A Weekend in Belfast
Stepping into an old city with lots of charm, dangerous (recent) history, and full of charming villages, Northern Ireland is full of adventures, yet embraces a slower pace of life. If one can understand their accent, you’re in for some of the kindness people in the UK. Since this trip would make it our third attempt at seeing Northern Ireland, we were ready to embrace it!
Logistics:
Because some of the best parts of Northern Ireland lie in the countryside, navigating it can be quite tricky! Here is how we spent four days in Northern Ireland.
By Car
While Belfast doesn’t need a car, the surrounding countryside contains some of the best parts of the country! While there are some good bus routes, I do not think you can see it without a car. Because we would be spending a day or two in Belfast, we only rented a car for the next two days that we would need it rather than pay for parking and extra days. Picking up for Belfast City Airport, it was super easy to access from our Hampton hotel and we even walked to it from the Titanic Museum!
Travel Tip: I utilize Skyscanner.net to find the best rental car deals!
Lodging
Because we were splitting our time between Belfast and the countryside, we researched two different spots. In Belfast, I went with one of the cheaper options that earned points, yet would allow us to be familiar with a hotel.
We chose the Hampton by Hilton Belfast City Center. While we have been in a lot of Hamptons, this one was one of the better ones! With clean rooms, clean common areas, and even an open gym, we enjoyed our very comfortable room here for two nights.
Situated on the north Atlantic coast, Portrush is a terrific little town that is also home to the British Open. For us, it would become our second home as we stayed at the Avarest B&B! With quirky, quaint rooms, we enjoyed how close it was to city center without being too close and offering free breakfast and parking. While I did get trapped in the bathroom for 30 minutes due to a faulty door handle, we enjoyed our stay.
Travel Tip: For non-brand hotels, I use Hotels.com for their loyalty program, but look to book directly in case it is cheaper. Other sites such as booking.com and expedia offer similar programs!
Food & Drink
Yum! From classic English breakfasts to tasty burgers, we definitely enjoyed our food and drinks whilst in Northern Ireland. Our top favorites were Kiwi Brew Bar in Portrush for their huge tasty burgers to the Yardbird in Belfast which is a cool outdoor beer garden with a pub in the middle! However, there are also wonderful tea rooms in Glenarm and we even did an afternoon tea whilst in Belfast!
Check out our Northern Ireland Google map pins for all of our hard research of the top food and drink spots!
Activities
In Northern Ireland, there are plenty of activities for all sorts of people!
Here are a few that we did or wish we did:
- Coastal Causeway: Voted as one of the best road trips in the world, the coast causeway is a windy, narrow two lane road which hugs the Irish Sea. On a cloudy day, it is still spectacular, at least for the passenger! Read about our trip here!
- Paddy's Black Cab Tour: By far one of the highlights of our trip, drive into Belfast’s recent history and the troubles that still plague this city
- Titanic Museum: Built to remember the infamous unsinkable ship, the museum dives into the deep history of Belfast and goes into that fateful night.
- Game of Thrones Tour(s): As the base for one of the most iconic TV shows of all time, there are so many Game of Throne location tours. From half days to full days, there are all sorts of options! I went on one via McCombs Tours a few years ago and loved it!
- Crumlin Road Gaol: While we ran out of time to visit, this former jail use to house and became infamous in the Troubles.
The Unsinkable Ship
Built in Belfast in the early 1900s, the Titanic was the first of the new giant Olympic class luxury lines built to ferry both the rich and powerful and the common folk who want to restart in the USA. Then, on a fateful night in 1912, it was all over really before it began! Stunned by the news in Belfast, the people, more importantly the workers, were dismayed that it sank, yet they are still proud of this history over 100 years later.
Discovered on the deep ocean floors in 1986, the Titanic has come back into the public’s imagination. While we were there, I wondered why this particular ship still captures our minds when there are countless wrecks in the Atlantic, but it comes down to this - an iceberg sank it. After the ship was rediscovered, Belfast built this beautiful museum / memorial to the ship. Over 6+ stories high complete with a “Peter Pan” ride, the museum crammed everything in there.
Travel Tip: Even in COVID times, the museum is still very busy. While we arrived at 10:10am, we JUST barely beat the crowds. Aim early to avoid the crowds!
Exhibits and More!
While I do not want to ruin this great museum, the exhibits begin with the lesser known side of Belfast history in the early 1800s when the city became well known for textile and linen trade. The city boomed just as technology advanced and Belfast was well positioned for success for its port. Next came the important shipping trade as Belfast was one of the only cities with a deep enough port to accommodate the newer giant steel ships. At any one time, there were at least 10,000 people working on the ships and the noise could be heard throughout the city. Talk about “street noise!”
By far, my favorite exhibit was the theme park ride to show and describe how the Titanic was built. Similar to Peter Pan in Disney World, we jumped on and explore the inner workings of the giant ship. We enjoyed it!
As everyone knows, once the Titanic was built, it was the largest luxury liner in the world. Demonstrating how much pride the city had in the ship, over 100,000 people showed up to the unveiling. It received much fanfare for the release and I am surprised that 100,000 people could fit in the port!
The Ship Bay
Outside the museum, the original ship bay is still there and the museum has marked it with the exterior outline of the ship in the ground. The outline was really long and it almost surprised us in a weird way. While we knew it was big, walking the outline made it more real. The plot of land next to it had alternating patterns of grass and wood to show the percentage of saved (wood) versus died (grass). Beginning with crew, we noticed there were a lot of more deaths in the lower classes than first class… It is just sad!
Belfast City Center
Compared to our original pre-COVID trip, we had plenty of time to explore Belfast! Because our hotel was a 5 minute walk from the center, it was an easy walk especially on a sunny day. There are two main parts to the city center - your normal high street and then the cathedral area where all the fun pubs and bars are located. Since I hadn’t planned any activities, we just went shopping!
In the famous cathedral quarter, we found a great old pub called Dirty Onion / Yardbird. On many top lists, it has a great beer garden and tasty food! We figured this made up for my Nando’s purchase earlier in the trip...
Northern Irish Afternoon Tea
On the car ride back to Belfast, we decided to go to one last afternoon tea in the UK. We just really wanted a really nice scone and clotted cream with tasty jam! Although we could have had a really fancy afternoon tea, we went with a hip, new option in a high end cocktail bar, called AMPM. When we arrived, it seemed they were just as surprised to see us!
Thankfully, we were started to get served and the tall stack of afternoon tea goodies were presented! We had different take on the sandwiches, with egg cream and special AMPM special. Both were tasty - especially since we were hungry! On the more fun tea desserts, they were decent. We had an excellent lemon tart, chocolate brownies, lemon maringue, and summer fruit panna cotta. For tea, we managed to get three cups out of a teapot.
However, the supposed start of the show, the scone, was a complete dud! While the server said it was fresh, it felt frozen and it was hard as a rock, plus there was sadly no clotted cream. In the end, our food was decent, we had a delicious desserts and tea!
Black Cab Tour
On our last morning in Belfast, we squeezed the famous Black Cab Tour. Lasting only an hour and a half, the Black Cab tour is perfect for a rainy day activity or to fill a morning or afternoon. In our pre-COVID plan, it would be our first stop after landing because it is a terrific introduction to Northern Ireland history. For our tour, we had a great guy named Ciaran, who told us right away we should recognize that his name was Catholic.
While I am not going to “spoil” the tour or repeat the terrible history, the tour presents a fascinating side that we had not really heard in schools. In our head, the troubles were 20+ years ago and did not still exist today. Instead, we saw giant peace walls made of concrete and steel separating the Protestant/loyalists and the Catholics/nationalists. Even worse, some of the memorials on both sides were updated as late as last year so the hate still continues.
Loyalists
Because we were there in early August, there were still decorations hanging from the 12th of July celebrations. Known for the day that the English king beat James 1 in Ireland, it is widely celebrated by the loyalists and let’s just say they like reminding everyone! There are MASSIVE bonfires reaching 100+ feet in the air and made with plywood. I thought Americans were crazy!!
Nationalists
Meanwhile, on the nationalist side, it seemed more somber. With cages protecting backyards, it was a strange difference to the British flag draped loyalist side. While there are certainly efforts to make it more safe, it is a stark reminder of what could happen. In the place we stopped, it was a nice civilian memorial to those who had nothing to do with the conflict. They were innocent people, who were in the wrong place and the wrong time and it happened on both sides. Very moving!
Our last stop on the tour was the Shankill Road. Located next to a peace wall, the exterior has been transformed into many graffiti memorials for world-wide causes. Compared to the earlier sadness, this is a good way to end the trip on the hope in the world!
The UnChartered Summary
Offering a small town vibe in a big city, Belfast offers plenty of great food and activities for an excellent weekend or long trip.
- The Black Cab tour is a must-do, not only for the history, but understanding the conflict and current situation.
- In my mind, the Titanic museum is a once in a lifetime event… While it was entertaining, it was also pretty dry.
- There are plenty of awesome pubs, bars, and restaurants in the cathedral quarter. We stumbled upon Dirty bird because it looked awesome, and recommend a stroll and go with whatever strikes your fancy!
Roadtrip on Northern Ireland's Coastal Causeway
Dazzling with stunning blue Atlantic waters and stunning cliffs and coastline, Northern Ireland’s Coastal Causeway route is billed as one of the best road trips in the UK. As UK residents, we had to find out for ourselves!
Logistics:
Head over to the main Belfast post to discover our Northern Ireland logistics as it can be quite tricky!
Activities
Along the Coastal Causeway, there are plenty of quaint seaside villages to discover as well as scenic drives and overlooks. Rather than “one way” to do the trip, I highly recommend reading about every option as each traveller will be different. We preferred the scenic overlooks and fun food places over the scenic drives (probably because we just wrapped up our mainland UK road trip). I utilized this great website to read about the various options, then plotted out various options. Plus, since we had essentially 48 hours, we could spend even more time than our previously failed Belfast trip.
Here are some of the highlights that we recommend:
- Carrickfergus Castle: One of the oldest medieval forts, this site is especially historic as most of Ireland’s history has started here since it is really close to Scotland and Belfast. The castle is open to the public, except during COVID, and is a great pitstop along your journey.
- Glenarm Castle: Home to the Earls of Antrim, Glenarm has been their base of power for over 600 years. While the castle and home is not always open to the public, they have terrific gardens and my mom highly recommends their cafe for a nice cuppa - especially on a rainy day!
- Torr Head & Marugh Bay: Tiny roads leading to beautiful lookout points.
- Carrick-a-rope: With a rickety rope bridge over the sea, it is one of the most famous attractions! Book tickets well in advance.
- Giant’s Causeway: With giant stones stretching out into the sea, Giant’s Causeway is the best attraction.
- Mussendun Temple: Another beautiful old structure with great views of the ocean. Book tickets in advance.
- Portrush: As we stayed here, I might be a little biased! This is a beautiful seaside town with beaches, great food, and wonderful B&Bs!
- Bushmills: Home of the famous Irish whiskey, the village and the distillery are a great visit. Check out times and tickets before visiting.
- Slemish: Known for St Patrick’s origins, it is also a beautiful drive!
- Dark Hedges: If one likes the Game of Thrones, this is probably the most famous set in Northern Ireland.
Carrickfergus
Located just outside Belfast, our first stop on the Coastal Causeway is Carrickfergus, an medieval Norman castle sitting on the coast. The village was really pretty with tiny houses and then this castle in the background!
Although we quickly learned we could not visit it due to COVID, the walk along the water was worth a stop!
Rather than rely on the castle’s information, there are helpful signboards outside that tell the history. Founded on the site where King Fergus (first king of Ireland) landed, Carrickfergus castle has played a really important part in Northern Ireland’s history. Many wars began at this site, including the failed Robert Bruce invasion in the 1100s and the successful William of Orange invasion in the 1600s.
Glenarm Castle
Our next stop on our highway was the famous Glenarm Castle! With beautiful walled gardens and a lovely tearoom, we wanted to stop! However, we were about 30 minutes away from closing and rain and gardens do not mix. Thus, we wandered around the grounds! Being the seat of the Earls of Antrim for over 600 years, the castle is not available to viewing since they still live here. The castle grounds have loads of shops, from bakery, fudge shop, and a village store! From the village, there are cute streets combined with great coastal views. We were impressed!
A Drink of Bushmills
After a long, wet drive along the Northern Irish coast, a burst of sunshine appeared as we arrived in the sleepy village of Bushmills. Due to COVID, the distillery was sadly closed but I wanted to try and find Bushmills in the village of Bushmills! Knowing that the distillery was closed, we opted for the Old Bushmill Inn as I heard the drinks are great here! However, the weather played a role again as the great sunshine combined with it being a Friday afternoon, and in Northern Ireland meant that outdoor patio was very crowded. Thus, we left to head to our B&B and hopefully come back later!
Pretty Portrush
Portrush
Luckily, Portrush is less than a 15 minute drive from Bushmills. As a beach and classic seaside coastal town, Portrush has plenty of activities! With plenty of sunshine, the locals were out on the beach - even though it was 20C / 60F with wind! It was very cold compared to the “warmer” UK beaches! After checking into our room at Avarest B&B, we went to one of the best burger bars (according to our hostess) at Kiwi Brew Bar!
Pretty Portrush
Located on the high street, Kiwi Brew Bar is a New Zealand pub and bar and has tons of drink choices and massive burgers. While I could have opted for a Bushmills, I really didn’t a hard drink at a beer bar. Plus, it didn’t fit with my massive burger! I ordered the Bomb Scare, which is a cheeseburger with onion rings, lettuce, and their special mayo sauce while MF had the fried chicken. Initially, I thought I won but MF had to roll me back to the B&B so I think she really won!
Giant’s Causeway
As Northern Ireland’s premier tourist attraction, Giant’s Causeway is a wonderful walk through magnificent scenery, locations, and views.
Giant's Causeway
Huge Stones
Free versus Paid
Similar to our Stonehenge experience, after we arrived/paid for our visit, we discovered how to visit Giant’s Causeway for free! Because the causeway is a national park, anyone can walk on the grounds. Meaning, if you find a parking spot either in a paid lot or nearby, the visit can be completely free!
The only missing perks are the air conditioned building, “free” parking at the center, and guided tour or headsets.
Travel Tip: There is a slightly less expensive parking lot on the road leading to the Giant’s Causeway center.
Guided Tour
Because we paid for the experience, we went all in for the guided tour. Usually every 30 minutes, the guided tour covers the geology, legends and myths, and actual history of the site. While I took diligent notes on the geology, all I care to repeat is the rocks are really old and made from basalt rock that slowly formed over time. While no one is exactly sure how the stones came to be, geology is slowly improving over time!
However, the best story is the legend of Finn McCool! After several confrontations with the Scottish giant, he finally had enough and started building a bridge to challenge the Scottish giant. However, once Finn realized how BIG the Scottish giant was, he ran back across the bridge. The Scottish giant chased Finn back to his house. Before the giant arrived, Finn changed into a baby’s outfit. Once the Scottish giant realized that the guy he was changing was a baby, the giant ran away really quickly and tore up the bridge. Thus, Giant’s Causeway was born!
Loving the view!
Beautiful Day
Once the tour was over, we had a chance to explore the amazing stones on a beautiful day! With full sunshine, we hopped, skipped, and jumped on the stones! Because we arrived early, we enjoyed the pictures and views before the crowds arrived.
(Sunny) Dark Hedges
Famously depicted in Game of Thrones for a long 30 second scene, the Dark Hedges are a beautiful landmark! With beech trees lining the boulevard, it gives an eerie feeling - if it was a cloudy day! Because we had perfect sunshine, the “dark” hedges were just really green and pretty hedges! We should have come the previous day when it was pouring down rain! Although we had some crowds on our little walk, we had excellent photos and enjoyed our stroll through the sunny, dark hedges.
Lost and Found at Portstewart Beach
Roadtripping back to the beach, we stumbled upon Portsteward beach - although everyone else in Northern Ireland realized today would be a great beach day if one could stomach low 60 degrees! Unlike our other UK beaches, this one people could drive onto the beach with their car similar to Daytona Beach, FL! I do wonder how often they get to go to the beach though…
Because we were very late to the beach day, we opted for a great little beachside cafe with great food and views called Lost and Found. How I wish we were more hungry!!! MF tried her first latte, which she promptly handed over to me to finish while we shared chorizo and avocado tacos. Yummy!! We also “split” a wonderful salted caramel brownies… I actually ate most of it….
Sunshine in Portrush
Because we failed at the Portstewart beach and the Mussenden Temple due to COVID and crowds, we decided to go back to Portrush and enjoy the free beach views and clear sunshine! Sometimes it is nice to take it slow although we didn’t understand how people were at the beach since it was really cold and we were in our jackets!
Dunlace Castle
Situated on the cliffs outside Portrush, Dunlace Castle is now in ruins, but it provides fantastic views. Parking is really simple and free, but we didn’t care to pay the admission cost so we went and saw the free parts! Learning our lesson from Giant’s Causeway… Either way, the pictures are pretty neat here so we enjoyed the free pictures.
Murlough Bay
On the Coastal Causeway, there are plenty of one-off drives depending on your tastes! For us, we love scenic overlooks so we decided to go to Torr Head and Murlough Bay. Known for amazing views of the Irish Sea and maybe Scotland, both lookout points involve tiny, tiny roads and many hills… MF would be thrilled! Joking!
After I scared MF with my driving to the Murlough Bay, we parked and we could see everything! From Scotland to the “beaches,” it was a beautiful lookout point. Unfortunately, Torr Head was closed due to COVID and construction so we had to sadly cut our trip short so MF only had to experience 1 tiny one way road with hills and many cars!
Here are some more pictures of our great Northern Irish Roadtrip to help remember and inspire our next trip!
The UnChartered Summary
In rain or sunshine, the Coastal Causeway always has great surprises and lovely views. From the rainy drive on our first day to the perfect sunshine on our last two days, we enjoyed the tiny roads and green hills of Northern Ireland.
- Portrush is an excellent base to explore Northern Ireland’s green countryside. We had plenty of tasty restaurants and if one is lucky, it’ll be sunny and the beach will actually be enjoyable. Avarest B&B is an excellent place to stay with kind hosts and a great full Irish breakfast.
- Before driving to all the wonderful pitstops, check online if they are open as a lot were closed or required pre-purchased tickets before arriving.
- Giant’s Causeway is a must-do, although I wonder if we could have seen it for free if we just parked in the free lot.
- I am so sad that we missed out on Carrick-a-dede rope bridge but we couldn’t visit due to COVID, I guess that means that we will have to return!