The Titanic Museum opened in April, 2012 and is Belfast’s newest attraction. It was built to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the building of the Titanic at a cost of £77 million. It is located on the site of the former Harland & Wolff Shipyards where the Titanic was built.
This museum covers the complete history of the Titanic from its creation to the current efforts to preserve its remains. The tour progresses through many different galleries including: the history of shipbuilding in Belfast, the launch, the fitting out, life on board, the sinking and the aftermath. In one section there is a Shipyard Ride that is a “Disney” like ride that takes you through a replica of the shipyard that uses special effects to recreate the sights and sounds of the working shipyard. I think this ride is more geared towards children to keep them entertained and was not nearly as interesting as the rest of the exhibits. You can bypass this ride if you like.
The last exhibit is a two level theater with a large screen showing underwater footage of the Titanic with narration by Dr. Robert Ballard, the man who discovered the remains of the Titanic. The museum extends itself to the outside to the slipways where the ships were actually built. There are steel columns which represent the Arrol Gantrys and outlines of the two ships that were built at the same time, the Titanic and the Olympic.
The ground floor has a cafe, restaurant and gift shop. The Gallery Cafe is cafeteria style and has sandwiches, coffee, snacks and deserts. The Bistro 401 restaurant was a sit down place with service that specialized in Irish food. I ate a sandwich at the cafe and thought it was good and the price was reasonable.
Belfast has really embraced its Titanic past and offers many different Titanic themed tours and attractions that could keep you busy for days. There is a Titanic Walking Tour, Titanic Boat Tour, Dock and Pumphouse Tour and probably a few more new ones since I was there. I did not get to take any other tours but I did hear that was walking tour that takes you into the dry dock is a really good tour.
I really enjoyed the Titanic Museum and would recommend it to any visitor to Belfast.
- Titanic Museum Website
- Make reservations before you go because they do sell out
- It takes about three hours to go through
- It is a 20 minute walk from central Belfast or a short Bus or Cab ride
World Traveller says
I don’t know why but I’m absolutely fascinated by the Titanic. A visit to the Titanic Museum is high on my to-do list and having read about your visit it sounds like it’s worth a trip to Belfast just to visit the museum.
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Jeff says
It was a really interesting Museum because they included the history of the ship building industry in Belfast and all the personal stories that went along with building the ship. I would definitely recommend visiting Belfast.
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Admin says
The museum extends itself to the outside to the slipways where the ships were actually built. Titanic Ireland
ANGLO/Dale says
Wish I’d made the trip to see this before leaving the UK. As a massive Titanic history fan as a kid (like really little), and a architecture buff as an adult; this would have made me so happy.