Drive Ireland’s Causeway Coastal Road

Discover Antrim Coast & Carrick-a-Rede Bridge

TheCauseway Coastal Route fromBelfast to Londonderry is one of Europe's most beautiful road journeys. The scenery is spectacular, taking in dramatic cliffs and castles, picturesque villages and golden sands, as well as Ireland's most famous tourist attraction - the Giant's Causeway, a World Heritage Site.

From Belfast join the Coastal Route at Newtownabbey, where Loughshore Park has great views of ships sailing to and from Belfast. The Titanic, built in Belfast at Harland & Wolff's shipyard, completed her sea trials in Belfast Lough, before sailing off to Southampton on her ill-fated maiden voyage of 1912.

A few miles on, the road passes through the seaside town of Carrickfergus with its 12th century Norman castle, marina and museums, then to the busy ferry port of Larne, which is gateway to the Nine Glens of Antrim.

The Causeway Route passes the mouth of each of the glens, offering tantalising glimpses of green and pleasant lands, much favoured by walkers and cyclists.

Causeway Coastal Road - Glenarm to Cushendall & Cushendun

At Glenarm village you can visit the beautiful walled garden (Easter-October) of Glenarm Castle, ancestral home of the McDonnell family, Earls of Antrim - or take a short way marked walk in Glenarm Forest. The next village, Carnlough, has loads of Irish charm (Winston Churchill once owned the pretty Londonderry Arms there) while Cushendall is a bustling holiday resort, its distinctive 'Red Curfew Tower' built as a lock-up for 'idlers and rioters'.

Before heading for Ballycastle, and the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge at Ballintoy, take a detour to Cushendun with its quaint early 20th century Cornish architecture, and Torr Head, which has fine views of the Mull of Kintyre.

Ballycastle - Ferry to Rathlin Island - Ballintoy & Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge

Ballycastle is an attractive market town, famous for its ancient annual Lammas Fair and its association with Marconi, inventor of wireless telegraphy. In 1899 Marconi made his first successful cross-water transmissions between Ballycastle and Rathlin Island. There's a ferry from Ballycastle to peaceful Rathlin Island, which is a birdwatcher's paradise, just 16 miles from Scotland.

You need a strong stomach for Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge (National Trust), swaying 30 metres above rocks and sea linking the mainland to tiny Carrick Island. Although fishermen have strung a rope bridge there for centuries, it is now mainly a tourist attraction, weather permitting, between the months of March and October when the bridge is taken down.

Discover Antrim Coast - Giant's Causeway Bushmills Distillery & Dunluce Castle

The Giant's Causeway is awesome, and it's hardly surprising that many myths and legends have grown up around this extraordinary natural wonder of thousands of interlocking basalt columns leading like giant steps from Northern Ireland into the Atlantic towards Scotland.

There are wonderful walks around the site for the energetic, and for whisky connoisseurs, the nearby town of Bushmills (the world's oldest licensed distillery) offers a welcome dram. The dramatic ruins of Dunluce Castle are popular as a backdrop for wedding photographs, but they also offer a valuable insight into Northern Ireland's turbulent history.

From Portrush and beautiful Portstewart Strand and dunes, head for Castlerock and the beautiful walled city of Londonderry.