Started in 2009, we’re the original walking tour for Belfast City Centre. Our aim is to entertain, engage and inform and we also like to laugh. We’ve consistently delivered quality tours, receiving TripAdvisor ‘Certificates of Excellence’ (9 in total) for every year of operation. The tours are factually based with a personal touch to provide you with an experience that will stay with you long after you’ve returned home. From the ‘troubles’ to music and culture, we cover all aspects of the story with local guides who know and love the city. In fact we’ve written a book on it ‘The Little Book of Belfast.”
Don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions!
Started in 2009 by Arthur Magee as Belfast Free Tours, we moved away from free tours because fundamentally it’s more honest to be upfront about the price. We’ve delivered quality and excellence all this time and enjoy meeting people and showing them our wonderful city. We use local people as guides because they know the city and we believe firmly that the greatest attraction for visitors is local people.
Our guides are:
Arthur Magee: Arthur obtained a Law degree in London before migrating to Manchester where he spent a number of years in an unpopular pop group before returning home.
Sean Doherty: Sean studied at Queen’s University in Belfast before hitting the boards in London as an actor. He returned home to run his own catering business before getting the tourism bug.
Nathan Thanki: Nathan came on one of our earliest tours before stepping on board as a tour guide. He obtained his degree in the USA and is passionate about the environment.
I was born and raised in Belfast and obtained a BA (Hons) in Law in London. In addition, I have an MSc (Dist.) in Communications. I moved to Manchester and played in an unpopular pop group, where I’d the honor of being produced by the legendary Martin Hannett of Joy Division and U2 fame. I have had songs commercially released and once shared the same record label as the group Elbow. I am a co-author of ‘The Little Book of Belfast’. I have written to Presidents and they have written back (more on that below).
I returned to Belfast and started my walking tour business to show visitors my hometown. I aimed to provide an informed, positive experience but if I’m honest, I was also culturally curious. I was, and I still am, really interested in the people I meet on the tours. From my experiences, I’ve written a number of songs which I use in a one-man show. Some of these songs are available in the gallery. I hope you enjoy them and look forward to meeting you. To paraphrase Helen Keller: ‘Life is an adventure’ and that’s what I want your tour to be!
Pictures of the tour and videos of me on his tour or singing songs can be found in the gallery.
Fun fact to know
Arthur Magee received a letter from former US President Clinton one day!
Belfast Telegraph, 25th April 2008
“Terri’s close friend, event organizer Arthur Magee contacted a number of high profile people to let them know about the concert — but was thrilled when he heard back from Mr. Clinton. The ex-President, who visited Northern Ireland several times and who played a significant role in bringing about the Good Friday Agreement, sent a letter to Arthur in which he praised Terri’s attempts to help Northern Irish musicians realize their dreams.”
This was linked to the 30th-anniversary gig for the famous Good Vibrations record label in 2008. The picture was taken after the press launch of the event.
“Terri Hooley and his gracious partner Claire plus Mickey, Billy and John from The Undertones, Panama Kings Niall and Stuart, Gary Lightbody, author Glenn Patterson, film-maker John T Davis, Stu Bailie, Outcast Greg Cowan and gig promoter Arthur Magee.”
(quote and picture from Stuart Bailies blog on the BBC website)
