Bayview Hotel

About Bayview Hotel

The Bayview stands on Bayhead Road in Portballintrae, a small crescent bay between Portrush and Bushmills that most visitors drive past without stopping. That is rather the point: the hotel gets Atlantic views and quiet in equal measure while sitting ten minutes from the Giant's Causeway and fifteen from Portrush.

There are 25 rooms plus a separate three-bedroom seaside cottage for families or groups wanting self-contained space. Rooms are well specified for the price, with rainfall showers, robes, in-room safes, Nespresso machines and fast wi-fi, and the sea-facing ones are worth the supplement. Downstairs, the Porthole Bar and Restaurant looks out over the water and serves lunch and dinner daily, and the lounge keeps a peat fire going, which does a lot for the mood in February. A treatment room handles spa bookings.

For walkers, the Bushfoot strand and the Causeway Coast Way start on the doorstep, and the old railway path runs from the bay towards Bushmills. Dunluce Castle is visible along the cliffs to the west. It is a sensible choice for couples and older families who want a proper hotel with good food but would rather not be in the middle of a resort town, and it tends to represent better value than the Portrush hotels for equivalent quality.