Giants Causeway is an absolute must-visit for any trip to Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland. The hunk and I were staying in an Airbnb in Dublin, but we wanted to also see the delights of Northern Ireland. As we were only in Ireland for 4 days, 1 day was all we had to explore the North. Here is how we spent our day getting from Dublin, up to giants Causeway and back – all in one day. We made some great pit-stops along the way!
The Important Stuff
Direct drive to the Causeway from Dublin takes 3.5 hours.
A direct drive to Belfast from Dublin takes 2 hours.
Car rental: Europcar from Dublin Airport for £55 for 3 days, Auto!
Tanks of petrol used: 1.
The Mega Day Begins
Waking up hungover we were moving slowly to the local bus which took us to the Airport. The bus was really cheap, just a couple of Euro!
After setting off towards the Causeway in our car rental, I realised all of the items on our wish list of the day were not going to happen, we were about an hour behind my ‘schedule’ and I realised I may have over-packed our day. Time for a cull. We decided the musts were Torr Head, Carrick-a-rede Bridge, Giants Causeway and the Dark Hedges.
Spoiler Alert: we made it to all four!
Torr Head
This is a spectacular place . Not only are there incredible views but you are only a short distance to Scotland, which you can see from Torr Head! This is unfortunately the closest I have been to Scotland in my life.
After arriving to Torr Head, it was quite a steep climb to the top of the hill where you can climb up some old steel ladder stairs onto a shack roof (the lookout) to take in the views of the sea and of Scotland. The rugged coastline is your reward after the climb and it’s a pretty good feeling 🙂
You can then go further down and climb up into the last remaining chunks of soil on the island of Ireland, and watch the waves thunderously crashing below. Hunk likes to scare me half to death by standing near the edge of cliffs to peer over to the depths below.
Torr head was a great first stop of our big day trip! This part of the country is just so beautiful you would be crazy to miss it. A definite must – even though you must detour off of the main route to get to the Causeway in order to visit Torr Head. If I visit again, I would bring a picnic and stay longer!
Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge
It costs €5 to cross the bridge, which at first seemed like a bit of a crock. We paid anyway and walked the 1km along the cliff to the rope bridge.
Upon seeing it, I was underwhelmed. About as underwhelmed as I was when I saw the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen. THIS is what people recommend doing?!?! I couldn’t believe I had paid €5 to cross 20m of rope bridge.
However, once it is your turn, it suddenly becomes exciting and even scary as the rope bridge is really wobbly! It felt like a feat for crossing it successfully, like I’d achieved something!
Hunk particularly enjoyed walking around the chunk of land we had crossed the waters to get to. I myself was ready to go back on the rope bridge for some more daredevil-ing!
The rope bridge was definitely a surprise – if you are in the area (and/or are a thrill-seeker), you simply MUST cross the bridge!
Giants Causeway
The causeway is an area of 40,000+ basalt columns which has resulted from a volcanic eruption. However, within the Causeway Visitor Centre they like to paint the ‘how’ picture as a Fight story between 2 Giants, one from Ireland, one from Scotland.
The legend goes: Finn MacCool from the Irish side built the causeway to get across to Scotland, to fight the Scottish giant, however, once he crossed, he realised the Scottish giant was MUCH bigger than he, so he crossed the causeway back to Ireland and laid a plan. He pretended to be his own child in a baby bed, and because he was a big ‘baby’, when the Scottish giant came and saw this he became very scared that Finn MacCool was a giant among giants – and ran away, breaking the causeway behind him so that Finn MacCool would not be able to find him.
It sounds a bit bizarre but it is also a much funnier story than the facts!
Our visit at the Causeway itself did not begin until around 4pm, as it was our last main stop of the day. Once arriving someone gave us free tickets (score) and we spent some time inside the information centre learning about the causeway. Though – I was a little uninterested in the learning side as I was just interested in getting on down to the rocks and climbing all over them!
After the 5 minute walk down to the causeway, you are hit with the vastness of the area, seeing the columns continue and continue. And then it’s time to climb – and climb we did!
We spent about an hour or so climbing around before we had decided we’d had our fill of the rocks and walked back to the car. However, while at the Causeway I got into a full on photo shoot because I was just so in love with the place… so here are some of my favourites!
I’m very much a fan of Giants Causeway and if you haven’t seen it yet – put it on your bucket list!
The Dark Hedges
This for me was purely for the Game Of Thrones Fangirl in me. The Dark Hedges are where Kings Road is filmed, and so, WE DROVE DOWN KINGS ROAD!
The trees are beautiful and rickety and definitely look creepy! We saved this for the end of our sightseeing day, which was a good move because there were almost no tourists! I’ve seen photos on-line showing heaps of people all on this one road trying to take photos so I was hoping we would miss them by going so late in the day – success!
A Stop in Belfast
We made our final stop of our day in the capital city of Northern Ireland, Belfast!
I’ve written about our time in Belfast here: Why I Can’t Wait To Go Back To Belfast
But in summation, Belfast Rocks.
Another 2 hour drive from Belfast to Dublin saw us getting back to our accommodation for 12:30am at night.. A loooong fricken day! But it was my favourite day of our 4 days in Ireland.
We Pulled It Off
Northern Ireland has much to offer, and has an absolutely stunning coastline. It can definitely be explored much deeper, but if you are struck for time and want to see the UNESCO Heritage listed Giants Causeway, you can do it and other great sights all in one day!
Have you been to Giants Causeway? I’m keen to hear what you thought, comment below!
Don’t forget to Pin it for later!
Australian expat, married to a Dutch guy, living in Amsterdam. Previously lived in London for 3 years, too! Lover of travel, coffee, brunch, beaches, fresh flowers, and family. Now a new mum, navigating life with a baby!
0 thoughts on “Daytrip: Dublin to Giants Causeway”
Very good, what were the things u missed from NI trip
Thanks Dad!! A couple of castles and the bushmills whiskey distillery
Amazing. I love the Giants Causeway!!