A ferry stop with a happy ending | Belfast to Dublin

Where does it start? Belfast

Where does it end? Dublin

How long is it? 166 miles

Why is it great?

Belfast to Dublin on the motorway is a 90-minute blast, but if you have the time, this is a pleasant combination of inland, coast and mountains.

Ride from Belfast to Portaferry, have home-made ice cream in Blaney’s or lunch in the Portaferry Hotel, and hop across on the short ferry ride to the pretty village of Strangford.

If you thought the hotel was too formal, the Cuan in Strangford does great pub grub, then it’s on through the lovely Georgian village of Killough, which feels like being in France, to the Victorian seaside resort of Newcastle, down the coast for great fish and chips in The Galley in Annalong, then west through the soaring Mourne Mountains to join the motorway south to Dublin.

What do I need to know?

Give yourself a day or two to enjoy Belfast, a city reborn since the dark days of what locals call the Troubles.

For accommodation, my favourite city hotel is Tara Lodge in the leafy University Quarter: great value, friendly and helpful staff, perfect breakfasts, free Wi-Fi, off-street parking and comfortable rooms.

Visit Titanic Belfast, the world’s biggest museum dedicated to the doomed ship which was built by Harland & Wolff when Belfast had the world’s biggest shipyards, linen mills, tobacco factories and ropeworks.

Another great museum is the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum eight miles from Belfast. The transport section has some great bikes, including several raced by local hero and TT legend Joey Dunlop.

Anything Else?

In the evening, head for Hill Street. This cobbled street in the Cathedral Quarter has become the buzzing heart of the city’s nightlife, with eight pubs within three minutes’ walk, making it the perfect venue for a civilised pub crawl.

Start at one end with The Harp Bar, which has live music nightly, as does the permanently popular Duke of York, and if you have the stamina, end up at The National Grande Café in High Street.

For dinner, the best restaurant in the area is The Muddlers Club in Warehouse Lane, just off Hill Street. The waiting staff are young, impossibly good looking and have PhDs in food, wine and charm, and the food is so good that a Michelin star could be in the offing.

Elsewhere in the city, bars like The Crown, the only pub in the UK owned by the National Trust, are still a must.