suggestions for best day tour from Belfast to Giants Causeway

Did you decide not to drive?

That’s such a standard tour they’re all pretty much the same.

Platinum Chauffeur Services, Belfast is top notch. https://platinumchauffeurservices.co.uk/ Priced by group, reasonable cost, spotless vehicle and knowledgeable driver.

We went on such a tour with PaddyWagon. It was fine and I’d recommend it. It was a minibus rather than a ‘big bus’ but maybe not what you’d consider a small group.

We just did the Paddywagon big bus tour (19 May), pick up was at Europa Hotel in Belfast at 9:45am (The bus started in Dublin where more than half the people got on). Our bus was a little more than half full (31 people) so there was room to spread out a bit. The driver was fairly young, very good driver, he talked along the way, but not constantly. I enjoyed his stories. At each stop, the driver explained the best way to visit and gave us plenty of time to look around. Everyone on our bus was considerate and got back at the appointed time. We visited Dunluce Castle (admission was included) then drove the coast road to Giants Causeway where we had plenty of time to do the longer red trail walk down and then up the shorter road (where we got caught in a heavy rain fall, but oh well!). We stopped for lunch at a pub - they asked us to preorder food so it was ready on arrival. The selections were pretty good and not terribly expensive. The last stop was the Dark Hedges, where we had time to stroll although probably could have used an extra 10 minutes, but by then we were all tired. We got back to Belfast city hall at 4:45pm.
All in all, I think it was well worth the 37 gbp per person (all seniors). We had just finished a private tour of 7 nights in Ireland, with a driver/guide and that was fantastic so I can compare the 2 styles of touring. While the big bus wasn't nearly as luxurious or tailored to us, it was still a very worthwhile way to do a day trip from Belfast. I'm not sure about taking it all the way from Dublin, that would have been too long on a bus for me, but it was fine from Belfast.

Edit my above reply, cost was 37euro per person, not gbp.

thanks for all the responses, appreciate the time taken to share your thoughts and experiences