Untroubled prospects

It has taken only a decade for Belfast to transform itself. The battered target of terrorists has become a lively, fast-moving metropolis with character and charm lacking in some other big British cities.

Since the 1997 ceasefire and Good Friday Agreement, huge investment has generated a booming economy. The inner city and riverside areas have attracted new shops areas, restaurants, cafes, night clubs and hotels. On top of that, a recent UN report acclaimed Belfast as "the second safest city in the world, behind Tokyo".

Leaving George Best Belfast City Airport, you sense a feeling of change and optimism. Stunning new buildings and pretty gardens blend with classic Baroque and Victorian buildings. One new building dominating the skyline is our base, the award-winning Fitzwilliam Hotel, which opened last year in Great Victoria Street. It's right in the heart of the city, next door to the Grand Opera House. Its look is part modern art deco, part traditional mansion house. Guestrooms are luxurious and elegant. The beds and even the bath face a long window wall which means you could either lie in bed or have a long soak with a bird's-eye view of the city. I could have stayed quite happily in the hotel all day. There was a gym and the stylish restaurant, promising a menu by Michelin-starred chef Kevin Thornton, served a tasty array of dishes all day.

Available in the foyer was a traditional four-course afternoon tea beside a cosy fireplace, while the popular bar hummed with visitors and stayed open until the early hours with cocktails to die for.

With the hotel's information desk keen to arrange tours with local Blue-Badge trained guides, I joined the Titanic Walking Tour, led by Colin Cobb.

When somebody asked him why the great ship foundered so tragically, taking 1,500 souls to icy depths, his reply was quick as a flash: "She was all right when she left here". The scale of this dry dock, formerly part of Harland and Wolff shipyard, where the doomed liner was built from 1909, remains awesome today.

The giant ship was a gem of innovation, skill and engineering and the most luxurious and technological passenger steamship ever built, with five miles of decks, 29 boilers, three bronze propellers, funnels as big as houses, a swimming pool, squash court and Turkish bath.

Next to the dock is the equally awe-inspiring Thompson Pump House, which could pump 23m gallons of water into the dock when a ship set sail, or drain the water out in 100 minutes if a ship came in. Later, we headed for the new Victoria Square Shopping Centre, beneath an impressive glass dome which is a prominent feature in the city skyline.

Nearby is St George's Market. Opened in 1896, and restyled with a 3m Lottery Fund grant, it's a vibrant place, full of local produce, plenty to eat, antiques, clothes and crafts, mainly run by family businesses. Musicians play and there's a great atmosphere.

Next day, it was time to look more closely into recent history. The Black Cab Political Tour takes in the murals and peace walls of west Belfast, particularly Falls Road and the Shankill estate. For many years, huge murals on the sides of houses and walls helped to define Protestant and Catholic districts. During the Troubles, these street paintings were a means of communication, beaming all over the world as a backdrop in TV news reports.

Some hard-edged political paintings survive, notably the Bobby Sands mural on the side of the Sinn Fein office in Falls Road and on the Shankill estate, the murals dedicated to Ulster Freedom Fighters, Ulster Defence Association members and Ulster Young Militants.

New murals have themes of peace and tolerance, with secular heroes like George Best and even Narnia, in memory of the author CS Lewis, who was born in east Belfast.

We visited the Republican Clonard Memorial Garden in Bombay Street then stopped to leave a message on the Peace Wall that divides the Unionist Shankill Road and Nationalist Springfield Road. These large stone and steel constructions protect neighbourhoods from sporadic attacks and help to keep the peace.

South Belfast (the Queens Quarter) is more tranquil. In this leafy area which houses Queens University, the Botanic Gardens include beautiful rose beds and walks with unusual flora, and a beautiful Palm House completed in 1852. Its birdcage dome, a masterpiece of glass and cast-iron, rivals the one in Kew Gardens. Next to the Palm House is the Tropical Ravine, a huge red-brick greenhouse, built in 1889 and designed by the garden's curator Charles McKimm. Inside in the humid atmosphere, a raised walkway overlooks a vibrant jungle, complete with tropical ferns, plants, fish, orchids, lilies and huge banana plants.

Until recently, Sunday mornings were quiet. Only churches were open, which doesn't satisfy many tourists, which caused some galleries to open at 11am. Those I saw, within walking distance of each other in the Cathedral Quarter, were varied and diverse.

Belfast Exposed includes 20 years of contemporary photography, while the Belfast Print Workshop and Gallery had beautiful screen and lithographic prints and etchings.

Try the Golden Thread Gallery for quirky sculptures, artwork and multi-media installations. We also saw the Northern Ireland War Memorial and Home Front Exhibition (open Sundays, May-September), with a veteran Second World War soldier as our guide to explain the grim life in wartime Northern Ireland.

No visit to Belfast is complete without a ride on the Wheel of Belfast, alongside City Hall.

At its peak, on a bright afternoon, we had a bird's eye view of the city from the hills in North Belfast to Samson and Goliath, the Harland and Wolff yellow painted cranes in East Belfast and the River Lagan winding through.

Far below, people sat on the grass and outside cafs, watching the day go by. Peace seems to have returned to this city.

How to get there and where to stay

Laura Wurzal was a guest of Northern Ireland Tourist Board and The Fitzwilliam Hotel, where an overnight stay with three-course dinner at Menu by Kevin Thornton and full Fitzwilliam breakfast starts at 148 per room (two sharing). 028 9022 2080 and www.fitzwilliamhotelbelfast.com.

Laura flew with Flybe. Prices from Manchester to Belfast City start from 48.48 return. www.flybe.com.

Destination info: Northern Ireland Tourist Board at 0808 234 2009 and www.discovernorthernireland.com.