Waterworks Park

Full Description

Please note: parts of the Waterworks are closed for essential reservoir safety works. The lower pond and the paths around it are shut, one of the park's two playgrounds is closed on week days, and the gates at the Antrim Road, Brookvale Avenue and the Cavehill Road main entrance are locked while the work is under way. The park itself is open, but the council's notice doesn't say which playground it means, so check before you travel if a playground is the reason for the trip. The full list is under Before You Visit.

The Waterworks is one of Belfast's loveliest surprises. It was the city's water supply in the 1840s before it became a park in the 1950s, and the two reservoirs are still the heart of it — the upper pond stocked with trout, ringed with trees, with two small islands set out to bring the wildfowl in.

For families it's an easy, generous sort of park. There are two playgrounds on the Cavehill Road side, a multi-sports area with pitches and tennis courts, a community garden that local volunteers keep, and paths that wander round the water and out through the grass.

Bring a bit of bird-friendly food and you'll be there an hour longer than you planned. Greylag geese, mute swans, mallards, tufted ducks, coots, pochards, goldeneyes, cormorants and great-crested grebes all turn up, and it's one of the best places in the city to teach a small person the difference between a swan and a goose.

There's a parkrun here every Saturday morning and a junior parkrun on Sundays, which tells you everything about how walkable the park is.

What You'll Find

Two Belfast City Council playgrounds on the Cavehill Road side (listed by the council as Queen Mary's playground and Westlands playground), a multi-sports facility with soccer pitches, GAA pitches and tennis courts, a volunteer-run community garden, and paths around the two reservoirs. The upper pond attracts greylag geese, mute swans, mallards, tufted ducks, coots, pochards, goldeneyes, cormorants and great-crested grebes. Parkrun meets here on Saturdays and junior parkrun on Sundays, and public defibrillators are installed for park users. Toilets and accessible toilets are listed for the park, and parking is free.

Wee Ones Will Love...

• ✓Two playgrounds to choose between
• ✓Swans, geese and ducks just steps from the path
• ✓Room to run on the grass between the ponds
• ✓Spotting the little islands out on the water

Before You Visit

The Waterworks is free and needs no booking. The address is Antrim Road, BT14 6NG, and Metro 1A–H from Belfast city centre runs up the Antrim Road — check Translink for times. The usual entrances are at the Antrim Road and Cavehill Road, but read the closure note below before you plan your way in.

Important: essential reservoir safety works are under way. The council's notice, which took effect in the first week of October 2026 and was expected to last up to nine weeks, lists: • the lower pond area and the access paths around it — closed; • the Cavehill Road playground — closed on week days; • the gates at Antrim Road, Brookvale Avenue and the Cavehill Road main entrance — locked.

The notice doesn't say which of the park's two playgrounds it means by the Cavehill Road playground, because the council lists them separately as Queen Mary's and Westlands. If a playground is the reason for your trip, ring the parks team first. Access is limited while those gates are locked, so check the council's Waterworks page before you set out.

The park is built around open water. Stay on the paths with toddlers and keep hold of hands near the pond edges.

Belfast City Council parks close in the evening, with closing times shifting through the year. Disposable barbecues aren't allowed.

OutmoreNI lists a café at the park, but the council's own page doesn't mention one and we couldn't confirm it, so don't build a coffee stop into your day. We also couldn't confirm baby changing, and we haven't graded the paths for wheelchairs or buggies. If any of that matters, email the council's parks team at parksinfo@belfastcity.gov.uk before you travel.

Top Tips

• ⭐Bring bird-friendly food such as oats or seed rather than bread, and take the slow way round the upper pond.
• ⭐Go on a Saturday morning and you'll catch parkrun; Sundays are the junior version, which is lovely to watch with little ones.
• ⭐The two playgrounds are at the Cavehill Road end — park that side if the playground is the main event.
• ⭐Check the council page for the reservoir works before travelling so you don't arrive to closed paths.