It’s actually a great way to travel from Dublin to Glasgow via the Enterprise train from Connolly or Ulsterbus from Busaras to Belfast Central and directly onto Hannon or Citylink to Glasgow. A great alternative to flying over there. Great video
Congrats on the 100k subs Scott. Much deserved! One of the best channels out there. Keep it up in 2025! We all appreciate the hard work and effort you put in.
Grand Central station opened last year to replace the old Europa bus station and Great Victoria train station. It is much more spacious and modern. It has train and bus connections across the island of Ireland.
Great video and well timed as I'm using the Citylink Belfast to Glasgow service next weekend to see a concert at the Ovo Hydro. Nice overview of both providers highlighting the Citylink value and Hannons seemless journey. We may even take in the St Mirren game if time permits.
Hi Scott, My wife and I have just been to Belfast, but flew from Manchester. Bus from George Best airport to Central Bus Station, fabulous place. Great city, great friendly people and the Titanic Museum is a place for everyone to go, book the guided tour, it's well worth it. Had to spend 2 extra nights because of storm Ewowyn but still enjoyed it.
Did you know though Scott, you can use the Citylink ticket beyond Befast onto Derry/Londonderry if need be, i use this service in order to go and visit my sister in Letterkenny cost of a return ticket £60 which i think is excellent value for money as it includes coach from Glasgow to Cairnryan and ferry as shown as well as your transfer to Belfast Grand Central but also includes the Belfast to Derry/Londonderry bus the 212 service.
@@WeAreThePeople1690 The Citylink/Ulsterbus ticket covers all onward travel in NI, not just limited to one route. (Although sometimes you do need to explain it to the driver!)
Thank you for this info. Do you know whether the CityLink return ticket can be used on the 273 service (Belfast-Omagh-Derry)? Your comment was very helpful, thank you for posting.
@@octoberpoppy based on the comment above i assume that it would be valid but i would just check in advance just in case, as i said i only use it for the 212service specifically
The nine quid extra for Hannon is a no-brainer to avoid lugging luggage on and off the coach and wondering if a coach will wait if the sailing is delayed
To be fair, the Citylink/Ulsterbus service is very good - the bus will wait for you if booked, or at least get a bus to you. They also make sure that you can get an onward connection at Glasgow, and tell you which bus stop you need to go to!
Not entirely - Hannon don’t offer a return fare discount so you pay £88 vs £59.70 on Ulsterbus. Plus as a student you get 20% off booking on the city link website. Hannon run 2 services each way while Ulsterbus runs 3.
Very happy to see your enthusiasm with Grand Central, sounds very New York-ish to me rather than somewhere in my resident home city, but it is a Grand wee (big) place indeed! Another excellent informative video Steve, well done again. And I am doffing my hat to you (almost literally) for the free Stena coffee ruse, you might get offloaded next time now for that! 😀😉👍👌
An advantage of the Citylink bus is that it stops in Ayr, which is really handy if you live anywhere in Ayrshire (I'm in North Ayrshire). Hannons only goes direct to Glasgow, so not cost effective for Ayrshire folk to use. Now if Hannons could stop in Ayr....
Good Afternoon Scott, I enjoyed watching your TH-cam video! Many decades ago I traveled on the Stena line and enjoyed my journey on the ferry, Thank you for the video, Alister Ian Hoult, Carrying Place, Ontario, Canada.
That brought back memories Scott I lived and worked in Belfast in the 80S and used to travel this route when returning to my family home in Kilmarnock always enjoyed passing Ailsa Craig ❤
£340m was the final cost of the combined bus and train station. Grand name and a much grander price. It is fantastic and punctuality has improved but no doubt I'll be paying for it via inflation busting price rises in perpetuity. Great vid.
I normally drive up from Dublin to Belfast, but maybe next time I will use the bus, just to have some excuse to see the bus station and then return by train.... see what you have done Scott😂😂😂😂😂
You say Ailsa Craig next summer . I was in the United Kingdom last year from Thailand from May until October and I didn’t see a summer so I wish you good luck on that one , love the travel videos 👍🙏❤️.
For me it’s Hannon every time. I like the way they do things, plus the company was very decent about bookings/rebookings etc during the Covid travel disruptions. Grand. Central is a great addition for travelling into and through Belfast. As the name suggests everything is centralised there, bus/train/airport bus connections/cross border trains to Dublin. The staff numbers are impressive. I expect they will reduce over time. It is a new station and in addition touchscreen railway ticketing machines have also recently been introduced across the network.
If you are planning to visit Ailsa Craig in the summer Scott, I do recommend you check out Ruth Aisling's Vlog on this. It's titled "Why Olympic Curling Stones Cost so much" where she visits the island.
Scott,not so terrific if you want to Downpatrick. I was informed by an Ulsterbus driver that service will not start running until June due to ongoing works tidying up the considerable site,leading to massive traffic jams in Belfast!
That was great Scott, very informative. Belfast's Grand Central looks superb, they've done a great job with it. I also must give the Ayrshire coast a proper visit someday as it looks lovely.
Hoi, Scott call it really interesting. Well done. Been to GLA/Glasgow Airport and also BHD/George Best Belfast City Airport. By plane, sure. Not thinking about the Bus/Ferry to connect both places. Greetings, Markus
I think the Hannon service is very good although I used to drive it so I might say that. Glad you liked the new GCS, as people in Belfast have done nothing but complain about it
Brilliant video as always Scott!! Definitely agree the Grand Central Station in Belfast looks incredible. Wish there were more services like this coach connecting the UK with Ireland or the continent apart from Flixbus and National Express. Can I ask, the tea/coffee on the ship, is that from the main restaurant or in the plus lounge? Hope all is well, take care
Took the Hannon Coach option(got the idea from your previous video, thanks!) both ways last September and found it comfortable and reasonable. The trip back though was absolutely jammed with Celtic fans crossing over to see the UEFA match against Slovan!!
@@danbreen6946 Was just my personal experience, would have made the exact same comment if it was Rangers fans on the ferry heading over. The ferry on match day was extremely busy - like nowhere to sit, long lines everywhere kinda busy, not as comfortable as when there is half the number of people on it :)
If coming from England,the south -west coastal road (Dumfries-Stranraer-Ayr-Greenock-Glasgow) is the spectacular route youz are all missing out on! You can see a bit of it here on the bus journey between Glasgow and Belfast (Arran,Ailsa Craig etc). Great vid Scott👌
Back in the late eighties/nineties, I used to get the National Express from Bristol to Belfast, stopping in Birmingham Digbeth for a connection. While I don't miss most of the process - the whole journey used to take about 16 hours including waiting in Birmingham for 2-3 hours at midnight - I do miss the Stena ferry. If I'm ever in Glasgow, maybe I can try Hannon even if Citylink would be more authentic!
Funny this came up today. This morning I was looking at taking the car over to Ireland. I was expecting maybe £150 return, but I think they were all around 300 quid for travel in late April! I'm only planning to go for a few days, so it looks like that road trip around Ireland will have to wait. Flight seems best option for me, maybe potter around Dublin for a few days. And I don't think re-using the same cup for refilling on multiple journeys is on, but I count the return journey as part of the same 'trip' :)
We’ve done the Stena coach and sail with CityLink a couple times and all good. However, we weren’t in a rush and understood the process. Might try Hanon sometime and see what we think. We’re looking forward to seeing (and using!) the new bus and train station in Belfast later this year.
Woo Hoo! 100k subs, TH-cam trophy is on its way.....😁 Great tip about the coffee cup btw! Question: what happens if the ferry doesn't sail or doesn't arrive, do you have to pay for a hotel overnight or does bus return to Glasgow?
I might do that Hannon bus when I go to the OM Dark Skies Park in Northern Ireland.It is far better for the bus to drive onto the ferry and off at the other side.Wind chill is what the temperature feels like and not what it actually is so -5c is really probably around 4c..Wind chill come into it's own in very cold place like Greenland and the Antarctic when it can feel like it is -90 and similar.
11:30 Ok, that's a genius travel hack! If they're going to rip you off, play them at their own game. Amy bets they'll have someone at the machines checking cups next-time?
It's so impressive what the Northern Irish government did with Belfast Grand Central Station. It makes a total show of the Irish government - with their billions and billions in tax windfall money - who wouldn't invest enough to scrub the piss of the streets around Busaras in Dublin.
My partner and I went on Hurtigruten in Norway and they run a free refill service for tea and coffee and every season they have a different mug BUT it is the same mug on every vessel. on our first trip from Bergen to Ålesund we paid for the refill cups On the next part, after three rail journey, from Bodø to Kirkenes (much longer) we justused the cups we took with us from the first ship. Not sure if it still works but it might be useful to know.
Should have called this episode “Same Ship, Different Day”
😂😂Good one
Scott, people keep asking you for directions and help because you have such a knowledgeable, trusting and friendly face.
Indeed,Aswell the camera
Canny Scot looks, people expect him to be knowledgeable…
What's wrong wae ma face like
It’s actually a great way to travel from Dublin to Glasgow via the Enterprise train from Connolly or Ulsterbus from Busaras to Belfast Central and directly onto Hannon or Citylink to Glasgow. A great alternative to flying over there. Great video
Would love to see you try the Glasgow-Donegal bus route
Congrats on the 100k subs Scott. Much deserved! One of the best channels out there. Keep it up in 2025! We all appreciate the hard work and effort you put in.
Very much deserved
Congratulations on the 100K, Scott. So very well deserved!
Hope Burn's Night treated you well!
Price of a breakfast on the Belfast ferry: 1690. The irony!
He was very specific about that too. Why not just say 17 quid? lol.
He was wrong anyway. The receipt said £16.70, not £16.90!
@langserv Scott needs to visit Specsavers.
Oof
@@langserv Looks like the sad old bigot just loves saying 1690.
Glad to hear you liked our new Central Station. Thanks for the ‘bottomless cup” tip 🙏
Beautiful scenery, jaunty music, some law breaking, what's not to like? Another top video, thanks Scott 😊
Great video! But, would have been interesting to see more of your Hotel room, i always enjoy the hotel room tours 👍🏻
Grand Central station opened last year to replace the old Europa bus station and Great Victoria train station. It is much more spacious and modern. It has train and bus connections across the island of Ireland.
Fabulous bus station in Belfast Scott 👍great video, Thanks 😊
As always a really good and interesting vlog Scott … thank you 😊
Love you’re videos Scott 👍🏻
Hey Scott…Congrats on the ‘complementary’ coffee and tea you snagged on the Stena ferry back to Glasgow👏👏
Great video, as always, Scott and thank you for the 'free coffee/tea' tip, I shall definitely remember that for my next trip!
@@PaulMcGinnes1992
That's called "Stealing"
@langserv Go and cry somewhere else.
Great video and well timed as I'm using the Citylink Belfast to Glasgow service next weekend to see a concert at the Ovo Hydro. Nice overview of both providers highlighting the Citylink value and Hannons seemless journey. We may even take in the St Mirren game if time permits.
Great video Scott! I always enjoy your food imputs as well as looking around wherever you visit! x😊
Hi Scott, My wife and I have just been to Belfast, but flew from Manchester. Bus from George Best airport to Central Bus Station, fabulous place. Great city, great friendly people and the Titanic Museum is a place for everyone to go, book the guided tour, it's well worth it. Had to spend 2 extra nights because of storm Ewowyn but still enjoyed it.
Did you know though Scott, you can use the Citylink ticket beyond Befast onto Derry/Londonderry if need be, i use this service in order to go and visit my sister in Letterkenny cost of a return ticket £60 which i think is excellent value for money as it includes coach from Glasgow to Cairnryan and ferry as shown as well as your transfer to Belfast Grand Central but also includes the Belfast to Derry/Londonderry bus the 212 service.
That's brilliant value Sean... ☘️☘️☘️
You can do the same with the hannon service too. That service terminates in Lurgan I think.
@@WeAreThePeople1690 The Citylink/Ulsterbus ticket covers all onward travel in NI, not just limited to one route. (Although sometimes you do need to explain it to the driver!)
Thank you for this info. Do you know whether the CityLink return ticket can be used on the 273 service (Belfast-Omagh-Derry)? Your comment was very helpful, thank you for posting.
@@octoberpoppy based on the comment above i assume that it would be valid but i would just check in advance just in case, as i said i only use it for the 212service specifically
The nine quid extra for Hannon is a no-brainer to avoid lugging luggage on and off the coach and wondering if a coach will wait if the sailing is delayed
I've never been let down by citylink and I travel to Ireland by boat all the time
To be fair, the Citylink/Ulsterbus service is very good - the bus will wait for you if booked, or at least get a bus to you. They also make sure that you can get an onward connection at Glasgow, and tell you which bus stop you need to go to!
Not entirely - Hannon don’t offer a return fare discount so you pay £88 vs £59.70 on Ulsterbus. Plus as a student you get 20% off booking on the city link website. Hannon run 2 services each way while Ulsterbus runs 3.
Thanks
🙇
Very happy to see your enthusiasm with Grand Central, sounds very New York-ish to me rather than somewhere in my resident home city, but it is a Grand wee (big) place indeed! Another excellent informative video Steve, well done again. And I am doffing my hat to you (almost literally) for the free Stena coffee ruse, you might get offloaded next time now for that! 😀😉👍👌
Great video Scott, glad you got your free drinks ! Belfast central station does indeed look fantastic.
That is a really impressive Bus station must swing in and have a look next time I am in Belfast, Hannan for me hands down
Another excellent video Scott
Great video really enjoyed it.
An advantage of the Citylink bus is that it stops in Ayr, which is really handy if you live anywhere in Ayrshire (I'm in North Ayrshire). Hannons only goes direct to Glasgow, so not cost effective for Ayrshire folk to use. Now if Hannons could stop in Ayr....
Well done on 100k scott
Belfast's new station is lovely, another great video Scott
Lovely trip Scott very informative and enjoyable. Thank you.
Good Afternoon Scott, I enjoyed watching your TH-cam video! Many decades ago I traveled on the Stena line and enjoyed my journey on the ferry, Thank you for the video, Alister Ian Hoult, Carrying Place, Ontario, Canada.
1st comment go Scott love your quirky video's 🎉
Really enjoyed the video Scott . Belfast looks great . Keep up the excellent work 😊😊.
Wow awesome thanks Scott
was at Grand Central in November, its beautiful!
Great video 📹 😊
An awesome little adventure. I love the coffee hack!
It's called "Stealing"
Well done for getting to 100K subscribers.
Congratulations on the 100k
That brought back memories Scott I lived and worked in Belfast in the 80S and used to travel this route when returning to my family home in Kilmarnock always enjoyed passing Ailsa Craig ❤
Thankyou that was great.
This is another nice look at Glasgow and Belfast on your trip seeing the beautiful countryside take care and thank you Scott.☕👋🇬🇧
Wow, what a video thanks for this information. I hope you discuss the prices.
Great guys who own this , Hannon are big in northern Ireland for haulage and steel I used to work them in steel top guys
Yes, I saw some of their freight at Cairnryan. It's a great service.
£340m was the final cost of the combined bus and train station. Grand name and a much grander price. It is fantastic and punctuality has improved but no doubt I'll be paying for it via inflation busting price rises in perpetuity. Great vid.
I normally drive up from Dublin to Belfast, but maybe next time I will use the bus, just to have some excuse to see the bus station and then return by train.... see what you have done Scott😂😂😂😂😂
You say Ailsa Craig next summer . I was in the United Kingdom last year from Thailand from May until October and I didn’t see a summer so I wish you good luck on that one , love the travel videos 👍🙏❤️.
Cool✨️
For me it’s Hannon every time. I like the way they do things, plus the company was very decent about bookings/rebookings etc during the Covid travel disruptions. Grand. Central is a great addition for travelling into and through Belfast. As the name suggests everything is centralised there, bus/train/airport bus connections/cross border trains to Dublin. The staff numbers are impressive. I expect they will reduce over time. It is a new station and in addition touchscreen railway ticketing machines have also recently been introduced across the network.
That bus station looks awesome! hopefully more cities will follow its example.
If you are planning to visit Ailsa Craig in the summer Scott, I do recommend you check out Ruth Aisling's Vlog on this. It's titled "Why Olympic Curling Stones Cost so much" where she visits the island.
I can recommend that recommendation 👌
Scott,not so terrific if you want to Downpatrick. I was informed by an Ulsterbus driver that service will not start running until June due to ongoing works tidying up the considerable site,leading to massive traffic jams in Belfast!
Great coffee tip that'll teach Stena to rip you off 2 years ago 👍
Thank you
That was great Scott, very informative. Belfast's Grand Central looks superb, they've done a great job with it. I also must give the Ayrshire coast a proper visit someday as it looks lovely.
Hoi, Scott call it really interesting. Well done. Been to GLA/Glasgow Airport and also BHD/George Best Belfast City Airport. By plane, sure. Not thinking about the Bus/Ferry to connect both places. Greetings, Markus
True Scott
The profit on Coffee is High
£57 Return on Citylink while with Hannon you have to do two £44 one ways so for £31 less on Citylink its worth it for a little bit more hassle.
Scott, you give us good advice how to save. Value for money. Thank you.
Thanks Scott your video has made me think if there are similar services from Liverpool to Belfast
There is a couple of ferries right from Liverpool to Belfast. The dock in Belfast is in easy taxi ride range..
I took that ferry end of July last year. And it was bitterly cold then!
I think the Hannon service is very good although I used to drive it so I might say that.
Glad you liked the new GCS, as people in Belfast have done nothing but complain about it
Great video
Brilliant video as always Scott!! Definitely agree the Grand Central Station in Belfast looks incredible. Wish there were more services like this coach connecting the UK with Ireland or the continent apart from Flixbus and National Express. Can I ask, the tea/coffee on the ship, is that from the main restaurant or in the plus lounge? Hope all is well, take care
Good comparison
Took the Hannon Coach option(got the idea from your previous video, thanks!) both ways last September and found it comfortable and reasonable. The trip back though was absolutely jammed with Celtic fans crossing over to see the UEFA match against Slovan!!
Why make the point about Celtic Fans 🤔
@@danbreen6946 Was just my personal experience, would have made the exact same comment if it was Rangers fans on the ferry heading over. The ferry on match day was extremely busy - like nowhere to sit, long lines everywhere kinda busy, not as comfortable as when there is half the number of people on it :)
If coming from England,the south -west coastal road (Dumfries-Stranraer-Ayr-Greenock-Glasgow) is the spectacular route youz are all missing out on!
You can see a bit of it here on the bus journey between Glasgow and Belfast (Arran,Ailsa Craig etc).
Great vid Scott👌
Your coffee cup ruse had shades of Alan Partridge's big plate scam at the hotel he was staying at in series two.
@@matthewleslie4448
It's called Stealing
This is the only service I use its absolutely the best service and now it goes into Grand Central makes it even better
Back in the late eighties/nineties, I used to get the National Express from Bristol to Belfast, stopping in Birmingham Digbeth for a connection. While I don't miss most of the process - the whole journey used to take about 16 hours including waiting in Birmingham for 2-3 hours at midnight - I do miss the Stena ferry. If I'm ever in Glasgow, maybe I can try Hannon even if Citylink would be more authentic!
Good evening Scott
12:20 "there is a couple of things I noticed, same ship" ... wait till Scott finds out that ships have names!!!
Funny this came up today. This morning I was looking at taking the car over to Ireland. I was expecting maybe £150 return, but I think they were all around 300 quid for travel in late April! I'm only planning to go for a few days, so it looks like that road trip around Ireland will have to wait. Flight seems best option for me, maybe potter around Dublin for a few days.
And I don't think re-using the same cup for refilling on multiple journeys is on, but I count the return journey as part of the same 'trip' :)
He stole that drink
We’ve done the Stena coach and sail with CityLink a couple times and all good. However, we weren’t in a rush and understood the process. Might try Hanon sometime and see what we think. We’re looking forward to seeing (and using!) the new bus and train station in Belfast later this year.
Woo Hoo! 100k subs, TH-cam trophy is on its way.....😁
Great tip about the coffee cup btw!
Question: what happens if the ferry doesn't sail or doesn't arrive, do you have to pay for a hotel overnight or does bus return to Glasgow?
Scott stole that coffee
@@langserv 😂
I get the 923 from Belfast regularly. I does go to Buchanan St
Hull interchange is pretty good also
Belfast Grand Central is also a train station. It really is a great facility.
That bus station looks marginally better than Paris Bercy!
It might even rival Birmingham Digbeth!
That huge Grand Central Station must cost an absolute fortune to heat.
It's always cold inside as the train station is open-space
Every time I hear "Hannon" I just think of Neil Hannon, and then (given the subject matter) I think of National Express. :)
Great video Scott
Scott I actually thought I seen you at the Ulster hall last week watching Lyle Lovett
Show us food Scott!!
I used to go with Ulsterbus when I was a student at Strathclyde in the 90s. It was £33 quid return. You could rent GameBoys on the Sea Cat
Re livestock trailer the one in front "orange" is a livestock too
I might do that Hannon bus when I go to the OM Dark Skies Park in Northern Ireland.It is far better for the bus to drive onto the ferry and off at the other side.Wind chill is what the temperature feels like and not what it actually is so -5c is really probably around 4c..Wind chill come into it's own in very cold place like Greenland and the Antarctic when it can feel like it is -90 and similar.
Your right about the overkill on the numbers of staff in stations now
"Deck 5. I must remember that." "Turns out, I forgot." Ah Scott, never change... 🤣
I recommend getting a wee wireless mic to attach to your jacket so you don't have to worry about traffic and such interfering with the sound.
I was at Belfast Grand Central twice and it's really impresses, in my option I feel like it makes a huge different since the opening last year.
I've got the same mugs that Wetherspoons use so..........
Man takes bus drive and then takes bus drive back... what could possibly go wrong... on this channel probably everything
You kay already have done this but a suggestion for a future episode.
Belfast to Birkenhead ferry .
11:30 Ok, that's a genius travel hack! If they're going to rip you off, play them at their own game. Amy bets they'll have someone at the machines checking cups next-time?
Watching your video I'm guessing you don't have the same love for ferries as Steve Marsh does 😂😂
Which fortunately makes Scotts videos shorter!
I never knew the Cairnryan terminal at Belfast had a direct footbridge. One day at the Birkenhead terminal (both sides!)... One day...
It's so impressive what the Northern Irish government did with Belfast Grand Central Station. It makes a total show of the Irish government - with their billions and billions in tax windfall money - who wouldn't invest enough to scrub the piss of the streets around Busaras in Dublin.
My partner and I went on Hurtigruten in Norway
and they run a free refill service for tea and coffee
and every season they have a different mug
BUT it is the same mug on every vessel.
on our first trip from Bergen to Ålesund
we paid for the refill cups
On the next part, after three rail journey,
from Bodø to Kirkenes (much longer)
we justused the cups we took with us
from the first ship.
Not sure if it still works but it might be useful to know.
Were there any significant differences onboard the coaches such as
Seat comfort
Leg room
USB chargers
Friendliness and customer care driver
Both were the same, nothing outstanding, but the Hannon driver spoke to the oassengers more. I think the coaches were the same.