Belfast 'is Paris of the north'

A travel guide publisher has chosen Belfast as one of its top 12 international destinations for 2009.

Frommer's said that in little more than a decade, Belfast had been "transformed from a fractured city into a hot city-break destination".

It said the city was "moving fast towards its 19th-century accolade of the Paris of the north".

"The army checkpoints that encircled the city centre during the Troubles are a thing of the past," it said.

"Towering above the city, it's the glass dome of the sophisticated new Victoria Square shopping centre that's the real emblem of the city's renaissance."

The other destinations on the list were:

• Istanbul
• Berlin
• Cape Town
• Saqqara, Egypt
• Washington DC
• Cambodia
• Waiheke Island, New Zealand
• Cartagena, Colombia
• Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada
• Civil Rights Trail from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, US
• Lassen Volcano National Park, California