A science centre you climb through, an underground river, the real Game of Thrones sets and a Victorian gaol — ten days out that get better when it pours.
Rain doesn't cancel a day out in Northern Ireland — it hands you the excuse to finally do the indoor greats. Ten warm, dry, brilliant days out, and one of the best is completely free.
The spread — every one of these is indoors (or underground), and they cover the country: four sit in Belfast itself, Cultra and Dundonald are just east of the city, and Banbridge, Portaferry, Armagh and Fermanagh carry the rest. Wherever the cloud parks itself, something on this list is close.
Cost — the Ulster Museum is free, a soft-play session is about £5.50 a child, and the biggest ticket is £24.95 adult at Titanic Belfast. Every entry links to our full guide with current prices, hours and parking.
Most of these want booking ahead.Titanic Belfast and the Game of Thrones Studio Tour are timed tickets, W5 asks you to pre-book a slot, and Armagh says dome-show booking is essential. Sort the slots before you set off.
Mind Mondays. The Ulster Museum, the Folk & Transport Museum and Armagh Planetarium all close on ordinary Mondays — check before you set out.
Food — nobody goes hungry in the dry: the Coffee Lab at W5, Hickson's Point at Titanic Belfast, the Kraken Bar & Grill at Exploris and Cuffs at the Gaol all do a proper sit-down while it rains on somebody else.
When — wet school-holiday days are the busy ones, so go early: W5 says an early slot helps in the holidays, and Exploris calls 10–11am its quieter session.
1
W5 Science & Discovery Centre
The Odyssey, Belfast · From £12.50 adult · Under-3s free
Hundreds of hands-on exhibits across themed floors, and nothing behind glass — kids pull levers, race things down ramps and power machines with their own muscle. Climbit, the steel climbing sculpture rising through the centre of the building, is the one they'll still be talking about at bedtime, and live science shows run most days with a bit of theatre and a bang. Most families give it a comfortable half day, all of it bright, warm and indoors — the harder it rains, the smugger you'll feel.
Half a day (3–4 hours)From £12.50 adult · under-3s freePre-book a timed slot — school holidays fill fast
Nine galleries on the very slipways where Harland & Wolff launched her, inside a silver building said to match the exact height of Titanic's hull. You ride through a recreation of the shipyard in a little six-seater car, follow the whole arc from launch to sinking to the discovery of the wreck, and the SS Nomadic — described as the last surviving White Star Line ship — is included in the ticket. Allow a good two to three hours; a wet Belfast day only makes the story land harder.
2–3 hours · half a day with the NomadicCafés & Hickson's Point bar on siteTimed tickets — popular slots sell out, book online ahead
Florencecourt, Co. Fermanagh · ~£12.50 adult · Guided tours only
The one entry where the weather genuinely cannot follow you — a guided walk deep beneath Fermanagh through floodlit chambers of stalactites and mirror-still black pools, with a boat glide along the underground river when levels allow. Tours run about an hour to 75 minutes below ground, and it holds a steady 9–10°C down there year-round, so bring a fleece whatever the sky says. Around 154 steps make it brilliant from about age five up, but not one for prams or wheelchairs.
~2 hours all in~£12.50 adult · family ~£39After very heavy rain tours can shorten or close — check the morning you travel
Banbridge, Co. Down · Ticketed · Timed slot, book online
The official, HBO-licensed tour inside the real film studios at Linen Mill — you walk onto original sets on the very sound stages where much of the series was shot. The Great Hall of Winterfell, Dragonstone, King's Landing, the throne itself, and thousands of the actual costumes, weapons and creatures used on screen. It's one of the biggest indoor attractions on the island, roughly 30 minutes' drive from Belfast, and most visits run two to three hours — plenty of fans stay longer.
2–3 hoursCafé & gift shop on siteTimed entry — book your slot online, weekends fill first
Art, history and the natural world stacked up through several spiralling floors — and it costs nothing to walk in. Takabuti the ancient Egyptian mummy, Armada gold recovered from the Girona wreck, Ireland's only dinosaur bones and Peter the polar bear, with floors of art from Renaissance to modern above. Allow two to three hours; a lift reaches every floor for buggies, the Wynne & Pym café handles lunch, and when the sky clears you spill straight out into the Botanic Gardens.
Two museums at Cultra, now on separate tickets — and the Transport side is the rainy-day pick: a hall of steam locomotives you stand right beside, road transport from horse-drawn carts to the gleaming stainless-steel DeLorean built in Belfast, and the Titanica exhibition on the ships and aircraft made here. Save the Folk town's rebuilt cottages and costumed streets for a brighter day, or take a coat and do both. Most people spend two and a half to three hours on one museum.
2.5–3 hours per museum£12 adult · family from £24Two tickets now — on a wet day head for the Transport halls
Portaferry, Co. Down · From around £15.95 · Family ~£42
Northern Ireland's only public aquarium, right on the shore of Strangford Lough — sharks, rays, jellyfish, otters, turtles and a crocodile, an underwater walkthrough tunnel, and touch tanks where children meet dogfish and stingrays up close. Exploris also runs a seal rescue sanctuary, so you can usually see resident and recovering pups in the pools. It's mostly indoors, with an indoor soft-play area for burning off whatever's left. Allow a half-day; the Kraken Bar & Grill opens from 11am.
Half a day (2–3 hours)Kraken Bar & Grill on siteBook online to guarantee entry — 10–11am is the quiet slot
A full-dome space cinema where the film curves right around your head — recline back and the whole ceiling fills with stars, galaxies and planets. Shows run roughly 25–35 minutes, there's a dedicated pre-school show for the littlest ones, and the hands-on galleries include real meteorite rock. The Astropark outside is said to be laid out as a scale model of the solar system — save that walk for a dry spell and let the dome do the work while it pours. Allow two to three hours, with free parking.
2–3 hours~£10 adult, £7 child · under-3s freeDome shows are pre-book essential — and it's closed Mondays
Belfast · From £17.50 adult · Cheapest booked online a day ahead
Belfast's great Victorian prison thrown open to walk through — the towering three-tier C-wing, the tunnel that runs under the Crumlin Road to the old courthouse, the holding cells and the condemned cell. The self-guided visit takes 60 to 90 minutes with audio and video telling the story room by room; allow about two hours, every bit of it under cover — and the daylight through the C-wing roof looks its best when the sky is doing something. Best for older children and teens; parts of the story are intense.
About 2 hoursCuffs Bar & Grill on siteHours shift around event days — confirm before you travel
The toddler option — a jungle-themed soft play at the Dundonald Ice Bowl with tunnels, rope bridges, wave slides, a padded ball pool and the Indianas Freefall vertical slide for the six-and-ups. A separate, gentler toddler zone has a seated spot for grown-ups to watch from, and non-walking babies go free alongside a paying child. Sessions run 75 minutes, which is about right for the age group. Rain hammering the windows, happy chaos inside — everyone sleeps well after this one.
75-minute sessions~£5.50 child · 3-and-unders ~£4.50Grip socks needed — and pre-book, the timetable changes weekly
The Titanic Quarter double: a booked morning slot at W5, lunch at the Coffee Lab, then the short walk over to Titanic Belfast for the afternoon — a full day without moving the car.
The little ones' day: a pre-booked Indiana Land session to burn the wriggles off first, then across to Cultra for the steam engines and the DeLorean in the Transport Museum halls — both on Belfast's east side.
The big kids' day: Crumlin Road Gaol in the morning, a proper lunch at Cuffs, then the free Ulster Museum across town to finish — dinosaur bones, Armada gold and an Egyptian mummy for the price of nothing.
Keep exploring
Every place in this list — and about 2,000 more across Northern Ireland — is on our free map, with full guides, live events and what's-on near you.
