School trips to Belfast

Why visit Belfast?

Explore the political history of the UK and Ireland

For students studying the political history of the UK and Ireland, Belfast is an unmissable opportunity to deepen their understanding of the social, historical, economical and cultural context in which the partition of Ireland, the Troubles and the peace process all took place.

Belfast has certainly endured a turbulent political history, not least during the Troubles, which saw more than 1,600 people killed between 1969 and 2001.

We can arrange for your group to take a walking tour around the city where they’ll learn about the history of the sectarian tensions in the city.

On this tour, they’ll discover a deeply divided city which proved a fertile breeding ground for violence between the republican and loyalist factions. They’ll learn more about what each side was fighting for and why the simmering tensions eventually spilled over into the out and out violence that took hold of the city for three decades, during the period known as the Troubles.

Later in your trip, you’ll be able to visit the Stormont Estate, the seat of Northern Ireland’s devolved legislature. Your students will enjoy a tour of the parliament buildings and can even take part in a Q&A session with one of the MLAs, listen to a talk by one of the Assembly staff, or undertake a mock election activity.

This experience will help them to better understand the power of devolved bodies in the UK and find out more about the relationship between the Northern Ireland Assembly and Westminster.

Discover a regenerated city

In the years since the Good Friday Agreement, Belfast has experienced somewhat of a renaissance. Investment in the local area has seen significant urban regeneration and the city is attracting more and more foreign investment.

Tourism has also boomed since peace came to Northern Ireland. Once considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world, Belfast is now one of the most visited weekend destinations in Europe. The city itself has some fantastic tourist attractions, including Titanic Belfast, where your group can learn about how the tragic ship was designed, built and launched from here.

Belfast is also popular as a base from which to explore the spectacular landscapes of Northern Ireland, which have been thrust into the spotlight recently as filming locations for Game of Thrones.