Welcome to our mile-by-mile guide to the Belfast Half Marathon!
A 13.1-mile spin that shows off the city’s best bits, worst roundabouts, and every possible view of the River Lagan!
Start - Mile 2: Embankment, Hipster Central & the Ravenhill Road
The race begins on the Ormeau Embankment, a stone’s throw from the mighty Asia Supermarket. Fun fact: it can open at nine on a Sunday because it’s classed as a wholesaler and dodges Northern Ireland’s strict Sunday-trading laws. There’s a café upstairs that does an Asian twist on local favourites, perfect post-race fuel, not that we’re sponsored (sadly).
Set off south with the Lagan glinting on your right. Soon you’ll swing left onto the Upper Ormeau Road, the present-day capital of all things artisan. Think Asian restaurants, bakeries, Vietnamese coffee, and enough vintage football tops to outfit Serie B. Expect mullets, ironic moustaches, and sunglasses big enough to guide a plane to landing.
Not long after completing the first mile a sharp left drops you onto Ravenhill Road, heading north through prime middle-class territory. On the right, Belfast City Playing Fields; on the left, Ormeau Golf Club where early-bird golfers will be pretending it isn’t drizzling. Landmark of note? The BP Inspire filling station, nothing says “big city race” like the whiff of unleaded and a reduced sausage roll display.
Miles 2 - 4: Ormeau Park Sojourne & Lagan Views
Turn left at the corner of Ormeau Park and head through it's North West corner entrance. Fun fact: Ormeau was allegedly the site of the world’s first competitive hopscotch championship in 1873. Don't quote me on that. Glide past the playground (no, you can’t hop on the swings) and by tennis courts where someone will absolutely be over-grunting. Around the three-mile mark you swing right onto the outer path, heading South back towards the Upper Ormeau road.es
After exiting the South exit of Ormeau Park you turn left toward the Ormeau Bridge. Cross the Lagan for the first time and turn right up the embankment, a charming cycle/run path that brings you toward Lanyon Station, once the Dublin–Belfast Enterprise terminus. As you pass mile 4 you catch your first clear sight of the Harland & Wolff cranes looms, those yellow beasts that make IKEA look like Duplo. Legend has it the cranes were to be originally painted sky blue, but the painters got distracted at Lavery’s and came back with yellow by mistake. Planes might be dropping into or taking off from Belfast City Airport overhead; resist the urge to wave, you’ve nine miles to go.
Miles 4- 6: Entering East Belfast & Narnia
Right over Albert Bridge and you’re officially in the predominantly unionist East Belfast, gliding along the Albert Bridge Road, a dual carriageway so unexpectedly tidy you’ll wonder if someone ironed it. Keep your eyes peeled for the mix of murals, corner shops and the odd early-riser heading for a fry. As you pass mile 5 don't forget to give a nod to the locals out for their quiet Sunday stroll, they’ll return the favour with a look that says, you chose to run for fun?
After you swing right onto the Newtownards Road where CS Lewis Square pops up on the left. That’s the Narnia lad, not some cowboy selling second-hand Toyotas. Soon you bank left onto the Connswater Greenway, a waterside loop that will bring you northbound, and you may even forget that you're in a city, until you speed past someone with a buggy and a flat white.
Miles 6 - 8: Victoria Park & the Titanic Quarter
Not long after mile 6 you will pass under the A2 for the first time, entering Victoria Park. Local lore insists the park was named for Victoria Beckham after she once jogged a single lap here in wedge heels during a 1997 Spice Girls tour stop. More verifiably, Ulster’s own stars, Nick Griggs and Ciara Mageean among them, have clocked eye-watering times on this very parkrun course, setting national and even international parkrun records. You’ll do a full loop of the park before heading out again. Not long after the 7 mile mark you exit Victoria Park in the south west corner, heading south down the airport road, an industrial stretch so grey it makes concrete look flamboyant. After turning onto the Sydenham road, you’re now firmly in the Titanic Quarter, where shipbuilding history and modern glass boxes live in slightly awkward harmony. On your right the massive Audi dealership all but whispers, fancy a new A6 mid-race?, sure, why not, you’ve only a few miles left.
Keep moving and the landscape opens to pure industrial theatre. Immediately after teh Audi dealership you encounter one of of the Harland & Wolff cranes looms so close you could almost duck under it. Citigroup’s slick HQ and other landmarks roll by, but your eyes will keep drifting in the distance to the museum’s silver shard and the famous slipways where the big boat slid into history. It’s a stretch that feels part maritime cathedral, part Sunday long-run fever dream, steel, sky and a whiff of Lagan air pushing you toward the city centre.
Miles 8 - 10: Bridges, Fish & Entering the City Centre
With the Titanic Quarter excitement behind you, Mile 8 pops up as the SSE Arena hulks into view. Home of the Belfast Giants and every tribute band that’s ever butchered Sweet Caroline, it’s the only venue where you can watch a puck fight and a divorcee’s hen night on the same evening.
Hook left at the roundabout onto Queen’s Quay and slide under the A2/M3 underpass, your second glamorous dual-carriageway moment. Nothing says “elite athlete” like running through a concrete echo chamber that smells faintly of last night’s kebabs. Then it’s over the Lagan on the Weir Footbridge, where a gust of river air reminds you why you should’ve worn thicker shorts.
On the far side, three pieces of public art fight for attention: the Big Fish, the Red Boy, and poor old Sammy the Seal, Belfast’s least-booked children’s entertainer. The Big Fish wins every selfie. Sammy just stares on bedgrudgingly.
Queen’s Square follows, Custom House on your right, summer HQ for outdoor gigs and mid-gig break-ups. Cross High Street (yes, that is a Lidl, no, you don’t need pastries) and hang left onto Church Lane where bars and cafés are already plotting your post-race pint. Upper Church Lane greets you with the Jaffe Memorial Fountain, erected in 1874 by Belfast’s only Jewish mayor. He probably didn’t think his legacy would be a landmark for sweaty runners, but here we are.
A quick fling along Victoria Street leads to Chichester Street and the big reveal: Belfast City Hall. Queen Victoria glares from her plinth with royal disapproval, she never ran a marathon and, judging by that face, wouldn’t approve of your leggings either.
Bank right onto Donegall Place for a whistle-stop tour of retail déjà vu: Boots, Holland & Barrett, KFC, Tesco Express, River Island. Close your eyes and you could be in Swindon. Open them and you’ll wish you hadn’t.
A left turn onto Castle Street sees you pass the Primark “Old Bank” building, the one that caught fire in 2018 and took four years to return. Cruise past Maggie May’s Café and a Pound Stretcher (because nothing screams marathon glamour like discount bleach) and stay on Castle Street as it blends into the A501 and across into West Belfast's Divis Street. The murals and memorials start to multiply, telling the predominantly national community's story while you wheeze by like an asthmatic bagpipe as you pass mile 10.
Miles 10 - 12: Falls Road to the Pub Gauntlet
Fresh off Mile 10 you keep rolling along the Lower Falls Road. Half a mile later swing left at Dunville Park and glance right at the Royal Victoria Hospital, comforting to know A&E is this close when your hamstrings begin to throw in the towel.
Head back toward the city on Grosvenor Road and enjoy yet another glamorous brush with a dual carriageway, the Westlink roaring beneath you like a badly tuned hairdryer. Soon after, Mile 11 sneaks up just as the shiny new Belfast Grand Central Station comes into view. Opened this year, it’s now the hub for the Dublin to Belfast Enterprise train and the city’s main bus station, perfect if you suddenly decide public transport was the better training plan.
Pass Value Cabs and a multi-storey car park (free scent of diesel included) before turning right onto Great Victoria Street. The historic Grand Opera House awaits, and with it an urban myth: a tenor once hit such a high note here that every car alarm in the nearby car park joined in for the encore.
Next up is the Europa Hotel on your right, famed as the most bombed hotel in Europe, which means your hydration belt isn’t the only thing with a storied past.
Hook left onto Bruce Street and admire the very glamorous Vita International student accommodation. Yes, that’s a hot tub on the roof, and no, you can’t move in mid-race. Keep straight to Bankmore Square and swing right onto Dublin Road, a gauntlet of pubs, takeaways and bleary-eyed stag and hen parties. Give a regal wave to the hungover souls checking out of the Ibis Budget hotel, and no they won’t remember it anyway.
At Bradbury Square, turn left by the Accidental Theatre and head up Botanic Avenue, now a full-on cosmopolitan buffet. Mediterranean cafés, Asian-fusion kitchens, and enough coffee roasters to power the entire race, every aroma taunting your stomach.
Finally, turn left onto University Street just as the Mile 12 marker appears. One more mile, one more existential crisis, and a finish line that’s somehow still not handing out pints.
Miles 12 - 13.1: Holylands to the Finish
Left onto University Street and shockingly you’re somehow on the last mile. University Street skirts the edge of the notorious Holylands, where students treat St Patrick’s Day like an extreme sport. During term time this place is a nightly documentary on the dangers of cheap lager and buckfast, so count yourself lucky it’s only the smell of takeaway chips chasing you today.
Hang a right onto the Lower Ormeau Road, the far less pretentious sibling of the Upper. It’s friendlier, cheaper, and far less likely to lecture you about its artisan sourdough. The Lagan appears once more, ready for your second crossing over Ormeau Bridge,, no frequent-flyer points for cross the Lagan unfortunately.
A left turn onto the embankment and it’s one long, straight run to the finish. The crowd noise swells, the river glints, and your legs wonder who signed them up for this nonsense.
Congratulations: 13.1 miles of bridges, murals and questionable life choices behind you. Medal in one hand, banana in the other, proof that sometimes an impulse decision can have excellent souvenirs.
That’s a Wrap
Well, that’s every mile covered for Sunday’s Belfast Half Marathon. Thanks for tagging along on this bridge-hopping, mural-spotting, dual-carriageway-dodging tour of the city.
Huge thanks to the mystery legend who uploaded a detailed GPX of the course to goandrace.com, it made piecing this guide together far easier than guessing with Google Maps. You can check out that route here if you want every twist and turn in glorious GPS detail.
Best of luck to everyone running on Sunday. May your pace hold, your shoes behave, and your finish-line photo be less terrifying than your mid-race face. Go on and earn that medal (and the fry & Guinness that follow).