A festive feast for the senses: Esther McCarthy's guide to 48 hours in Belfast

A road trip to Belfast ticks all the boxes for a break with friends. Fabulous food, upscale hotels, cool bars, festive markets, what more could you want? writes Esther N McCarthy

First-timers to the city, a girls' road trip turned into a weekend to remember in Belfast, especially when you're staying in the sumptuous Regency boutique accommodation.

It’s Saturday night, we’ve got our sparkles on sitting in a window seat in one of the most luxurious liquor lounges in the land. Expresso martinis in our hands, admiring the fashion of our fellow glamorous tipplers and a panoramic view from the tallest bar in Ireland, the skybar in Belfast’s The Observatory. It doesn’t get much better than this.

For three Cork mammys who’ve been threatening to go on a road trip since Covid restrictions lifted, Belfast ticked all our boxes. It was far enough away that we wouldn’t be pulled back for any last minute sports/parties/elf-on-the-shelf emergencies, but still a very manageable four and a half hours from door to door, none of us had been there before and it seemed to offer all we were looking for, fabulous food, cool bars, a dash of culture and a smidgen of shopping.