Belfast City Hall Tours
Information about Belfast City Hall Tours
Opening hours
Information on guided tours at Belfast City Hall including visiting the Lord Mayors' portraits, Robing Room and Council Chamber.
A group of 10 or more people must contact [email protected] to organise a private tour rather than joining a public tour which has limited places. Visitors must come to City Hall reception 15 minutes before the tour time.
Donations are accepted for the development of the tour service. There are donation boxes at City Hall reception. To make sure there are no disruptions to public tours, we don't allow translations to take place during tours.
A guided tour of City Hall lasts around one hour. The tour allows you an extraordinary glimpse into areas not usually accessible to the public within the beautiful Baroque Revival building. Ascending the Grand Staircase, an experienced guide will lead you through rooms beginning in the Italian and Greek marble clad Rotunda. They will highlight the John Luke mural and the ‘Whispering gallery’ high up in the central dome.
In the ‘Robing Room’ your guide will explain the significance each item of civic regalia on display including the magnificent jewels of the Lady Mayoress of Belfast, worn since 1897 and which are encrusted with diamonds, rubies, opals, turquoise and emeralds.
For many the highlight of the guided tour of City Hall will be your opportunity to sit where the 60 elected members of Belfast’s City Council meet for their monthly council meeting. You can examine fascinating artefacts including the two royal thrones used by George V and Queen Mary during the state opening of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, held in the room in June 1921.
City Hall hosts over 500 events on an annual basis meaning the function rooms are rarely vacant. When possible, your guide will grant you a glimpse behind the scenes of this busy working public building and into these magnificent rooms. Admire their extraordinary plasterwork, hand carved woodwork and hand woven silk and wool carpets as you pass through these spaces in the footsteps of royalty, presidents and figures of Belfast’s illustrious past.
Private tours are available to commercial tour operators at a charge. Tours for commercial tour operators must be booked at least seven days in advance and outside public tour times. Private groups can provide a translator to assist in the delivery of a tour alongside one of our tour guides. To enquire about a translation tour, email [email protected]
Private tours are available free to school and community groups. A group must have between 10 and 25 people. A private tour must be booked at least seven days in advance and outside public tour times.
Our guided tours are accessible to visitors with disabilities. If you have specific enquiry about the needs of a visitor or group of guests, contact us.
Belfast City Hall Tours: Reviews
Fantastic experience: Interesting! Amazing History !
Fantastic experience: This place is an amazing site everyone should visit! We only decided to visit this due to another attraction nearby being closed for christmas, but after my time here I would recommend making this a priority if you are ever in the belfast area. The guided tours are free, all you free to do is go register for tickets on the day you wish to have a tour . Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and guided us through the history of Belfast as we explored this gorgeous building and showed us all the main chambers of Belfast government. 10/10 experience and time, would definitely recommend to everyone..
Fantastic experience: Great
Fantastic experience: Possui visita guiada gratuita, local muito bonito!
Fantastic experience: Excellent guided tour 50 minutes in length and it's free. I advise anyone who reads this and can visit to do so.
Fantastic experience: Great.
Fantastic experience: Fantastic little tour. We found out about it from the free tour we had done that morning and decided on a whim to sign up to do it. And what a fantastic decision it was. The building is precious, the stories interesting and the guide wonderful. It is like a small museum in the first floor, all the painting of past Lord Mayors on display and you even had the opportunity to sit on the Lord Mayor Chair and the chamber of local MPs. An excellent use of 45 minutes. Afterwards there was a small exhibition downstairs about the troubles that was worthwhile as well. All this and it is free, so you would be fool to miss it!
Fantastic experience: Beautiful building and a lovely free tour.
Fantastic experience: Thanks David for a fantastic tour with lots of history and insights about this beautiful building. Alongside an engaging exhibition, a must-see site to visit in Belfast and free too!
Positive experience: This is an interesting exhibition on the history of Belfast. This answered the questions we had about various things like the impact of WW2.
Fantastic experience: Excellent free tour, really interesting guide with lots of information
Fantastic experience: Do this free Tour! It runs 45 min but it seems to be over in an instant, so many nice Storys and facts are told. Sit in the Lord Majors Chair or wear the gown of a council member...! So many nice memorys and an astonishing building!
Fantastic experience: Great tour, detail, information, humorous, engaging & entertaining.
Fantastic experience: Fantastic experience, superb tour
Positive experience: Free tours, 45 minutes, interesting.
Positive experience: A little bit short because of the elections but that is understandable. Christopher was a wonderful guide, everyone was very happy. Thank you very much
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