Causeway Coast

The Causeway Coast runs for roughly thirty miles along the northern edge of Northern Ireland, from the long sands of Portstewart and Portrush eastward through Bushmills and Ballintoy to the harbour town of Ballycastle. It is a short stretch of country by any measure, and yet it holds a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a distillery licensed in 1608, a ruined cliff-edge castle, two of the most admired links golf courses anywhere, and a run of beaches that would be internationally famous if the water were ten degrees warmer. The whole thing can be driven in an afternoon. Very few people who come here actually do that, because the coast rewards slowness far more than it rewards efficiency.

The landscape is what happens when volcanic rock meets the open Atlantic. Basalt headlands drop straight into deep water, then give way without warning to a mile of pale sand; white chalk shows beneath the black cliffs at Whiterocks; small harbours hide in folds in the rock where boats can only just be got in and out. Turn inland and it goes green and quiet within a mile - hedged lanes, dairy farms, and the Glens of Antrim rising away to the east. The weather changes constantly and the light changes with it, which is why photographers keep returning and why every local you meet will advise you to carry a coat whatever the forecast says.

Culturally the coast comes in two halves that sit fifteen minutes apart. Portrush and Portstewart are seaside resorts with Victorian bones and a young, surf-flavoured energy, busy from Easter through to October and loud on a warm Saturday. Bushmills, Ballintoy and Ballycastle are villages first and visitor destinations second, places where the pub is still the social centre and where the Ould Lammas Fair matters a good deal more than any tourist board campaign. Both versions are worth your time, and the best trips here take in some of each.

Top things to do in Causeway Coast

The headline sights are genuinely worth the queue, but the quieter ones between them are what make a week here work.

• The Giant's Causeway - Northern Ireland's first UNESCO World Heritage Site, where more than 40,000 interlocking basalt columns step down into the sea. The National Trust visitor centre at 44 Causeway Road charges around 16 pounds for adults and 8 pounds for children, with family tickets near 40 pounds and free entry for members; the coastline itself is open from dawn to dusk.
• Old Bushmills Distillery - the holder of a distilling licence granted in 1608, still producing whiskey in the village two miles inland from the stones. Tours run through the mash house and warehouses and finish with a tasting.
• Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge - a swaying span strung across a chasm to a small fishing island, first rigged by salmon fishermen. Timed tickets are essential in summer and the crossing closes in high wind.
• Dunluce Castle - a gaunt medieval ruin balanced on a basalt stack between Portrush and Bushmills, with sea caves running underneath it and a lost seventeenth-century town buried in the field behind.
• The Dark Hedges - an avenue of beeches planted in the eighteenth century near Armoy, familiar to Game of Thrones viewers as the Kingsroad. Park at the nearby estate rather than on the road itself.
• Portstewart Strand - two miles of firm sand backed by high dunes and managed by the National Trust, one of the few beaches in the UK you can still drive onto.
• Rathlin Island - reached by ferry from Ballycastle harbour, a low L-shaped island with an upside-down lighthouse, a huge seabird colony and a resident population of a few hundred.
• Royal Portrush Golf Club - host of The Open in 2019 and again in 2025, and the reason a good share of the coast's visitors arrive at all. Neighbouring Portstewart and Castlerock offer links golf with easier tee sheets.

Getting to Causeway Coast

There is no direct rail link from Great Britain, so most visitors from England, Scotland and Wales arrive by air or by sea. Flying is quickest: Belfast International sits roughly fifty miles from Portrush, about an hour and a quarter by car up the M2 and A26, with flights from most major British cities taking around an hour and twenty minutes. City of Derry Airport is closer still at about thirty miles, though it serves fewer routes. Belfast City Airport is convenient for the city but adds twenty minutes to the drive north.

By sea, ferries run from Cairnryan in Scotland to Belfast and Larne in about two hours, which suits anyone bringing a caravan, a camper or a boot full of surfboards. From Belfast the drive north takes a little over an hour.

Trains from Belfast Grand Central reach Coleraine in around an hour and fifteen minutes, and the short branch line on to Portrush takes roughly twelve minutes more, dropping you a few streets from the harbour. Coleraine is the hub for buses along the coast, and the Ulsterbus 172 and Goldliner 221 services link Coleraine, Portrush, Bushmills, the Giant's Causeway and Ballycastle, which makes a car-free trip perfectly workable in summer.

Driving the coast road itself is part of the appeal, but parking is the pinch point. The Giant's Causeway car park is reserved for ticket holders, Ballintoy and Whitepark Bay have small awkward car parks that fill by ten in the morning, and Portrush parking is metered and heavily contested in July and August. Arriving early, or using the Causeway Rambler bus, saves a great deal of circling.

Best time to visit Causeway Coast

Spring is arguably the best-kept secret of the coast. April and May are statistically among the driest months, the cliff paths are lined with thrift and sea campion, the seabirds are back on the ledges at Rathlin, and the crowds at the Causeway have not yet arrived. Sea temperatures are still bracing, so bring a wetsuit if you plan to swim.

Summer brings long northern evenings, with light in the sky past ten o'clock in late June, plus lifeguards on the main beaches and the full ferry and bus timetable. It is also when Portrush and Portstewart are busiest and when accommodation prices peak, particularly around the North West 200 motorcycle races in May and the Ould Lammas Fair in Ballycastle at the end of August.

Autumn is quietly excellent. September often holds settled weather, the water is at its warmest of the year for swimmers and surfers, and prices drop sharply once the schools go back. October brings bigger Atlantic swell, which surfers welcome and walkers should respect.

Winter is for storm-watchers and whiskey drinkers. Days are short, some smaller attractions and cafes close or shorten hours, and the rope bridge shuts frequently in gales. In exchange you get empty beaches, dramatic light and hotel rates at half their August level.

Where to stay in Causeway Coast

Portrush is the natural base for a first visit, with the widest choice of hotels, restaurants and bars, two beaches within walking distance and the railway station in town. It suits families, golfers and anyone travelling without a car, though the town centre can be lively late on summer weekends.

Portstewart, a couple of miles west, is calmer and more residential, with a handsome promenade, good coffee and the strand a short walk away. It works well for couples and for visitors who want the coast without the amusements.

Bushmills puts you within two miles of the Giant's Causeway and inside the distillery village itself, which is the obvious choice if the Causeway is the main event. Portballintrae, just down the hill, is quieter still, a small bay with a handful of places to stay and an easy walk along the Bushfoot strand.

Ballintoy and Whitepark Bay suit walkers who want the Causeway Coast Way on the doorstep and do not mind driving for dinner. Ballycastle, at the eastern end, is a proper working town with the Rathlin ferry, a good beach and easy access to the Glens of Antrim, and it is generally better value than the western resorts. Inland, farm cottages and country houses around Coleraine and Ballymoney offer space and self-catering at lower rates, with a ten-minute drive to the sea.

Food and drink in Causeway Coast

North Antrim eats well, and increasingly it eats local. Dulse, a dried purple seaweed gathered from the rocks, is still sold by the bag at Ballycastle's market and at the Ould Lammas Fair, where it is traditionally paired with yellowman, a brittle honeycomb toffee made to a closely guarded recipe. Local seafood means crab and lobster from the small harbours, langoustines landed nearby, and hake or turbot on better menus.

In Portrush, the Ramore complex above the harbour has anchored the town's eating scene for decades, running from the informal Ramore Wine Bar to the Harbour Bistro and the Asian-leaning Neptune and Prawn, all of them busy and none of them taking bookings in the usual way. Babushka, the little cafe out on the harbour wall, does coffee and traybakes with the best view in town.

Portstewart has Morelli's, an Italian-Irish ice cream parlour on the promenade run by the same family for well over a century, and Harry's Shack, a timber cabin on the National Trust strand that grills fish over charcoal and has become one of the most sought-after tables on the coast. Book well ahead.

Bushmills naturally revolves around whiskey. The Bushmills Inn serves seriously good local produce beside a peat fire, and the distillery's own tasting rooms are the place to work out whether you prefer the ten-year-old single malt or the Black Bush blend. In Ballycastle, Ursa Minor Bakehouse has built a national reputation on sourdough and pastries, and Broughgammon Farm on the edge of town sells rose veal, cabrito goat and seasonal produce direct from the yard. Farmers markets in Ballycastle and Coleraine are the best single stop for cheese, soda bread and jam to take back to a cottage or a tent.