Travel Tuesday: The Antrim Coast

If you’ve read this little blog for any amount of time, you know how much I love to be able to visit our family in Ireland every year. Even though it’s my husband’s home and not technically mine, I get homesick for Ireland, and I always count the days until we return. March is just around the corner!

On one of our trips to Ireland, we started out in the North and visited Belfast and Derry and stayed on the Antrim Coast to take in Giants Causeway and Bushmill’s Distillery. It was one of our favorite trips and had us craving more of the quiet, stunning scenery of the North, as well as the good times that are to be had.

{Our view from the Bayview Hotel}

When I received an email regarding a guest post on the Antrim Coast, I immediately said yes. There is a lot of do and see in Northern Ireland, including the fairly new Titanic Museum, which some of our family drove all the way from Galway to see.

If you have a trip to Ireland planned, I would highly recommend a day or more in the North. It’s easy to get around the island of Ireland, and this is certainly a beautiful part of it. The below guest post might help as a guide, if you happen to be planning a trip to the Antrim Coast. Many thanks to Rhys Davies from Belfast Tours Company for getting in touch and sharing the below post.

The Antrim Coast – A Marvel of Scenic Beauty

You can’t visit Northern Island and not check out the Antrim Coast. It is a beautiful scenic route which over the decades has established itself as one of the most iconic coastal drives in Europe. The Antrim Coast is a hot tourist spot and many people specifically visit this place to enjoy the beautiful landscape.

Creating it wasn’t easy nor cheap. In fact the proposed plan was largely viewed with scepticism and disbelief at first. This was the 1830s. Technology available today wasn’t even conceived at that time. Yet the plan called for a 30 plus mile road to be built by manual labour on the towering sea cliffs in order to reach the then unreachable Antrim Glens. Not many would have thought such a project would see a successful conclusion but Scottish Engineer William Bald did. He had a vision he was determined to make a reality. And in just 10 under years, starting from 1832, he made sure the road was finally completed and ready for use. It remains to this day a marvel of human innovation and it attests to the strength of the human spirit. There were no mechanical objects used during construction. It was all done by hand by manual labour; unimaginable in today’s world.

The Antrim Coast Road is also referred to as the A2. It runs from Larne to the Giant’s Causeway. People can expect to see a series of a seaside village on the way. It also touches the rocky headlands of Garron Point and Glenarm. While tourists like the entire road trip, they rate the journey from the Black Arch at Larne to the Red Arch at Cushendall, the most scenic and beautiful. One tourist referred to it as “25 miles of Heaven”.

What stands out about the Antrim Coast Road is its ability to connect different tourist hotspots all the while being surrounded by a magical and peaceful environment. Castle Glenarm is a favourite tourist hotspot. The Giant’s Causeway is another one.

Any trip to the Antrim coast should kick start with Carrickfergus Castle, moving on to seaside resort of Whitehead where visitors can see the great tower and all the popular sites in Larne. After that, take the road North by the sea and enjoy the twists and turns as well as the gusty winds and ice blue ocean along the way. You will find many picturesque villages along the way, ideal for taking pictures and enjoying the view.

The Antrim Coast is just one of the many cool places that awaits tourists on their vacation trip. Northern Ireland has a lot to offer adventurers and visitors alike. Its majestic castles and beautiful everglades leave even the most seasoned tourists in awe. Those who are visiting the first time are really in for a treat.

Sign up for a Belfast tour and not only will you get to experience the scenic beauty of the Antrim Glens but many other cool hot spots in Belfast and surrounding areas.