A tour of titanic proportions will be running all through March as Belfast City Council commemorates the world’s most famous 'accursed' ocean liner, the Belfast-built Titanic.

Bus and boat tours will explore a Belfast of the ‘Titanic’ era, telling the story of the mighty ship and taking in all of the key locations associated with the Titanic story, including the drawing offices, where the plans for ‘Titanic’ were developed, the slipway where ‘Titanic' slid mightily into the sea for the first time, and the Thompson Dry Dock and Pump House.

The bus tours will leave from Belfast City Hall at 11am and 2pm each Saturday and Sunday throughout March – with daily tours operating at the same times daily between Saturday 22 and Saturday 29 March.

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Each bus tour is free, but tickets, available from Belfast Welcome Centre, are needed. The tour will last around two hours, and appropriate footwear and clothing are recommended. Parents should note the bus tour is not suitable for children less than seven years of age.

A major new ‘Titanic’ exhibition is also being staged in W5 at the Odyssey during March. ‘Titanic – Designed and Built in Belfast’ will celebrate Belfast’s golden age of shipbuilding, with a huge collection of exhibits.

The exhibition will form the centrepiece of the seventh annual ‘Titanic Made in Belfast’ festival, organized by Belfast City Council, which begins on Saturday 22 March and continues until Saturday 29 March.

The Titanic sank on the morning of April 15, 1912 during her maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to New York. Estimates vary, but approximately 1,520 people perished in the sinking.

The wreck was discovered in 1985, reigniting a fascination with the ship and its story leading to several cinematic adaptations of the story and worldwide notoriety.

Further information, booking details and tickets can be obtained from the Belfast Welcome Centre, or online at www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanicfestival

(DW)