Bangor (Northern Ireland)

Bangor is a town on the south shore of Belfast Lough, in County Down. It was a holiday resort from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century but is now chiefly a commuter town for Belfast.

Understand
Bangor in Irish is Beannchor, a horned or peaked curve, referring to the shape of its bay. In the 6th and 7th centuries its monastery rivalled Armagh as the religious and cultural centre of Ireland, but Viking raids finished it off, and its Norman revival under St Malachy was never so important. It remained a small place until the Ulster Plantations of the 17th century, when it grew as a port. Over the next 200 years a major linen industry developed across Ireland, however Bangor's speciality was cotton, with steam-driven mills lining the sea front. But as the scale of production processes grew, Bangor couldn't compete with the Lancashire mill towns and this industry faded. The railway arrived in 1865 and the town morphed into a seaside resort and commuter town for Belfast, acquiring its Victorian architecture.

It remained a tourist resort into the 1960s, but its cool climate and bracing sea temperatures were no match for the Med. "The Troubles" then set in: there were murderous bomb attacks in Bangor but the town escaped more lightly than most, though it suffered from the blight that descended on Belfast. Conversely, it has benefited from the revival following the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. The counties of Northern Ireland have been abolished and since 2015 Bangor has been the administrative centre of Ards and North Down Borough, so local government is a significant local employer. in 2011 its population was 61,011, which makes it the third largest town in Northern Ireland.

Get in
Most long-distance routes by air, sea, rail or bus involve travelling via Belfast. One exception is George Best City Airport, where most flights are from the UK: you walk or take the free shuttle bus to Sydenham station for the Bangor train, and don't travel via the city.

Trains from Belfast run every 30 min and take an hour to Bangor, for a single fare of £6. They start from Portadown and run via Lurgan, Lisburn, several Belfast stations including Great Victoria Street (for Europa bus station), Botanic (for Queen's University), Lanyon Place (for trains from Dublin) and Titanic; then Sydenham (for City Airport), Holywood, Marino, Cultra (for the Transport and Folk Museums), Seahill, Helen's Bay (for Crawfordsburn), Carnalea and Bangor West, terminating at Bangor railway station on Abbey Street.

Ulsterbus 502 runs hourly M-Sa from Belfast Laganside, taking just under an hour via Lanyon Place, Holywood, Cultra, Kilcooley and Crawfordsburn. It doesn't serve Europa bus station except the last bus of the day towards 9PM, and the four buses that run on Sunday. Bangor Buscentre is south side of the railway station.



Get around
Bus 6 runs south past the Somme Museum to Newtownards. Change there for Bus 9 / 10 down the Ards Peninsula to Mount Stewart, Portaferry, and the ferry to Strangford.

Bus 3 runs hourly, daily, east along the coast to Donaghadee.

Taxis can be found by the railway and bus stations.

National Cycleway 93 / 99 runs from Bangor down the peninsula to Newtownards, Portaferry, Strangford, Downpatrick and Newcastle. It's all on-road. You can also cycle to Downpatrick by hugging the west bank of Strangford Lough.

See

 * is the attractive centrepiece of town. It has 530 berths and is navigable at all tides with at least 2.2 m depth. If you're meeting someone in Bangor, the standard rendezvous is the McKee Clock, built 1915, at the foot of High Street.
 * Beaches: closest is Ballyholme, a long sandy expanse east edge of town. Others are Helen's Bay and Crawfordsburn.
 * Crawfordsburn is an attractive little village west of Bangor, where the main attraction is The Old Inn, see Sleep. There's a beach, and a pleasant forested country park, bounded by an impressive railway viaduct. Trains stop nearby at Helen's Bay, while buses run through Crawfordsburn.
 * : see Newtownards for this Victorian Folly, approached by a woodland walk.
 * : see Newtownards for this museum of World War I.
 * is a small port which in the 17th century became the main route to Great Britain as ships outgrew the channel and harbour at Belfast. It was popular with couples eloping to Scotland in the 18th century, when Ireland had the same restrictive marriage laws as England: you could sail to  Portpatrick, get hitched, and return to Ireland same day. The town acquired its fine harbour and lighthouse in the 19th century, and the Moat or Motte was built as a mock-castle to store explosives used in constructing the harbour.
 * were inhabited until their lighthouses were automated. They're now a birdlife reserve, reached by boat trips from Donaghadee.
 * : see Newtownards for this museum of World War I.
 * is a small port which in the 17th century became the main route to Great Britain as ships outgrew the channel and harbour at Belfast. It was popular with couples eloping to Scotland in the 18th century, when Ireland had the same restrictive marriage laws as England: you could sail to  Portpatrick, get hitched, and return to Ireland same day. The town acquired its fine harbour and lighthouse in the 19th century, and the Moat or Motte was built as a mock-castle to store explosives used in constructing the harbour.
 * were inhabited until their lighthouses were automated. They're now a birdlife reserve, reached by boat trips from Donaghadee.

Do

 * Omniplex Cinema is east side of Castle Park.
 * The Coastal Path Walk stretches west to Holywood and east to Orlock. From Bangor marina:
 * - west: pass Pickie Funpark, Jenny Watt's Cove, Smelt Mill Bay (for Strickland Glen), Carnalea (trains), Crawfordsburn (for beach, Old Inn and country park), Helen's Bay, Grey Point Fort (an Edwardian gun emplacement), Royal Belfast Golf Club, Cultra (museums, trains) and so to Holywood.
 * - east: to Ballyholme Bay, Ballymacormick Point and Groomsport to Orlock Point where you join the main road. You can follow it into Donaghadee or catch a bus back to Bangor.
 * - east: to Ballyholme Bay, Ballymacormick Point and Groomsport to Orlock Point where you join the main road. You can follow it into Donaghadee or catch a bus back to Bangor.


 * Football: Bangor FC play soccer in the NIFL Championship, Northern Ireland's second tier. Their home ground Clandeboyne Park (capacity 1900) is a mile southwest of town centre.
 * Aurora Leisure Complex on Castle Park only has memberships of 3+ months, no walk-up facilities.

Buy

 * Asda a block south is open M-Sa 8AM-10PM, Su 1-6PM and has a filling station.
 * Edge of town on the ring road are Springhill to the west, and Bloomfields to the south.

Drink

 * Distilleries: Copeland in Donaghadee makes whisky, rum and gin; and Echlinville Distillery, 10 miles south of Newtownards, produces whiskey and gin. Both offer tours.
 * Distilleries: Copeland in Donaghadee makes whisky, rum and gin; and Echlinville Distillery, 10 miles south of Newtownards, produces whiskey and gin. Both offer tours.
 * Distilleries: Copeland in Donaghadee makes whisky, rum and gin; and Echlinville Distillery, 10 miles south of Newtownards, produces whiskey and gin. Both offer tours.
 * Distilleries: Copeland in Donaghadee makes whisky, rum and gin; and Echlinville Distillery, 10 miles south of Newtownards, produces whiskey and gin. Both offer tours.

Sleep

 * Lots of B&Bs around the marina. There's no camping locally, but many caravan sites strung along the coast.

Stay safe
Usual advice about road safety, care of valuables, and avoiding antisocial drunks around the pubs.

Connect
Mobile connections are poor, especially considering that Bangor is a prosperous commuter town for the nearby city. As of Oct 2020, only O2 has a good 4G and mobile signal throughout town; EE, Three and Vodafone have lots of dead spots. 5G has not reached this area.

Go next

 * Belfast is only 20 min by train, but deserves several days to explore.
 * Holywood has the Ulster Folk Museum and Transport Museum side by side. By bus or train, get off at Cultra.
 * Newtownards has the lavish house and gardens of Mount Stewart. Continue down the Ards peninsula to Portaferry, which has a car ferry to Strangford.