Belfast is the cheapest capital in the British Isles: the national museum is free, the Victorian market charges nothing at the door, and the peace walls, Titanic slipways and a 368m basalt mountain cost nothing at all. Three days here run on small change.
The Portland stone dome of 1906 is free to enter. A self-guided route covers the marble staircase, stained glass and the Titanic Memorial Garden, and free 45-minute guided tours run Mon-Fri at 11:00, 14:00 and 15:00.
The Falls Road International Wall murals and the 8m steel-and-brick peace line at Cupar Way are open street: free, unstaffed and accessible around the clock. Visitors are welcome to sign the lower panels of the Cupar Way gates.
Northern Ireland's national museum charges nothing, every day it opens (Tue-Sun 10:00-17:00). Five floors hold the Egyptian mummy Takabuti, Spanish Armada gold salvaged from the Girona wreck, and a permanent Troubles and Beyond gallery.
Charles Lanyon's 1840 curvilinear iron Palm House and the sunken Tropical Ravine glasshouse sit in 28 free acres beside Queen's University. The park is open dawn to dusk; the glasshouses shut at 17:00 in summer, 16:00 in winter.
The last surviving Victorian covered market in Belfast, built 1890, with free entry on Friday 06:00-14:00, Saturday 09:00-15:00 and Sunday 10:00-15:00. Sausage baps, crepes and traybakes run £2-5 from the food hall counters.
Belfast's oldest chippy has been frying since 1914 in a plain formica-table cafe with no music and no card machine. Cod, chips and a pot of tea comes to roughly £8, served Monday to Saturday until late afternoon.
A converted warehouse yard on the edge of the Cathedral Quarter with free entry, covered seating and a rotating rank of street-food traders. Loaded fries, bao and pizza slices sit in the £5-9 band, Thursday to Sunday.
The burrito chain was born in Belfast on Botanic Avenue in 2007 and still fills a foil-wrapped brick of barbacoa, rice and beans for around £8.50, with free chips and salsa refills at the Chichester Street branch.
The 368m basalt cliff above Belfast is free and open all year. The waymarked Cave Hill Trail from the Belfast Castle car park climbs to McArt's Fort, the 'Napoleon's Nose' profile said to have inspired Swift's Gulliver.
The 1870 Scottish baronial castle costs nothing to enter, with a free visitor centre upstairs and an Italianate cat garden where nine cat figures hide in the terrace mosaics, ironwork and hedging. Grounds open daily from 09:00.
The full-size outlines of the Titanic and Olympic hulls are marked in the ground on the original Harland & Wolff slipways — open, unfenced and free. The Maritime Mile path carries on past HMS Caroline and the Thompson Dock gates.
John Kindness's 10m ceramic Salmon of Knowledge is clad in blue-and-white tiles printed with Belfast's history, from the Norman castle to the peace agreement. The Lagan Weir footbridge beside it gives free river views back to the skyline.