A journey through divided communities and shared complex history
Discover Belfast’s complex and often painful past on Belfast’s Troubles Unveiled, a guided walking tour exploring the city’s conflict through the lived experiences of west Belfast’s divided communities. This tour forms part of Belfast’s growing peace tourism offering and provides a balanced introduction to the Troubles for visitors seeking understanding rather than sensationalism.
For over thirty years, Belfast was shaped by political violence, social division and sectarian conflict. Nowhere was this more visible than in west Belfast, where neighbouring communities lived side by side yet worlds apart, separated physically and psychologically by peace walls rising over 30 feet high.
This walking tour examines the Troubles from a civilian, non-partisan perspective. By analysing murals, memorials and public spaces, you will explore how each community remembers the conflict and how identity, memory and place continue to shape the city today. The tour aims to be balanced and situates the Troubles within a longer historical context, tracing tensions back over 500 years to the English and Scottish colonisation of Ireland during the Plantation period.
As one of Belfast’s Troubles tours, this experience does not take sides. Instead, it offers context, explanation and reflection, helping visitors understand how historical grievances, political decisions and everyday experiences combined to produce decades of conflict.
The tour also examines how the conflict came to an end with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, marking the beginning of a peace process that continues to shape Northern Ireland. You will learn about the ceasefires, the challenges of reconciliation and the remarkable transformation Belfast has undergone since the height of the violence.
Whether you are new to the subject or already familiar with Northern Ireland’s history, this tour offers a thoughtful and accessible introduction to Belfast’s conflict, its consequences and its ongoing journey towards peace.
Itinerary
The tour begins in the Falls Road area of west Belfast, a predominantly Catholic and nationalist neighbourhood where residents traditionally identify as Irish and where many sought constitutional change during the Troubles. Here, murals and memorials focus on civil rights, imprisonment and international solidarity, offering insight into how this community experienced and remembers the conflict.
From the Falls, the tour passes through one of Belfast’s peace walls, constructed by the British Army from 1969 onwards in an attempt to reduce inter-communal violence. These barriers remain powerful symbols of division but also form part of the city’s peace tourism landscape today.
Crossing into the Shankill Road, a largely Protestant and unionist area where residents identify as British, the tour explores a different historical narrative. Here, murals and commemorative sites reflect loyalty to the United Kingdom, experiences of loss and the impact of paramilitary activity within the community.
Throughout the walk, the guide explains key political terms, historical events and social dynamics that shaped everyday life during the Troubles, placing local experiences within a broader national and international context.
The tour concludes in central Belfast, allowing easy access to shops, cafés and public transport, and providing space for reflection on the city’s past, present and future.
Details
START: The tour is 2.5 hours. Exact times will be arranged in advance.
LANGUAGE: All tours are delivered in English.
MEET: Under the statute of Queen Victoria at Belfast City Hall, Belfast, BT1 5GS (or the main gates near Queen Victoria if the City Hall is closed. This is at the junction of Donegall Place and Donegall Square). This is the location the tour will also finish.
END: Under the statute of Queen Victoria at Belfast City Hall, Belfast, BT1 5GS.
COST: 25.00 GBP per adult (16 and over); minimum group is 5 adults, maximum is 15.
INCLUDED: tour guide.
EXCLUDED: refreshments/transport.
Note: the distance covered is around 4-5 miles (6-8km), though on the flat is a good walk!