Northern Ireland: Belfast, the Causeway Coast and Derry

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Belfast

   Dublin Airport or a Belfast airport to central Belfast, then City Hall and the Cathedral Quarter on foot

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Belfast
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Belfast City (BHD) or Belfast International (BFS), or into Dublin, where most flights from North America land early in the morning. For Dublin arrivals we run one group transfer from Dublin Airport at a set time around midday, about two hours north on the motorway; if you land early, wait in the airport cafés or arrive a day early in Belfast, and we can quote an extra night; pick-ups at either Belfast airport or at Belfast Grand Central station are arranged around your arrival. At about 5 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group at the hotel for a short briefing and an easy first walk: City Hall in Donegall Square, up Donegall Place and into the Cathedral Quarter, where St Anne's Cathedral carries its steel Spire of Hope and narrow alleys off High Street, the city's old entries, lead to small pubs. Dinner tonight is together, at a restaurant in the Cathedral Quarter, and the rest of the evening is yours. You stay three nights in the same central hotel, so you unpack once.

   Compris

   • Group transfer from Dublin Airport (DUB) at a set time, or pick-up at Belfast City (BHD), Belfast International (BFS) or Belfast Grand Central station
   • Welcome briefing and an evening walk to City Hall and the Cathedral Quarter with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Temps libre : Free until the 5 pm briefing, and after dinner

   Activité : Drive figures are for the Dublin Airport transfer; Belfast City Airport is about 15 minutes from the centre.

   

2. Jour 2 : Titanic Belfast and a city of two stories

   Titanic Quarter, then the Falls Road, the peace wall and the Shankill Road

   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Belfast
   Détail du jour 2

   We are at Titanic Belfast for one of the first entries of the day, before the tour groups arrive. The building stands at the head of the slipways where Harland and Wolff built RMS Titanic and her sister Olympic, and its galleries tell the story of the shipyard city as much as the ship: the linen mills, the riveters, the launch in 1911 and the sinking in April 1912. Allow about two and a half hours, then cross to SS Nomadic, the small tender that carried passengers out to Titanic at Cherbourg, on the same ticket. Lunch is on your own in the Titanic Quarter. In the afternoon a local guide walks the group along the Falls Road and the Shankill Road, past the murals, the memorial gardens and the peace wall at Cupar Way, whose gates still close at night. The guide explains the Troubles and the 1998 Good Friday Agreement from first-hand local knowledge and takes any question. The evening is free.

   Compris

   • Titanic Belfast on an early entry, with SS Nomadic
   • Political history walk on the Falls Road, the peace wall and the Shankill Road with a local guide

   Temps libre : Lunch and evening free

   Activité : About 2.5 hours on your feet at Titanic Belfast (lifts to every floor) and about 2.5 hours on foot in the afternoon, on pavements.

3. Jour 3 : Crumlin Road Gaol, a free afternoon and a night of music

   Crumlin Road, then Belfast at your own pace and the Cathedral Quarter

   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Belfast
   Détail du jour 3

   A slower morning. At about 10 am we visit Crumlin Road Gaol, the Victorian prison that held inmates from 1845 until 1996, among them suffragettes, internees and prisoners from both sides of the Troubles. The guided tour takes about 75 minutes, through the wings, the condemned cell and the tunnel under the road that once led prisoners to the courthouse opposite. The rest of the day is free, and your guide suggests ways to use it. The Ulster Museum, with free entry, sits at the gate of the Botanic Gardens and their glass Palm House; St George's Market, a Victorian covered market, trades from Friday to Sunday. If you want a walk, your guide leads a climb up Cave Hill above the city to McArt's Fort, where the view runs across Belfast Lough to the shipyard cranes, Samson and Goliath. In the evening we meet again in the Cathedral Quarter for dinner, then a session of traditional music in a pub nearby, with time to stay on or walk back to the hotel.

   Compris

   • Guided tour of Crumlin Road Gaol
   • Dinner in the Cathedral Quarter
   • An evening of traditional music

   Activités en option

   • St George's Market (Friday to Sunday)
   • Drinks and food at the Crown Liquor Saloon, a Victorian pub on Great Victoria Street

   Option plus facile : The Ulster Museum and the Botanic Gardens, both free, a short taxi or walk from the centre.

   Option plus active : A guided climb of Cave Hill to McArt's Fort, about 2.5 hours with a steady climb of about 250 m on paths that can be muddy.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free

4. Jour 4 : The Antrim coast, Carrick-a-Rede and the Dark Hedges

   Belfast along the Antrim Coast Road to Ballycastle, Carrick-a-Rede and the Dark Hedges, then Bushmills

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Bushmills
   Détail du jour 4

   We leave Belfast at about 9 am and follow the Antrim Coast Road north, a road to take slowly rather than hurry. The first stop is Carrickfergus Castle, the Norman fortress begun around 1177 on a rock in Belfast Lough. The road then runs between the sea wall and white limestone cliffs through Glenarm to Carnlough, where we stop for coffee by the harbour, and on past the mouths of the Glens of Antrim to Ballycastle for a sit-down lunch near the harbour. In the afternoon we walk the cliff path to Carrick-a-Rede on a timed ticket and cross the rope bridge, about 20 m long and some 30 m above the sea, to the small island where salmon fishermen once worked. Late in the day we stop at the Dark Hedges, an avenue of beech trees planted in the 18th century, quieter once the coaches have gone. We sleep in or near Bushmills, a few minutes from the Giant's Causeway, and have dinner together.

   Compris

   • The Antrim Coast Road, with stops at Carrickfergus Castle and Carnlough harbour
   • Sit-down lunch in Ballycastle
   • Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge (timed ticket)
   • The Dark Hedges
   • Dinner on the Causeway Coast

   Option plus facile : Skip the bridge crossing and wait at the Carrick-a-Rede viewpoint or the cafe by the car park.

   Option plus active : Cross the rope bridge to the island and walk its short loop before the path back.

   Activité : The Carrick-a-Rede path is about 1 km each way with steps. The bridge closes in high wind; if it does, we stop at Ballintoy harbour instead.

   

5. Jour 5 : The Giant's Causeway early, Bushmills, then Derry

   Bushmills to the Giant's Causeway, Dunluce Castle and Mussenden Temple, then Derry

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Derry
   Détail du jour 5

   An early start is the point of sleeping on the coast. We are at the Giant's Causeway by about 8 am, when the stones are open but the day tours from Belfast and Dublin are still on the road, and walk down to about 40,000 basalt columns formed as lava cooled some 60 million years ago, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986. Your guide tells both stories, Finn McCool's and the geologists', on the Grand Causeway and at the Organ, with about an hour and a half on the stones, then the visitor centre and exhibition when it opens, about 10 am. Late morning we are back in Bushmills for a guided tour of the Old Bushmills Distillery with a tasting, then lunch in the village. In the afternoon we stop at Dunluce Castle, a ruin on the cliff edge, and at Mussenden Temple, the small round library built in 1785 above the beach at Downhill. We reach Derry by about 4 pm and walk the city walls with your guide in the late light. The evening is free.

   Compris

   • The Giant's Causeway stones at about 8 am (free access from dawn), then the visitor centre and exhibition when it opens
   • Guided tour and tasting at the Old Bushmills Distillery
   • Lunch in Bushmills
   • Dunluce Castle
   • Mussenden Temple and Downhill Demesne
   • Walk on the Derry city walls with your guide

   Option plus facile : Take the shuttle bus down to the stones and back, and skip the walls walk for a rest at the hotel.

   Option plus active : Climb back from the Causeway by the 162 Shepherd's Steps and the cliff-top path above the Amphitheatre.

   Temps libre : Evening free inside the walls

   Activité : The Causeway stones are uneven and slippery when wet; wear shoes with grip. The walls are about 1.5 km round, with some steps. Soft drinks are offered at the distillery tasting. Drive figures include the Bushmills, Dunluce and Downhill detours; the direct road is about 90 km.

   

6. Jour 6 : The Bogside story, then back to Belfast

   Derry's Bogside and the Museum of Free Derry, then Belfast over the Glenshane Pass

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   Détail du jour 6

   A morning on Derry's recent history, told by a local guide from Derry. We start at the Museum of Free Derry when it opens, beside the places where British soldiers shot 26 unarmed civilians at a civil rights march on Bloody Sunday, 30 January 1972; 14 died. A local guide then walks the group through the Bogside: Free Derry Corner, the gable-end murals of the People's Gallery and the route of the march, with time for questions. From there it is a short climb back up to the walls, for the view down over the streets you have just walked. After lunch in the city we drive about 120 km, under two hours, back to Belfast on the A6 over the Glenshane Pass. Drop-offs are at Belfast International Airport at about 3 pm, then Belfast Grand Central station for trains and coaches to Dublin, and Belfast City Airport at about 3:45 pm. Book a flight leaving after about 6 pm, or stay an extra night in Belfast.

   Compris

   • Museum of Free Derry
   • Walk through the Bogside with a local guide: Free Derry Corner and the People's Gallery murals
   • Lunch in Derry
   • Drop-off at Belfast International (BFS), Belfast Grand Central station or Belfast City (BHD)

   Activité : Book a flight from Belfast leaving after about 6 pm. For a flight from Dublin, stay a night in Belfast and take the train or coach to Dublin Airport the next morning.

   

Faune et météo : May to August brings the longest days, with light until after 10 pm on the north coast in June, which gives the early Causeway visit and the evening walk on the Derry walls their best light. April, September and October are quieter and cooler. Wind can close the Carrick-a-Rede bridge on any day, and seabirds nest on the cliffs around it in early summer.

• Belfast3 nuits
• Bushmills1 nuit
• Derry1 nuit