Northern Ireland has it all – from busy towns to peaceful country-sides, green forests and cliffs and bays, beautiful beaches and castles et al.
In our two-part Northern Ireland drive, this is the second part covering the North coast driving westwards.
To view the first part of this drive covering the Northern Ireland-East Coast, click here.
The best way to explore the north coast is by the Causeway Coastal Route.
Here are the main highlights of our trip :
Ballintoy
Driving westwards from Torr Head, this pretty location – the historic fishing harbour of Ballintoy and the town which is a short drive away. Incidentally, this harbour’s stunning setting led it to be used as a filming location in the popular TV series Game of Thrones as the Iron Islands. The harbour looks old and has interesting rock formations. In addition, there is a sandy beach, and a large cave you can visit.
Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge
Managed by the National Trust, this is the key attraction along this beautiful coast. The rope bridge connects the mainland to the tiny island of Carrickarede. As per history, the local salmon fishermen created the first version of the bridge over 350 years ago to gain access to the island for fishing, but now, there are very few salmon in the area and so, no more fishing here.
Set amid breathtaking scenery on the North Antrim Coast, the 30-metre deep and 20-metre wide chasm is traversed by a rope bridge that was traditionally erected by Salmon fishermen! Of course, it’s a bit sturdier these days but there’s still only one way off the island – back across the swinging bridge!
You should skip this if you are not into heights!!
White Park Bay
We enjoyed walking along a slope to this beautiful bay! Don’t miss it! Enjoy a stroll on this spectacular sandy beach which forms a white arc between two headlands on the North Antrim Coast. Don’t miss the picturesque little harbour. You may be the only people on this beach!
Cushendun
This pretty coastal village is nestled at the foot of Glendun, one of the nine Glens of Antrim. Look out for the goat sculpture, ‘Johann’, and the caves behind the village – again these were used as filming locations for ‘Game of Thrones’.
Giant’s Causeway
It is the only UNESCO world heritage site in Northern Ireland and is an absolute must-visit when in the country. The Giant’s Causeway is a geological feature – around 40,000 hexagonal basalt columns that appear to form a staircase-like pathway out to sea. As per the legend, the causeway was built by an Irish giant, so he could battle with a Scottish giant. However, the scientific explanation for the columns is that they were formed by cooling lava around fifty million years ago, with the cooling lava cracking into the formations we see. It’s hard not to be impressed by the incredible uniform structure and shape of the stones – photogenic and fun to explore.
There’s a large visitor centre which has information on pretty much everything you might need to know about the Giant’s Causeway with a great exhibit.
Dunluce Castle
Dunluce Castle is an impressive ruin, perched dramatically on the cliff top, and looking as if the sea might drown it at any moment. However, the ruin that we see today dates from around the 15th century! It’s a magnificent location, with excellent views along the coast and out to sea. Easy to access, this is an outstanding castle to visit and take some good pictures!
Mussenden Temple
The stunning Mussenden Temple is unique and sits on a precipitous 120 feet high cliff edge. There are cliff top walks to get breathtaking views over Ireland’s north coast. There are colourful sheltered garden paths to stroll on. In addition, there are interesting 18th century ruins to explore if you are into history.
Northern Ireland is the perfect landscape to Drive, Explore, Enjoy!
The giant causeway looks intriguing. Thanks for this bried yet detailed guide to northern Ireland. This two-part series is an amazing resource for anyone planning a roadtrip in NI.
The Giant’s Causeway has been on my list of places to see for a while now. But that castle is intriguing, too, and walking across the rope bridge over the chasm sounds like a scary but great adventure. You definitely helped put Ireland higher on my priority list of places to visit.
I would love to visit Giant’s causeway one day, such an iconic location.
I’ve always wanted to visit Giants Causeway and even though I’m terrified of heights, the rope bridge looks very appealing. Never thought of Ireland as having temples, sounds intriguing!
Just one wonderful destination after another. I’ve only been to the South before but I need to make time to explore up North too by the looks of your pics. Looks like you were lucky with the weather.
When you read the list of UNESCO world heritage sites around the world, but mostly in europe I am sad to say (:P) I have visited quite a few. Without knowing they were part of the list 😀
The Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge is on my bucket list. I was supposed to go to Ireland this month, so when travel opens up again, that’s the first place I plan to visit!
I have always wanted to visit Northern Ireland, especially the Giant Causeway. But I didn’t know there are do many other things to see like the rope bridge, the temple, the arc!
We got a small taste test of Northern Ireland. But definitely enough to know we want to return. We saw a few of these sites. But missed some of the small villages along the coast. And it even looks like you had some days without the grey rainy skies!
We couldn’t explore North Ireland during our visit to UK last year. Will save this post to plan our trip there when we visit UK again.
Ireland is at the top of my list! I haven’t been able to visit yet, but it looks like there’s so many great things to do/see. I would love to visit the Dunluce caste and White Park Bay looks lovely! It would be great to get away from the crowds. And I couldn’t skip the Giant’s Causeway.