Causeway Coastal Route Drive Pack | The Stable

The Causeway Coastal Route is regularly voted one of the world's great coastal drives, and it delivers on every count. From Belfast, the road hugs the Antrim coast through a landscape of basalt cliffs, golden beaches, and geological drama that culminates at the Giant's Causeway — 40,000 interlocking basalt columns formed by an ancient volcanic eruption.

But this route is far more than one landmark. The Antrim Coast Road, built in the 1830s by engineer William Bald, is an engineering marvel in its own right — carved into cliffs that drop hundreds of feet to the sea. The Glens of Antrim — nine glacial valleys — cut inland from the coast, each with its own character: forest, waterfall, and the kind of green that exists nowhere else on Earth.

The route passes through Ballycastle, where the Rathlin Island ferry departs for puffin-watching; past the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, suspended 30 metres above the Atlantic; and through Bushmills, home to the world's oldest licensed whiskey distillery. The Dark Hedges — a tunnel of beech trees made famous by Game of Thrones — is a short detour inland.

The food scene has exploded in recent years. Northern Ireland's larder is extraordinary: Glenarm salmon, Strangford Lough oysters, Comber potatoes, and Armagh Bramley apples. The distillery trail — Bushmills, Dunville's, Echlinville — adds a whiskey dimension that Scotland might envy.

The route ends in Derry, the walled city on the Foyle — a place of extraordinary history, vibrant culture, and the best craic in Ireland.