The Olympic Torch will visit the Belfast slipways where the Titanic was built today as it begins its five-day relay through the North before arriving in Dublin later in the week.
The spectacular Co Antrim coastline and the setting for this year's golf Irish Open, Royal Portrush, are also on the itinerary.
Police in the North warned that the terrorism threat level remained severe and appealed for public vigilance.
The north coast is home to golf's former US Open winner Graeme McDowell and other sporting high achievers.
Former Olympic championMary Peters, who won the pentathlon in 1972, carried the golden lantern through a packed Belfast City Airport after it landed from the Isle of Man.
The arrivals hall was full of cheering, flag-waving children and past Olympians, eager to catch a glimpse of the flame, which is visiting every part of the UK ahead of this year's London Games.
The torch will also travel to 2013 City of Culture Derry and Dublin in a symbol of Anglo-Irish goodwill.
Among sporting figures expected to carry it in Ireland are Olympic boxing medallists Wayne McCullough and Michael Carruth, who will take part in the handover at the border.
Other highlights will be a celebratory event at St Stephen's Green in Dublin city centre on Wednesday and the crossing of the newly-built Peace Bridge in Derry linking the mainly nationalist west of the city with the mainly unionist east.
Celebrities taking part in the relay will include television personalities Zoe Salmon, Patrick Kielty and Colin Murray.
The first torch bearer was Karen Marshall, who has had Crohn's disease for 14 years.
She works full-time with marginalised young people, volunteers for her local church, for REACT (Reconciliation Education and Community Training) and is a member of the local District Policing Partnership.
Sports Minister Caral Ni Chuilin said: "She is a real inspiration to the local people of Tynan in County Armagh and today is an inspiration to all, becoming the first torchbearer here."
Ice skater Dempsey Andrews, 15, from East Belfast, carried the torch through part of Co Down. She has performed with Olympic skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean.
The flame continues to Stormont and up the Co Antrim coast
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