Anyone have a suggestion for a Belfast B&B? We looked at the ones in Rick's book, but their online reviews have a disturbing proportion of "poor" and "terrible" ratings, albeit along with "excellent" and "very good." We found The Avenue Guesthouse in the "Let's Go Ireland" book, but they just said they are booked up for when we want to be there (September). So we're casting about for alternatives. We want to be near the Botanic Garden, but most of the B&Bs seem to be in that area.
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9369 posts
If you google "Belfast bed and breakfast" you'll get a Google map with a listing of numerous B&Bs in Belfast, along with reviews and booking information. Since you know what area of town you want to be in, I'd start with that and start emailing them to see who has availability.
Posted by
Powell River, Canada
359 posts
Dav; consider staying in Bangor, just outside of Belfast but on the water with a small town centre and harbour to wander about. It'll cost but a few GBP to get into Belfast centre by taxi to see your 'sights' but the nights, evenings and mornings will be peaceful, relaxed and very laid back.
Posted by
Clarksville, TN, USA
959 posts
Dav, although you said you're looking for a B&B, you did say that you were looking for alternatives... So if you aren't completely stuck on a B&B, you could look for a hotel instead. We are staying in B&B's in 3 out of 5 of the cities we're visiting over there, but in Belfast, I couldn't seem to find a lot of B&B's that were near the city centre. But I was able to find a lot of hotels, with decent TripAdvisor ratings, and decent rates. We're staying at Benedicts Hotel which is right in the city centre for only 82 Pounds/night. Not to mention, it's #2 on TripAdvisor for Belfast hotels... I can totally understand if you want to stick with B&B's, they sound like a better way to stay over there, but in this case, a hotel worked better for us.
Posted by
Clarksville, TN, USA
959 posts
PS - Another perk of B&B's are the breakfast being included, but Benedicts has a full Irish breakfast that is included in the rate. http://www.benedictshotel.co.uk/hotel-belfast.asp?DocumentID=1
Also, I found this on their site, "Given the central location of the hotel, just a 10 minute stroll south from Belfast city centre or a 5 minute walk to the world renowned Queen's University Lanyon Building and Botanical Gardens..."
Posted by
OP
Alexandria, Virginia, USA
504 posts
Thanks to everyone for their replies. We did find one guest house that looks promising, The Old Rectory:
http://www.anoldrectory.co.uk/
Has anyone stayed there? Trip Advisory had good reviews.
Posted by
Monein, Pyrenees, France
425 posts
Dav - That sounds like a good one -- but it's not cheap -- and it's quite a hike from there to the city centre. You will need to use public transport.
I spent a year in Belfast in 2000/1 and it was VERY difficult to find a good B&B within walking distance of the centre. I ended up renting an apartment. The TRAVELODGE hotel in the centre is worth considering as a no frills budget hotel. I stayed there a few times with no complaints.
Roger