Travelling during your studies

You will have exciting opportunities to travel to other parts of the UK, Europe or further afield during your university vacations or after you finish your studies. Here is some advice to make the most of your trip.

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Ten amazing places to visit in Northern Ireland

Travelling within Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is a fantastic country with a range of unique sites and opportunities to explore. Below is just a sample of what you can do.

Activities	Approximate cost	Location
We are vertigo sky diving	£45	map
Walking tour of Belfast	£15	map
Ulster Rugby Stadium	£6.50	map
Giants causeway	£20	map
Carrick a rede rope bridge	£9	map
Gobbins tour	£16	map
Carrickfergus castle and Dobbins Inn for lunch	£5 plus cost for lunch	map
Tollymore activity centre ( mountaineering and canoeing)	Varies depending on activity	map
Ulster American folk park	£7	map
Bushmills tour	£8	map
Mourne walk from the bloody bridge	Free	map
Belfast hop on hop off tour and titanic tour	£30	map
A history of terror Belfast city centre	£20	map
Cuilcagh mountain trail and marble arch caves	Trail - Free Caves - £7.50 (seasonal opening)	map
Stadium tour of Windsor park national stadium	£6.50	map
Belfast hop off and on trip	£13	map
Derry/Londonderry hop off and on tour	£13	map
Visit Derry	Free	map
HMS Caroline tour	£10.75	map
Crumlin Road Gaol tour	£7.50	map
Belfast City Hall tour	Free	map
Game of thrones	£30-50	map
Need4Speed Indoor Go karting	£25-30 per hour	map
Sentry Hill tour	£3	map

Travelling within the UK

Northern Ireland is a unique gateway to the UK and further afield and is a fantastic and cost effective starting point for your adventure while you are here at Ulster. Below is an example of a few cities you can visit for a weekend break or just for the day and remember your adventure begins here!

Your UK visa/immigration permission allows you to travel freely within Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. You should carry your BRP and/or passport with you when you travel as evidence of your permission to be in the UK.

	Bristol
Things to see	Clifton suspension bridge Bristol Harbour SS Great Britain Bristol Cathedral Avon gorge Cabot Tower
Places to stay	There are a range of places to stay from £35 per night
How to get there	Easyjet fly from the international airport to Bristol
Things you should know	Once a busy dock where sailors and merchants would trade goods and set sail for voyages of discovery, Bristol's Harbourside is now an attractive, modern development filled with restaurants, bars, shops and hotels.
Interesting fact	Blackbeard the pirate was from Bristol

	Manchester
Things to see	Manchester united museum and stadium tour Museum of science and industry Etihad stadium Manchester cathedral Imperial war museum north Manchester art gallery Manchester museum
Places to stay	There are a range of hotels for all budgets from around £60 per night
How to get there	Both Flybe and Easy-jet fly several times from both the George Best and international airports and the flight is approximately 50 minutes
Things you should know	There is a train halt in the airport and it will take you straight to Piccadilly in the centre of Manchester
Interesting fact	The atom was first split in Manchester

	Liverpool
Things to see	LFC stadium tour Mersey cruise Beatles tour Liver building Cavern club Albert dock Goodison park
Places to stay	There are a range of hotels for all budgets from around £30 per night
How to get there	Easyjet have several daily flights from the international airport and the flight time is approximately 50 minutes. If you’re in no rush you can get a boat from Belfast to Liverpool which takes around 8 hours across the Irish sea
Things you should know	Be careful to check football fixtures as hotel rooms book up and flights can be quite expensive if there is a game on at the weekend
Interesting fact	Liverpool's waterfront is designated a world heritage site

	London
Things to see	Big Ben London Eye Tower Bridge Tower of London Buckingham Palace Trafalgar Square British Museum Hyde park Wembley stadium
Places to stay	Hotels range from around £100 but there are a range of cheaper hostels available
How to get there	There are a range of flights daily to all major London airports from the international airport and the flight takes just over an hour
Things you should know	The easiest way to get around London is with an Oyster card which gives access to the underground, buses, trams, tubes and some riverboat services
Interesting fact	London is the biggest city in Europe at 620 square miles and a population of over 7 million

	Glasgow
Things to see	Glasgow cathedral Kelvin grove art gallery and museum Hampden park George square Glasgow tower Glasgow science centre Riverside museum
Places to stay	There are a range of hotels for all budgets from around £40 per night.
How to get there	Both Ryanair and Easyjet fly to Glasgow daily from the international airport and Flybe from the George Best airport and the flight takes around 45 minutes, you can also take the boat and Transport which will take around 6 hours
Things you should know	The train journey between Glasgow to Edinburgh takes only an hour so why not visit there for the day
Interesting fact	The bones of St Valentine are buried in Glasgow in the Church of Blessed St John Duns Scotus

	Edinburgh
Things to see	Edinburgh castle Holyrood place Arthurs seat National museum of Scotland Princes street Edinburgh zoo HMY Britannia Scottish parliament
Places to stay	There are a range of hotels starting around £70 per night
How to get there	EasyJet fly to Edinburgh daily from the international airport and the flight takes around 50 minutes, you can also take the boat and Transport which will take around 7 hours
Things you should know	Edinburgh airport is 8 miles outside the city centre and there is a regular bus service
Interesting fact	Edinburgh is the second most visited city in the UK

	Cardiff
Things to see	Cardiff castle National stadium Cardiff bay Wales Millennium centre National museum of Cardiff Castell Coch
Places to stay	There is accommodation for all budgets from £30
How to get there	There are regular flights from George Best Airport to Cardiff
Things you should know	The city is a safe city for visitors but keep an eye on the rugby international fixtures as this might limit your hotel and flight availability
Interesting fact	Dr Who is filmed in Cardiff

Travelling to the Republic of Ireland

Your UK visa/immigration permission does not give you immigration permission to enter the Republic of Ireland.

It is your responsibility to find out whether you need a visa in order to enter the Republic of Ireland.

If you do require a visa in order to enter the Republic of Ireland, it is your responsibility to ensure that you have the correct visa before you cross the border between Northern Ireland (UK) and the Republic of Ireland. Please note that there can be serious consequences if you are stopped by the Irish police (Gardaí) inside the Republic of Ireland without the correct Irish visa.

If you do not require a visa in order to enter the Republic of Ireland, there will be no opportunity for you to request immigration permission to enter the Republic of Ireland as a visitor when you cross the border between Northern Ireland (UK) and Republic of Ireland. You should therefore carry with you evidence of your immigration permission to be in the UK, a letter confirming that you are studying at Ulster University, and evidence of your journey to/from Northern Ireland (e.g. a return train ticket to Belfast).

	Galway
Things to see	Aran islands The Spanish arch and Galway city wall Buy a Claddagh ring Quay Street Galway Bay
Places to stay	Hotels range from around £31 to £250 so you can have any experience you want.
How to get there	Galway is just over 5 hours drive from Magee down the world renown west coast of Ireland.
Things you should Know	Remember to check your visa if you travel to Galway as it is not part of the UK
Interesting fact	Christopher Columbus visited Galway in 1477

	Dublin
Things to see	Dublin Castle Temple bar Spire of Dublin Christ Church Cathedral St Stephens green Phoenix Park Aviva Stadium Guinness Factory Kilmainham Gaol
Places to stay	Hotels range from around £100 but there are a range of cheaper hostels available
How to get there	Dublin is just over 1 ¾ hours drive from Belfast and jut over 3 hours from Derry there are regular train and bus services between the cities.
Things you should know	Remember to check your visa if you travel to Dublin as it is not part of the UK
Interesting fact	There are over 1000 pubs in Dublin

Travelling to other countries

It is your responsibility to ensure that you have the correct immigration permission to visit any country outside the UK. Staff at Ulster University are not qualified to give immigration advice for countries outside the UK.
The UK If you plan to travel to one of the countries within the Schengen zone, you should use the following link for more information on how to apply for a Schengen visa
See more information at UKCISA Travel in Europe.
Returning to the UK if your Tier 4 visa has been curtailed

If your Tier 4 visa has been curtailed and you have left the UK, you must not try to re-enter the UK using your curtailed visa, even if it looks as if your visa is still valid. If you do try to re-enter the UK, you will be refused entry.
You must get new immigration permission before you re-enter the UK.