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Driver Guide in Northern Ireland

Our family will be visiting Northern Ireland in March 2017. There are nine of us, from my 6 year old nephew to my 88 year old Dad (who was born and raised there, but hasn't been back for decades). Dad has some mobility challenges. This is a trip of a lifetime for our family, as this is a first trip to Ireland for all but Dad.. One of our priorities is to see places relevant to our family history; I've made a list with the help of a genealogist. I'm looking for a driver/guide with a small bus that will seat all of us to tour specific locations in Belfast on one day, out to County Armagh on another day, and along the Antrim Coast (Giant's Causeway, Bushmill's, Dunluce Castle etc.) on one long day. We are planning to be based in Belfast and have already booked our hotel.

If you have suggestions for this kind of specific tour, I'd love to hear about guides/tour companies/other options that you'd suggest. Thanks so much!

Posted by
317 posts

Greetings from the North of Ireland!

Contact the Northern Ireland tour-guide association
http://www.nitga.co.uk/

They will get you a good guide with the proper licenses and insurance etc.

Any problems drop me a line.

le meas/with respect
Stephen McPhilemy
Rick Steves Ireland Tour-Guide
Dingle, Derry and Dublin

Posted by
40 posts

I want to follow up on this post to let you know what we did. I contacted McComb's Coaches, based in N. Ireland. They provided us with a minibus and driver for three days. They were attentive to our needs and exceptionally easy to work with. Compared to some other companies who didn't even bother to answer my emails, McComb's knocked it out of the park in terms of customer service from start to finish.

Day One: Belfast and area to sites I provided itinerary, 9 am - 1 pm
Day Two: Antrim Coast, including the drive from Carrickfergus to Carrick-a-Rede through the Glens of Antrim, Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, Giant's Causeway, Bushmill's Distillery, and the Dark Hedges. 9 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Day Three: Co. Armagh for family history between Lurgan, Portadown, and Newry according to my itinerary. 9 a.m. - 7 p.m. with some touring of Troubles sites in Belfast on the way back.

Total cost: about 950 GBP. This was actually less than renting a large vehicle that would hold 9 people and saved anyone who would have been doing the driving. The coach driver, Peter, was fantastic and pretty much a member of the family. Nothing was too much trouble and he was informative and hilarious and just a joy to be with.

I can say that this was the best decision we made for our large family group.