antrim coast road

I have driven this route from Belfast twice. Once in August 2012 and again in December 2014. It is so beautiful you have to see it for yourself. Both trips were a 1 day trip but I would recommend a 2 day trip staying somewhere around the Causeway area and then proceed onto Derry, if possible. Weather depends on where you would like to stop. I also would recommend going by car if you are comfortable driving in Ireland. There are many other reviews that give specifics of the route so I don't want to be repetitious as they are all very helpful. This is a drive not to be missed!

easy to follow brown signage along the route and it's extra loops, excellent villages, harbours, pubs and food for stopping and enjoying the local scenery

Our Northern Ireland excursion in September 2013 took us along the Coast Road from Larne in eastern Antrim all the way around to the the Giant's Causeway in the north at Bushmills. The weather remained beautiful for nearly the entire drive, which only enhanced the beauty of the natural environment, adding much to the enjoyment and thrill of the experience. It was so easy to fall in love with Northern Ireland by driving this route, and we were so glad we did. Our stay at Ballygally at the historic Ballygally Castle Hotel, had been incredible, and we literally saw every view--from simple to breathtaking--extending all the way from Larne to Bushmills. The drive was far less challenging than we had anticipated, Though quite winding in places, the roadway was smooth, well constructed, and as safe as a coastal road could be, particularly through rocky terrain. It was far less fearful of a drive and the main danger while driving was in being preoccupied with the exquisite beauty we saw everywhere. As someone with family of Scots-Irish origins, I was pleased to be standing on Irish soil, yet so able to see Scotland clearly across the sea, just 22 miles away. Even on days that aren't perfectly clear, it is still possible to see the hills and shoreline of Scotland across the water--almost close enough to touch! The part of the road that is interrupted by land and no sea views was still gorgeous, climbing high along curving roads through the upper glens, with great vistas down into the valleys below. And once we reached the northern section of the route, we were greeted with so many sights to see: Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge, Ballintoy Church and Ballintoy Harbour, the visitor center and spectacle of the Giant's Causeway, and the famous town of Bushmills, to name a few. It is clearly the most heavily traveled and visited section of the roadway, though the eastern route is equally enchanting--just simpler and quieter. All in all, this travel along the Coast Road was one of the very best of our entire Irish journey. Unless one is fearful of driving in Ireland (it really wasn't that bad), this is really one of those unforgettable, must-do experiences when visiting the Emerald Isle.

How? take a trip along the beautiful Antrim Coast. Start in the lovely town of Ballycastle and head for Portrush. Take your time and wonder at the jaw dropping sights around almost every corner. Giants Causeway, Carrick-A-Rede robe bridge and Bushmills Distillery, although amazing and truely well worth a visit are only some of the natural wonders available all along this fantastic drive. Go surfing, play golf and definitely taste the home made cakes in the red door cafe. See Scotland, at its nearest just 12 miles away, take the boat to Rathlin Island. Chill, eat some nice food and grab a pint!Im definitely going back soon. Enjoy!!

The Causeway Coastal Route is rated as one of the Top Five Road Trips worldwide and when you drive it, you’ll see why. England, Scotland and Wales have the occasional stretch of beautiful cost road - but the 'star prize' has to go N.Ireland's Antrim Coast. It’s already designated as an "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty" (AONBs). Stating from Belfast, you are soon beside the Belfast Lough and through seaside parks and small resorts - but after Larne it simply becomes 'drop dead gorgeous'! The ever-changing scenery - the dramatic coastal road tucked under the limestone cliffs and the waves only feet away! There are actually nine Glens of Antrim, connected by the winding road - interspersed with picturesque villages with post-stamp harbours!There is nothing man-made to distract from the pure natural beauty - no glitzy hotel or dominating golf course - just ruggedness, character and nature at its best!It’s not on the road between conurbations, or industrial area - trucks and buses are rare and even car traffic is very light indeed!Don’t just drive the Antrim Coast end-to-end - you will have missed it all in about 1.5 hours in a 'tin can'. Get the windows down, drive slowly - stop in every village - take unique photos - talk to the locals - they are very welcoming indeed!If it takes you fancy stop for a glass of 'Porter' and a light meal with wholesome local ingredients! It’s a road that has barely changed in 2 centuries and long may it remain so!If (like me) you travel by a non-polluting electric car - well you are in paradise with a Fast Charger in every village! It’s the best way to tour Ireland - travel in a car that uses renewable energy and only stay and dine where they support 'sustainable tourism'!

Absolutely amazing scenery, but I missed many photo opportunities. I was on a shore excursion from a Princess cruise. There were almost no photo stops along the way, which was very disappointing and I was on the left hand side (landward side) of the coach. Once I realised, I consoled myself with the thought that we would return to Belfast the same way and I would get the photo opportunities then, but no, we went back the inland route. If you are on a coach heading from Belfast north along the coast, perhaps to the Giant's Causeway and you want to get the best views, sit on the right hand side of the coach (i.e. driver's side), which is the side closest to the ocean.

...for any travellers to NI. There's a new and stunning sight around each bend, as well as the local wildlife (cows, goats and sheep) on the hills along the way. Just an idyllic addition to your trip to County Antrim. Photos can't do it justice. You have to see it in person.

City & Causway tour.FANTASTIC!I read all the reviews and I encourage you to read them also. They were accurate but my experience felt so much more personal. It's like your friend Alister. Without yet discussing the tour, I feel that I want him to come to the house for a beer. He shortly becomes that kind of friend. Alister picked us up promptly at the ship and we entered his six passenger Mercedes diesel. Very clean and comfy. We proceeded out of Belfast into the Countryside where he began a banter that was friendly, personal an definitely not a canned presentation. Alister personalized the trip to your desires. You travel where the Cruise busses cannot tred. The lanes are too narrow. You get an experience that none of the cautious, timid, passengers can dream to match. He makes the trip so personal, it feels like he's been your friend for years. He advises you to not waste your funds on some admissions but it is your choice. I loved DunLuce castle ruins. And the extended lunch at the cafe. Where we had the Worlds best scones with jam, strawberry and cream. Yes it is that good! He is friends with the owners. They make sure you have a table. We saw views that you only dream of seeing. The south of Ireland was pretty but not this pretty!We have all grown up with news of the "Troubles". You wonder if it is safe to go to Belfast. Is it safe to go to Chicago? It's the same kind of question. We would love to come back and have Alister set up a B&B trip. He doesn't do this now BUT HE SHOULD. I trust his judgement. We met his business partner Stevie... He's a fun guy too. We had time enough at the end of the day for Alister to show us parts of Belfast and show us a Peace Wall he helped build as a young man. We travelled down Shankill Rd. Saw noman's land and still don't understand why people that live the same lives had and have difficulties. But who can explain nationalism? It is a beautiful town. It just needs better marketing. No fears.You will see and learn more about the area than you ever expected. I would be surprised if you didn't like it much more than Dublin...Alister put himself into the tour and you will feel much closer to the area because of him. You will feel sorry for the fellow passengers that weren't as bright as you and foundAlister and City & Causway tours. It was worth every penny. As you can tell, I was impressed and woul like him to plan a return trip to explore on our own. I was surprised to fall in Love with Northern Ireland. You will too. Experience it with Alister or Stevie.

The coast road is just beautiful. It really needs to be explored by car over a couple of days so you can stop everywhere you want to. Big wide beaches, cliffs, the giants causeway of course. Brilliant!

Include this drive in your itinerary - well worth the time. The views are wonderful! Road is two lane, usually with shoulders, and except for a couple of rock tunnels is standard width. Quaint little towns along the way really help you feel you are in Ireland. We went at a fairly leisurely pace and arrived at the Giant's causeway within 3 hours.

We have been fortunate to travel quite often, we have been to Ireland 12 times, but never ventured this far north. I am glad we did, the weather was brilliant and the scenery through the coast matched...around every corner, green hills of Antrim, coastline, small villages....just incredible. I would put this drive up with the best.....

we were very lucky in that for our Antrim coastal tour the weather was outstanding,the sky was deep blue and the temperature was in the 70's with a cooling breeze to make it just perfect. the first stop was Carrickfergus Castle for a photo opportunity,a chance to pose at the statue of "king Billy" or under the walls of the Castle.The next stage although very picturesque is up to three hours which is a bit short of comfort stops if you are at our age. The rope bridge is the next stop and for the fit and athletic amongst you is fine as there are 27 steps to negotiate plus a rope bridge high above the sea to contend with. In the coach park there is a national trust cafe serving the normal exorbitantly prized snacks but here there is more variety than at the official lunch break stop. be aware that entry to the rope bridge crossing is an extra cost and not mentioned in the literature when booking! after travelling through some spectacular glens we arrived at the lunch stop which is a farm house type building out in the wilds,again be aware that it is mainly Irish main meals on offer,eg Irish stew, Champ etc with things like sandwiches, and the more familiar picnic style snacks being absent, these main meal prices are also quite high. our advice for this trip is to pop to the local super market and stock up on pop,sandwiches,pork pies crisps etc at affordable prices and then you can eat when and where you fancy.there is a quick visit to the Bushmills factory shop (not the distillery itself) to give you a chance to buy a bottle or two; for people on "hand luggage only" flights like us remember you can only take liquids on board that have been purchased airside so could be an expensive purchase !! Finally after approximately 7 hours we arrived at the Giants Causeway where we were informed that if we wished to use the information centre facilities it would cost £8 each!of course the toilets were free as was the ubiquitous gift shop. There is a long walk down to the stones but a £2 return bus shuttle runs to help anyone who needs it. After such a long trip the actual stones for me was a bit of an anti climax as they are not quite so impressive looking outside of a professional postcard. For anyone not young and fit or a little unsteady on their legs I would definitely advise not to clamber around on the uneven and very dangerous surfaces as they look like a broken ankle waiting to happen! all in all a good photograph opportunity trip but tiring as you do not arrive back in the city until after 7pm.

What can I say--it is beautiful! If you are in Ireland--do not miss driving the coast. We had rain in the morning, but then in the afternoon, we had the most amazing rainbow I have ever seen in my life. It was fantastic and should not be missed!

Ballintoy – where myth and legend take over from reality.The salt tang of the ocean drifted in on the gentlest of breezes through the tiny open sash window. A warm wind that carried scents of new-mown hay from the meadow outside the window. The distant bleat of lambs from the upper pasture punctuated by the sharp call of the curlews on the cliff edge.The setting sun eased its way below the horizon, a fishing smack impossibly beautiful with its red sails in the sunset.And to complement this idyllic pastoral image, a dozen fresh-caught mackerel drenched with country butter sizzle on the hot irons of the barbecue, their smoke spiralling upwards in the still air.Not in some far-flung remote corner of the world, but in “The Wee Bothy”, a single bedroomed cottage for two in a clachan of ten dwellings of various sizes in what is known as McShane Glen at Ballintoy on the North Antrim coast. All these have been custom built to the highest specification and lack nothing in comfort. Step back in time to this little cottage and its turf burning stove with a limitless supply of turf from the bog to make for an evening of craic and relaxation or indeed quietly doing nothing at all. But in spite of the traditional stove, there’s full central heating and all the mod. cons. needed.Comfort and cleanliness are the watch words here and the bedroom is immaculate with the scent of lavender from the crisp, freshly laundered bed linen and with a view of the night sky framed by a little sash window. With no pollution from street lighting, the sky is black velvet strewn with the diamond dust of the Milky Way, Orion’s belt bright in the West. After a dram or two of the famous golden liquid from the Bushmills Distillery down the road and blessed by the little folk, sleep folds us in its arms in a bed of thistledown. In the morning, walk past the little whitewashed church which is always open, to the Harbour. Listen to the waves as they gurgle among the pebbles, their strength tamed after their long journey from Greenland.The harbour is quaint with huge caves cut into the limestone and if the traveller has an interest in the Cretaceous period of geology, then go no further. Armed with a small hammer, these rocks can be broken open easily, and as with all discoveries in nature, excitement knows no bounds when a fossil is found. Usually a belemnite, a cigar shaped bony structure of an octopus like creature that roamed the warm tropical seas a hundred million years ago. An hour or so beachcombing is a very contemplative exercise, but hunger pangs remind the body what the mind has forgotten. And to cater for the missed breakfast, no better place than here in the harbour. The little tearoom has been owned by the present lady for thirty five years and is famed for her wheaten bread and cakes and scones and pies and tarts and…Suffice to say, exercise is needed after the North Antrim fry with crisp shavings of bacon and plump sausages from local produce that have roamed the heather-laden Glens, tatie bread made with local “Queens”, eggs with yolks the colour of the country butterwe get from the farm - and the wheaten. The recipe a closely guarded secret.And on the way back, stop and look at the architectural anomaly of Bendhu. Standing sentinel on the cliffs overlooking Ballintoy harbour, Bendhu is a house quite unlike any other - its concrete form and unusual silhouette of cubes and finials distinguishing it from the pitched roofed cottages that surround it.For 70 years architectural enthusiasts have marvelled at Bendhu, the creation of Newton Penprase, a remarkable Cornish artist based in Belfast. Penprase started working on it at the age of 47, changing the design as work proceeded, defying Atlantic gales and the occasional hostility of local people.Bendhu might finally be finished but its legend looks likely to live on. Not least because a view from the car window is still as close as most people will ever get to the fabled house.The Wee Bothy makes a fine base for touring or wandering. Indeed the car could stay here for the whole of your break. A good way to judge a rental property is by the hygiene of the bathroom, especially in those hard to reach places, but it has to be admitted that the shower was impeccably clean, had no loose bits, didn’t flood the floor and the W.C. worked first time every time and was in pristine condition. (Which is more than can be said for some top-class hotels).After lunch outside in the little garden, explore along the cliff path of newly-mown grass fringed with bird's-foot trefoil and kidney vetch from the little white church to Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. Take consolation that the first bridge had only one hand rail and the treads were alternate. For the hardy in spirit the bridge spans a fearsome chasm above the pounding breakers. Such breakers were to spell doom for the galleas Girona on October 28th 1588, when, as a remnant of the Armada, it was caught in a dreadful storm. Overloaded with 1500 men, the cumbersome vessel laboured against the waves, but was dashed upon the rocks off shore. Only a handful survived, but the folk memory drifted down the centuries until the treasure from the wreck was salvaged by the Belgian diver Robert Stenuit off the point known as Port-na-Spania. The treasure known as the Girona Hoard now lies at peace in the Ulster Museum, the most unique and complete collection of Armada artefacts in the world.Those bodies not claimed by the depths were washed ashore and buried in St.Cuthbert’s churchyard at Dunluce. Now if you’re in the local pub having a few drams of the Black Bush there will be stories told that on nights of stormy weather if you are to venture along the cliffs, the pitiful screams of drowning men can be heard and the agony of splintered timbers from the tortured vessel in her death throes.Now in front of a scorching turf fire with the amber courage and the company of friends, it’s easy to smile and know better, but will you be the one to venture home tonight alone along the shoreline to your cosy bed in the Wee Bothy?But in daylight there is the loveliest of walks along a bay that has no right to be so perfect, its smooth crescent curving from one headland to the next. Whitepark Bay. Walk barefoot along the shoreline in the tiny wavelets that lisp onto sand that is like silk. Or the strand at Portballintrae. Lie in the sand dunes and listen to the waves hushed by distance as wisps of Mare’s Tails drift overhead, a background for the swifts that soar and dive in their eternal quest.Not far from here along this capricious coastline is Dunluce Castle, which Sorley Boy MacDonnell took over in his acquisition of the Glens. One vicious stormy night, so the story in the pub goes, the walls of the kitchen collapsed, sending to their doom on the rocks below, the kitchen staff. All except a kitchen boy who was sitting in a corner. The violent history of this coast stretches back farther in time, in fact sixty million years, when a cataclysmical eruption caused a huge outpouring of lava, which, as it cooled formed over sixty thousand basalt columns. That’s the scientific bit which can be read in the visitor’s centre at the Giant’s Causeway. But much more interesting is the story of Finn MacCool, (Fionn mac Cumhail), an Irish Giant who lived on an Antrim headland and one day when going about his daily business a Scottish Giant named Fingal began to shout insults and hurl abuse from across the channel. In anger Finn lifted a clod of earth and threw it at the giant as a challenge, but it landed in the sea. Much more interesting than boring geological explanations! (The hole left behind was Lough Neagh, and the island was the Isle of Man.) Fingal retaliated with a rock thrown back at Finn and shouted that Finn was lucky that he wasn't a strong swimmer or he would have made sure he could never fight again.Finn was enraged and began lifting huge clumps of earth from the shore, throwing them so as to make a pathway for the Scottish giant to come and face him. However by the time he finished making the crossing he had not slept for a week and so instead devised a cunning plan to fool the Scot.Finn disguised himself as a baby in a cot and when his adversary came to face him Finn's wife told the Giant that Finn was away but showed him his son sleeping in the cradle. The Scottish giant became apprehensive, for if the son was so huge, what size would the father be?In his haste to escape Fingal sped back along the causeway Finn had built, tearing it up as he went. He is said to have fled to a cave on Staffa which is to this day named 'Fingal's Cave'.A large part of North Antrim was once part of the ancient kingdom of Dalriada which stretched across to Scotland, hence the strong ties to the farther shore.Now whether a geologist, archaeologist, botanist, giant, one of the wee folk or out for a bit of a rest, this is the place. Scorching sun and golden beaches or wild wintry nights, you’ll not forget the Causeway Coast and the people who’ll do their best to make sure you come back, either with good food and drink, hospitality, or maybe is it a come-hither spell from those wee folk we heard laughing in the meadow behind the Wee Bothy?

If you're in Ireland it's worth a trip to Antrim Coast. It's best to start around Belfast and rent a car. Car rental was about $300 (CAD) for two days and another $70 (CAD) for gas. But it was so worth it. You can see the entire coast and do activities like Giant's Causeway, the rope bridge and see all the beaches and peaks of the coast. It's about an hour and a half drove from Giant's Causeway to Belfast International Airport so you can rent a car for a day. Lots of sights so make sure to get out of the main city.