Seeking Northern Ireland/Antrim Coast itinerary advice

We saw Northern Ireland/Antrim Coast as part of our Rick Steves 14 day Ireland tour. The Antrim Coast does not disappoint. Giants Causeway is fascinating. I did want to mention that we took the Martin McCrossan Derry City Walking Tour and it was really interesting, so don't miss that!

Don't miss out on the Antrim Glens between Belfast and Giant's Causeway area. They don't get the publicity of the north coast but each of the glens has its own unique character and deserve at least a day to explore some of them. Glenariff is my favourite and there are several way marked walks you can do. The Waterfall walk is one of the shorter and possibly the most dramatic. There's a map showing the different trails here and more detail about the waterfalls walk here.

If time allows, the Torr Head drive north of Cushendun, is also worth doing. Have a read here too.

Plan for an overnight around Ballycastle - or may be two nights which would allow you to catch a ferry to Rathlin Island for a day. Then head to Giant's Causeway etc next day.

Try and plan a visit to Gian't's Causeway at low tide when more of the stones are uncovered. Also there is a very good walk from behind the Visitor Centre whiuch takes you up along the cliffs above the Causeway. You can look down on the stones and the tourists scurrying around like ants below you! The Blue trail is the shorter but if time allows you might want to extend this along the red trail.

Also don't miss the ruined Dunluce castle either.

I have visited Giant's Causeway by private car and on a bus tour. The buses are not permitted at the rope bridge, so if you want to do that, you either need your own car or a small, private tour.
In Derry, don't miss the Museum of Free Derry, especially if you have done the Black Cab Tour in Belfast. It gave me a very different perspective on The Troubles. After the Museum, you can stroll past the Bogside Murals. They are very different from the murals in Belfast.
Outside Derry, folks recommend the Grianan of Aileach, a medieval hill fort. I haven't been. A car is needed for this.
Derry is on the doorstep of Donegal, so you could continue on to the Slieve League cliffs.
On your way back to Belfast or between Bushmills and Derry, consider the Sperrins Mountains. Landscapes you don't expect to see in Ireland.
Much depends on how much time you have for the trip, of course. We managed Belfast (with GC bus tour), Derry, the Sperrins and Killybegs/Slieve League in a week using public transportation and a taxi.

While the tour buses don't go to Carrick-a Rede the normal scheduled bus #402 from Coleraine (for rail connections to Derry and Belfast) to Ballycastle does, on an every 30 minute frequency via Bushmills and the Giants Causeway (with the odd half hour gap in the afternoon).

There is also a direct bus back from Derry to Dublin Airport (not via Belfast)- the X3 and X4.

Together they run every 2 hours taking 3:45 or 4:05 as the X3 and X4 take different routes.

In 2019 we travelled in Ireland for 3 weeks (my niece had a very small wedding ceremony near Dublin). It was our second visit to the isle. The first time (2009) we had not spent any time in Dublin. This trip we spent about a week in Ireland before the wedding, a few days in Dublin (stayed on the outskirts near the wedding venue), then headed to Northern Ireland.

We rented a car for the whole trip. We stayed in Bangor (just out of Belfast) a couple of nights after driving up from Dublin. We had not reserved any accommodation for that part of our trip. It was early evening when we stopped by a small, RS recommended BnB. https://hargreaveshouse.com/cgi-bin/mainpage/
The hostess was such a gem. She (Pauline?) had one little room available for one night, between other booked guests. As I recall, the room had a tiny (shower/toilet/sink) bathroom. If I were staying more than one night, I would try to reserve the larger room, which can also become a suite with a 2-singles room. (Check out photos). The hostess then contacted a hotel up the street and made arrangements for a late meal as well as accommodation for the following night. In the hotel, we had a lovely bay window overlooking the sea. Pauline dropped us off at the train station for our day in Belfast. She was so accommodating. We would definitely stay at Hargreaves House again. The hotel was up the street on the corner. It seems to me that the outdoor patio was quite busy the night we stayed (below our room) but it was also very convenient to the little town--and we loved the bay window. I believe we walked back from the train station.

In Derry, don't miss the Museum of Free Derry, especially if you have done the Black Cab Tour in Belfast. It gave me a very different perspective on The Troubles.

We also did both, although the museum visit was during our 2009 trip. I wish we'd had time for 2 Black cabs tours so we could've had both perspectives, but our tour (Republic perspective) was very good. It was a few days before the July 12th Bonfire so we drove into a large lot in a Protestant Loyalist neighborhood to see the huge tower of pallets ready to burn. Young boys threw rocks and shouted at the taxi. I was happy to head back to the other part of town. We also drove through a small village with many rowdy young boys surrounding the cars driving through. They were asking for $ to take their band to Derry for the Derry Boy's Parade (which we stumbled upon in 2009) but it felt very intense.

The Museum of Free Derry is a must. It was a small trailer when we were there in 2009, and the host in reception had lost his brother on the very space. Our Derry time was on our previous trip (a day or two).

In 2019, I believe we did 3 nights along the coast after 2 nights in Bangor. Our last night was in Portrush or Portstewart before heading to the Derry vicinity for 2 nights' stay and a trip to Malin Head on the Inishowen Peninsula. I enjoyed driving through the little villages on the peninsula. We also had a night further south as I tried to locate possible ancestral areas. We did not spend time in Derry in 2019.

How much time do you have?

If you have any Ulster Scot ancestry, and have time (the drives are slow almost anywhere in Ireland) this is well worth a visit:

https://www.ulsteramericanfolkpark.org/

Cherie, that guy is still working at the Museum of Free Derry! I suspect he kind of IS the museum. They have a lovely big building now, with a great series of displays.

Thank you all for the great advice! I can’t believe I’d forgotten about Rathlin Island…we’ll be traveling during peak puffin season so that’s definitely getting added to the agenda, along with the Derry Free Museum which sounds right up our alley. Total length of the trip is still a little TBD and will determine if we venture into Donegal or not. Hoping to make that work as my family originated there (we think), but it might have to wait for a future visit.

Our May 2023 three week trip (our fourth three week trip) included three nights in Belfast (we really like trad music), then we drove to Ballycastle to take the Rathlin Island ferry, and returned to Portrush for the night. Next day was Dunluce Castle, Giant's Causeway, Dunseverick Castle, to An Griananto and Inch Reserve to Dunfanaghy. We only had lunch in Derry (wish we had the time) and didn't do Carrick-a-rede because we consider it in the category of ziplines and herding demonstrations (we can do those things at home). Would pick Bushmills or Ballycastle over Portrush. Having visited Staffa, we found Giant's Causeway sort of ho-hum (they are both part of the same fault). The puffins on Rathlin (and friendly rangers) were their typical clowns.

We feel like we missed the best part of the Antrim coast, and our next trip is scheduled to spend two more nights in Belfast, then two (or maybe three) nights in Cushendall (or nearby), a night in Letterkenny (or nearby) via Derry before heading to Tory Island and the Republic.

PM me if you'd like a link to our rather elaborate travel reports.

Cushendall's great. If you get a good place to stay it's a great base for seeing the Glens. I was lucky enough to stay at the Curfew Tower. The Antrim Tourist Board (or suchlike) contacted me at one point to use a picture of Cushendall I took on visitor signage under the Creative Commons Licence. I haven't seen it so I don't know if it exists or not.