My wife and I will be driving from Dublin to Portrush and would like to do some sightseeing in between. We want to see Newgrange and some sights in Belfast. Is it doable to do both in route to Portrush? If not, which would you recommend? Thanks!
Posted by
Texas
518 posts
You don't say how long you have, so I'll give you about 4 days worth. Northern Ireland was one of our favorite places. Along the Antrim Coast are some wonderful stops. From east to west along the road, The Glens of Antrim (especially Glenariff), The Carrick Rope Bridge, the Giants Causeway, Dunluce Castle, are all along the coastal route, which itself is a destination. In my opinion, Belfast is more interesting than Dublin. In Belfast, a black taxi tour is well worth the time and money very eye opening. We took a tour with Ken Harper, and he was fantastic. He took us many, many places in his little red car. The Titanic Museum is now open. It looks fantastic. It wasn't finished when we went. Belfast is well worth 2 full days. If you include Newgrange, what I have listed can occupy 3 or 4 days or more. You could walk in Glenariff a whole day if you wanted. Google Dunluce Castle and read its history. It was one of our favorites. If you read about the Antrim Coast, you will find a wealth of things to do and see. The driving is very easy, by the way. In Portrush, we enjoyed a restaurant called 55 North. It has a beautiful view of the ocean, and the food was excellent. Reservations needed.
Have a great trip.
Posted by
OP
Fresno, CA, United States
13 posts
We really only have a single day. We are doing 3days in Dublin followed by two in Portrush. I'm just wondering if we can link Newgrange and Belfast as a day trip between Dublin and Portrush.
Posted by
San Diego, CA, USA
237 posts
The layout of these sites is convenient but the timing is the issue you have to decide. You've probably got a minimum of 4 hours actual driving so how much time will you have for sightseeing? Newgrange (and Knowth there are two major sites) are convenient from the freeway you'd probably be taking from Dublin to Belfast anyway so it's easy that way. But you're probably looking at an hour or so from the airport to Newgrange, arranging a tour time, time at the site etc so figure at least an hour and half and then another 2 hours on the road to Belfast - any sightseeing there - and at least another hour to Portrush. This is possible from a logistics standpoint but how early you want to start and how late you want to end is up to carve out time for sights is to you. =Tod