Belfast Black Cab Tour: Troubles history with local drivers

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Free cancellationExcellent quality

1/17

Duration2h

GroupPrivate

LanguagesEN

PickupAt your hotel

Your guide spent decades driving through a war zone to keep the city moving.

A private 2-hour black cab tour of Belfast with a local guide who lived through the Troubles, traveling the Falls Road and Shankill Road, past murals, the Peace Wall, and Crumlin Road Gaol. The guides were taxi drivers on the front lines throughout the conflict, offering firsthand perspective on 800 years of Irish history and the sectarian divide that shaped the city. Hotel or port pickup is included; children from age 9 are welcome.

Step-by-step itinerary

Belfast City Centre Black Cab Tour

Visit Divis flats British army base
Explore Falls Road murals and history
Pass by Crumlin Road Gaol
See murals on various international themes
Tour Shankill Road loyalist murals
Visit gothic monastery with peace talks history
View Belfast Peace Walls and quotes

The Experience

What makes this tour different is who's driving. These guides weren't historians who studied the conflict—they were taxi drivers operating black cabs through the Troubles, ferrying people across a divided city when few others would. They know the Falls Road and Shankill not from a textbook but from decades of navigating both communities, watching the murals change, and understanding why the Peace Wall exists. You travel in one of the original London cabs or a luxury Mercedes, picking up from your hotel or the port.

The route moves through the neighborhoods that defined the conflict. You start at Divis Flats, where the British Army occupied the top two floors for over 25 years, then drive the Falls Road—several miles long, the birthplace of the Provisional IRA, lined with murals painted by locals explaining the Catholic experience. Crumlin Road Gaol, built in the 1800s as a hanging prison, held IRA, UVF, UFF and INLA members until the Good Friday Agreement led to prisoner releases in the 1990s. Your guide walks you through what each building meant and why it mattered. The Peace Wall itself, built in 1969 to separate loyalist and Republican communities, carries messages from visitors including President Clinton, Tiger Woods and Morgan Freeman—and your guide explains why it's still there.

The Shankill Road shows the other side: the heart of loyalism, birthplace of the UDA and UVF, with over 40 murals that change monthly to reflect global causes—Palestine, Cuba, Kurdish independence. A gothic monastery where secret peace talks between Gerry Adams and John Hume took place sits nearby. The whole tour runs two hours with WiFi on board, air conditioning, and a professional English-speaking guide who lived through what you're seeing. Children from age 9 can join; younger children can ride in a stroller.

What’s included

Hotel or port pickup and drop-off.
private vehicle transport in an air-conditioned black cab or luxury Mercedes.
professional English-speaking guide.
WiFi on board.

Good to know

Easy physical levelStroller friendlyPets welcomePublic transport nearbyInfants must sit on laps

Operated by belfastattractions.co.uk

Is this one for you?Travel with someone who drove through the Troubles on Falls Road and Shankill Road—their firsthand account transforms the murals, peace walls, and neighborhoods into a lived history you won't find in books.