On a trip to Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Ireland, my dad and I took rental cars, buses, ferries, and trains. We made some of the best most amazing memories during our 2 weeks abroad. One of my favorite days was traveling on the Causeway Coastal Highway in Northern Ireland. If you do nothing else up north, do this.
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How to Get to The Causeway Coastal Highway
Our starting point was in Belfast, where we arrived the night before after taking a ferry from Cairnryan, Scotland. I’d highly recommend doing this if you are doing both countries! Stena Line is incredible- it was like being on a cruise ship! I even got a 20 minute chair massage during the 2.5 hour journey.
Keef Halla Country House
We stayed at the cutest B and B the night before starting the drive. Keep Halla Country House is one of my favorite stays of the entire trip. It is out in the country a bit, so if you are looking to be inside Belfast, this probably isn’t what you are looking for. We loved it though. It is very near the Belfast International Airport also. The room was spacious, we had 2 double beds, and they had a big bath tub!
In the morning, we were offered a full Irish breakfast- beans, different breads, eggs, sausage, bacon (the good kind!), and tea/coffee. It was delicious and made to order; nothing like a buffet style at a Holiday Inn! On top of the amazing hospitality and a great night of sleep, it was the least expensive place we stayed during the trip. I can’t recommend it enough!
Getting Started on The Causeway Coastal Highway
Once we got on the road, we decided to head to Larne/Ballygally in order to hop onto the causeway as soon as possible. The woman at the B and B recommended doing this, she even gave us a physical map for our journey which was great! I am so glad we took her advice. It was such a beautiful drive and we made multiple stops on the side of the road just to enjoy the views.
Kinbane Castle
Once you get to Bellycastle, that is where all the “things to do” start. We first stopped off at Kinbane Castle. A gorgeous ruinous castle perched out on white rocks. The walk down to the castle was very steep, so we just admired the view from the top. It was about 5-10 minutes off the main road, but was well worth the stop and free to do.
Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge
This was something I was really excited to see and do. Unfortunately, I didn’t book a time online, so when we got there, it was an hour and a half wait. Besides that, it was £15 per person just to cross the bridge! I am still so annoyed with this. It felt like a complete scam to me. We decided to park the car and walk down the path to see the bridge and then headed back onto the causeway. If you do decide this is worth it for you, you can book and buy tickets here.
Giant’s Causeway
Our next stop was Giant’s Causeway– one of the most iconic places in the country I would say. I was amazed! It cost £15 per person and was MUCH more worth that in my opinion. It included the museum, which was informative to walk through before going down to the actual causeway. You could chose between using an audio guide or going with an actual person guide. We chose the audio because we didn’t want to wait 30 minutes for the next tour to start. It was great!
The actual causeway is incredible. The wild Atlantic is a backdrop to these humongous rocks and rock formations. Despite there being a lot of different stories and legends, the rocks were formed by the sea and weather conditions. Because of the different materials the rocks are made of, how the ocean and wind weathered them over the years, it has formed what is now the Giant’s Causeway. You can go see for yourself the other legends they have and how it got it’s name.
FYI: The walk down to the rocks is a good jaunt and coming back up the hill is tough, but there is a shuttle you can get for £1.20 each way if you need it!
Dunluce Castle
This was another quick stop and was mostly ruinous, so we decided not to pay the £8 each to go into it. We did grab some pictures, read up on the history of it in the gift shop, and grabbed an ice cream cone before deciding to press on to our last stop of the day.
Ending Point on The Causeway Coastal Highway
Our ending point on the Causeway Coastal highway was in Derry. I wasn’t sure if it was worth a stop in Derry or if we should just go south from the Giant’s Causeway. I asked the woman at our hotel before we left if it was worth a stop. She recommended it, and I have zero regrets going. There is so much history in Derry-make sure to go if you’re in Northern Ireland.
Derry Walls
Derry is the end of the Causeway Coastal Highway if you are going east to west. If you’ve heard of Derry (or Londonderry), you’ve probably heard of the Derry Walls. This was the main attraction for me going to Derry. It’s free to walk around the wall, and we entered through Bishop’s gate. It’s about a mile and a half to walk around the whole thing, and all along are plaques talking about the history of the walls and the city.
A lot of Derry’s sad history is more recent than you might think, which to me makes it even more interesting. We talked to a young waitress that evening about The Troubles and how it has affected her life and she is only 23 years old. The Troubles started in the late 60s and went until the late 90s. If you want to read more about it, you can read this article.
On a happier note, the place we ate dinner was so good! We found a little pub-type place called The Broody Hen. I got the dinner called the Cow and Hen. It was one of the best things I had on this trip! Highly recommend a stop. We got a last minute hotel just outside of Derry and headed south to Galway the next day.
We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Derry because it was close by and had a free breakfast. The hotel was nice and it was pretty easy to get out of town the next morning for our trek south to cross the border into Ireland! If you want to see where we went in Ireland, you can read more here.
If you’ve been to Northern Ireland on the Causeway Coastal highway, what did you do that I missed? Did you feel the bridge was worth the 15 quid to walk across? If you want more UK roadtrip itineraries, here is one for Scotland! Happy traveling! And be sure to grab your travel insurance from SafetyWing on your next trip!
