina, has made Lisburn and Northern Ireland her home. In…read more2012 herself and Linley Hamilton had a weekly Jazz residence in McHugh's basement bar. Being a huge fan of Jazz Music, I was privileged to be at the very first performance and was blown away by the talent of Dana and the other musicians. There is only a few vocalists that makes the back of my neck tingle when listening to them and that's what makes them special and world class. I looked forward to going every Saturday, close my eyes and enjoy the music. It did not feel like I was in Belfast at all. Sometimes I even had to pinch myself as I listened to the sublime weekly performance. The news soon spread and McHughs Jazz sessions soon had a cult following of faithful fans and at times you couldn't get into the basement for the amount of people. In 2014, I was not surprised that 11,000 at Proms in the Park were all talking about Dana as performance of the night. We've adopted Dana Masters as one of Northern Ireland's top vocalists. "Dana Masters is one of those musicians and not only were we able to relax and enjoy the richness of her undeniably flawless voice, we were also treated to a showcase of some of the finest Jazz instrumentalists in the UK & Ireland." Jude Malone, GiggingNI.com More than 350 music fans gave Dana Masters and her band a standing ovation at the Lyric Theatre Belfast on Monday night. The performance included the old Civil Rights anthem 'A Change is Gonna Come', dedicating it to her mother, a strong supporter of Martin Luther King. Dana was accompanied by Linley Hamilton on trumpet, Johnny Taylor on keyboards, Paul Hamilton on drums, , Dave Howell on saxophone, Paddy Groenland, lead guitar and Charlie Foley, bass guitar. One of my favourite songs was the cover of John Legend's Ordinary People . The band played all five of the tracks on the EP - Motherless Child, My Funny Valentine, Blue Moon, Like a Star by Corinne Bailey Rae, finishing the set with a beautiful version of Charlie Chaplin's Smile. This was an amazing showcase for N.Ireland's jazz scene.

Great place. Love this design mix of old and new…read more The actual theatre was outstanding in terms of the art on the roof etc. I think I spent just as much time looking up as I did the show.

I love the Grand Opera House. A visit to see a show here makes for a fabulous day or evening out…read more Over the years some of my favourites have been The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Dracula Untold, Columbo: Prescription Murder, Agatha Christie's Mousetrap, Dirty Dancing and The Woman In Black. It's also a visually fabulous Victorian style theatre and even the modern architecture of the Baby Grand section is beginning to appeal to me (although I disliked it when it was first built). There are a couple of bars inside which boast a good drinks menu and as with all theatres, you can preorder your beverages for performance intervals. Being a relatively small theatre auditorium I always find there's a good view of the stage no matter where you sit, great sound and comfortable seating too. There are a couple of small drawbacks however. Tickets to popular performances can sell out fast, so you need to book immediately if you're interested in a show. Plus tickets can be expensive as well, so it's not a cheap day out. Nonetheless, you'll find a huge range of performances here including musicals, drama, comedy, opera, pantos and dance so there really is something to suit all tastes.

I am in no way an art buff. I'm not an art anything in fact. But I do like to have a look around…read morethese places, even just to seem a little cultured to the store assistant who can obviously seen through my nods of appreciation. From the outside it looks a little more commercial to other galleries in the area. It always has advertisements in its windows, stating silly pointless things that you should already expect to find in a gallery (not signs saying 'pretty paintings!' but close enough). The price range clearly shows that the stuff here really is for someone who wants to make a serious commitment. Paying 4/5 hundred pounds for a painting the size of my palm is the biggest commitment anyone can make in my opinion!

Eakin's my favourite art gallery on the Lisburn Road. A lovely little family run gallery spanning…read moretwo floors of a red brick townhouse. Specialists in contemporary Irish art they also have some pieces from the past as well. You'll find a range of Artists' work here including George Callaghan, Brian Ballard, Neil Shawcross, Dean McDowell, Louis le Brocquy, J B Vallely and Terry Bradley amongst others. I always call in for a look when I pass Eakin. Yesterday I visited to view the beautiful, stylised, atmospheric paintings of George Callaghan. His harvest sunset paintings are mesmerising and I adore his 'Purple Haze' landscapes. A beautiful exhibition for this time of year as we near the end of October. Prices vary, ranging from smaller works for a few hundred pounds to larger paintings for a few thousand. If I win the lotto I may one day be able to buy instead of just browse! The owner Brian Eakin is very welcoming and their website's kept fully updated with all current paintings listed. However nothing beats a stroll through Eakin Gallery to see the paintings in the flesh.

Part of Queen's University Belfast this hall hosts many events and lectures. Apparently it can be…read morebooked for dinner events, conferences and talks. I've only been to talks held here and the best seating for both view and sound is in the upstairs seated section. Has a formal, historical vibe and is easily accessible via walking, public transport or car.

A lovely old building in the university grounds (well, I assume it was... if not, it was near…read moreenough) hosted a show I went to and it was very pretty on approach indeed. Once inside, the grandiose feeling dies down a little, but by and large, it continues to look very nice indeed. The hall itself is large and roomy and more than capable of dealing with a large gig. That said, I'm not entirely sure which room I was in. A little inspection on the sly showed quite a few rooms, with one being a very pretty (but smaller) vaulted room, with others looking pretty futuristic. Even so, you could get a beer easily enough and the whole thing was rather pleasurable. Boring as hell I know, but this is a sweet little place that is difficult to pick holes in.