The Bushmills Inn Hotel

About The Bushmills Inn Hotel

The Bushmills Inn began life as a coaching inn in the 1600s and has kept a great deal of that fabric intact - low doorways, gas lamps, a round tower and a secret library behind a bookcase. Successive extensions have added a modern Mill House wing, so the 41 rooms and suites range from snug beamed doubles in the original building to spacious contemporary rooms with balconies over the River Bush.

The restaurant is the reason many people book, working through local seafood, north Antrim beef and produce from nearby farms, with a considered whiskey list that would be embarrassing to get wrong given the distillery is a two-minute walk away. The bar keeps a peat fire lit year-round and hosts live traditional music at weekends. There is also a small in-house cinema, which runs film nights on Thursdays and is a genuinely useful thing to have on a wet coastal evening.

Location is the other draw. The Old Bushmills Distillery is at the end of the street, the Giant's Causeway is two miles up the road, and Dunluce Castle, Portballintrae and the Bushfoot strand are all a short drive. Royal Portrush is fifteen minutes west, making this a common base for golf trips. It is not the cheapest option on the coast, but it is consistently rated among the best hotels in Northern Ireland and it earns that.