We spent a week in Northern Ireland (plus a day in Dublin where we flew in and out of). Wow!
We flew into Dublin and rented a car then drove to Derry. We spent 2 nights in Derry then moved onto Bushmills and the Antrim Coast. And then we continued onto Belfast for 2 nights. Each place was amazing in different ways. Derry had a lot of history and ancient buildings. The Antrim Coast was full of natural beauty. And Belfast was a bigger city but also definitely has its share of history – some of it pretty recent history.
We arrived in Derry and stopped at our B&B (Abbey B&B – http://www.abbeyaccommodation.com) in the Bogside neighborhood of Derry. We parked our car and dropped our bags then explored around Derry/Londonderry on foot. We explored the Walls, enjoyed a few pubs, and walked across the Peace Bridge to the Waterside area (and enjoyed the Walled City Brewery there too!).
After 2 nights there, we got back in the car and drove out to our B&B on the Antrim Coast (Carnside Guesthouse in Bushmills – it was fantastic! https://www.carnsideguesthouse.co.uk). We stopped in Portrush and at Dunluce castle on the way then went to the Old Bushmills Distillery for a tour and tasting. We grabbed some fish & chips at a place in Bushmills town for dinner then made our way over to the guesthouse to check in and settle in for the night. Our host, Danielle, told us the sunset was beautiful down on Giants Causeway so we dropped off our stuff in the room and walked down to the Causeway. We had planed to go see it in the morning but couldn’t pass up the sunset view – and we’re so glad we went! Since our B&B was walking distance to the Causeway, we didn’t have to worry about parking. A lot of our other stops were focused on the history of the area. This stop was about incredible natural beauty. The Giants Causeway is naturally occurring basalt columns from a volcano. But really they were formed by Giants. The legend more fun than the “boring” geological explanation but either way they’re just incredible! We walked down for sunset both nights and also did a longer hike (including along the ridge above) one morning too.
We hiked back up to the B&B for the night and watched the sun set the rest of the way from up there (and met several other guests doing the same!). The next morning we had our full Irish breakfast then went down to the Causeway for a longer hike. After that we went and saw Kinbane Castle, the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, and then Ballycastle for dinner before heading back to the B&B…. where we walked down to Giants Causeway again for sunset! We couldn’t get enough of the view. I think I had about 30,000 steps that day!
The next morning, we headed out after breakfast and decided to take the “long” way down to Belfast and stay along the coast. What a beautiful drive! Once we got to Belfast we checked into our apartment and went to explore. While there were buses that made it easy to get around, we hardly used them – it was very walkable. We walked a little over a mile from the apartment to City Hall. And stumbled on a Spitfire plane on the lawn that you could go sit in (it was the 80th anniversary of VE Day). Chris of course had to check that out! We explored around Belfast and checked out some fun pubs – and got lucky and were able to snag one of the private booths in The Crown Liquor Saloon and also at the Duke of York pub. We also did a self-guided walking tour of the Titanic Quarter … and saw the site where the Titanic was built.
We stayed at a great apartment in Belfast (https://www.theulsterville.com) instead of a B&B so no breakfast provided – but we had a great kitchen! So we swung by a grocery to get supplies and made omelets for breakfast. On our next day in Belfast we did a Black Cab tour and then saw the Crumlin Road Gaol. Those 2 things deserve their own post so more to come. We also went and saw Milltown Cemetery – where a bunch of the hunger strikers and other IRA members were buried. This one was pretty far out of town so we took the bus out there and back into town. Then we stopped at another pub – Fibber Magee’s – for a drink and walked back toward the apartment. We stopped at a great place for fish and chips – Maggie Mays – for dinner.
After 2 nights in Belfast, we drove back down to Dublin and dropped off the car then went into Dublin to wander around. We went to Temple Bar and a had a couple of over-priced beers then found a great pub called Mulligans and enjoyed a couple of drinks and great conversation before eventually making our way back to the airport hotel to fly home the next day. Our hotel (https://www.maldronhotels.com/dublin-airport/) was very convenient to the airport – a 7 minute walk to the terminal! They have a shuttle too but it was such an easy walk, we decided to stretch our legs a bit before the long flight.
