Variously known as the orchard and cathedral County, Armagh is a wonderfully balanced historic town that blends culture and tradition with forward-thinking, modern developments. It is also the ecclesiastical centre of Northern Ireland: make sure to check out St Patrick’s Cathedral, a gorgeous church with an intricate interior that shimmers with gold, mosaics and stained glass windows.
Other highlights include taking a stroll along the Georgian majesty of the Mall, a trip back in time to the living-history museum at the Navan Centre and Fort and a trip around the cosmos at the Planetarium. Or perhaps take in a game of Gaelic football or hurling, a trip to the Market Place Theatre or a drink in the Titanic-themed pub modelled on the passenger liner built over the hills in Belfast.
And once you’ve finished exploring Armagh, the town is packed with bars, pubs, restaurants and coffee shops, offering everything from Irish specialities to ice cream parlours, flavoursome Indian restaurants and afternoon tea spots.
Things to do in Armagh
Shopping
Armagh might not boast the modern malls and shopping centres that you’ll find over the hills in Belfast or Derry, but The Mall Shopping Centre has most of the basics covered. The small town-centre shopping centre is home to around a dozen shops and outlets including a large Sainsburys and several food and drink outlets.
The other shopping destination in Armagh is Spires Retail Park. The out-of-town retail park on the A29 contains several large outlet stores including M&S, Lidl, Peacocks, Sports Direct, Iceland, Poundworld, Halfords, Argos and Costa Coffee.
Getting around
The main air terminal for Northern Ireland, Belfast Airport is 40 miles away from Armagh. The journey will take just over an hour by taxi or car and just over two hours via a combination of the train to Sydenham and a connecting bus service to the airport. Belfast Airport is located around 10 miles to the north-west of the town centre and welcomes nearly seven million passengers a year, with departures across the UK and Europe via Jet2, easyJet and Ryanair.
There’s no train station in Armagh, so one of the best public transport options is via the Ulsterbus network. The Armagh Bus Station in the centre of town has 12 stands and a ticket office, with good connections to major towns and cities north and south of the border.
As well as flying, the other way to travel across to Northern Ireland is by ferry. The Belfast Ferry terminal has two main operators serving over 1.5 million passengers each year. Daily connections include the twice-daily Stena Link transfer to Liverpool, taking around eight hours and to Cairnryan in Scotland while Steam Packet operate a regular service to the Isle of Man.
Shopping in Armagh
