Northern Ireland, Day Tours – Belfast

You will be met by your private guide at your accommodation and set out for a walking tour of Belfast, learning about the city’s fascinating history. Your guide, Dee, is a native of Belfast, someone who personally lived through “the troubles”, and she will share with you her unique perspective of her beloved home. The route includes the Cathedral Quarter and Belfast’s hidden secrets and we’re sure you’ll find the tour is great craic (Irish term for fun, entertainment and enjoyable conversation) and very informative.

Private walking tour with local guide for parties of 1-8 people. Tour is fully customizable.

You will be met by your private guide and chauffeur-driven vehicle at your accommodation. Your tour today will explore some of the lesser known areas and sites in County Antrim. Head northwest of Belfast, along the north shore of Lough Neagh to the small town of Bellaghy.

The first stop is here, at Homeplace, the birthplace of Northern Ireland’s own Nobel prize winner for literature, Seamus Heaney. Enjoy an emotional insight into the poet’s life and inspirations behind his poetry at this new museum, on the Top 4 Places to Visit in Northern Ireland in 2018. Enjoy a tea break at the cafe in the centre. You’ll tour South Derry and discover the places that gave Heaney his inspiration and visit the poet’s grave.

On through Ballymena to Broughshane, known as the “Garden Village of Ulster”. The village was recently named Village of the Year, Great Britain for 2018 and has previously won Ulster in Bloom, Britain in Bloom and Entente Florale (Europe in Bloom), as well as the All Ireland Tidy Town Award. Well worth a visit and a walk along the main street, where you’ll find some quaint little shops. You will have time for a meal or a pint at the historic Thatch Inn, a quaint pub and historic, thatched building, originally a planter’s house.

Next up is a visit to nearby Mt. Slemish, where Saint Patrick was a shepherd as a boy, a place of real religious significance in Ireland. If the weather is fine and you’re game, you can climb up to the top for a spectacular 360 degree view of the surrounding countryside. Even if you don’t do the climb, the view from the car park out over the countryside below is beautiful.

Continue on to Carnlough on the east coast. Just south of Carnlough you’ll arrive at Glenarm Castle, where you can explore the beautiful, walled garden and perhaps take tea with Viscount Dunluce, if he is in residence. Travel further south along the coastal road through Ballygally, with its impressive castle (now an elegant hotel), turning west at Larne, a major seaport. You’ll pass through , one of Ireland’s oldest towns and once home to author Jonathan Swift. Make a short stop here at the Carrickfergus Castle, then finally back to Belfast, where your tour ends at your accommodation.

Private tour with personal chauffeur-driven Mercedes Benz vehicle & guide for parties of 1-8 people. Tour is fully customizable.

You will be met by your private guide and chauffeur-driven vehicle at your accommodation. Your tour today will take you along the Causeway Coastal Road, voted as a #1 destination to visit in 2018 by Lonely Planet.

Driving along this spectacular stretch of road will take you past Ballygalley and the impressive castle, which is now a hotel; Glenarm, home of Steenson’s Jewellers, maker of jewellery for Game of Thrones; Carnlough, home to the Londonderry Arms Hotel (formerly owned by Sir Winston Churchill) and Cushendall, a very pretty town sitting at the meeting point of three of the Glens of Antrim. Then it’s on to Cushendun, a beautiful, little, conservation village. After your visit here carry on to Bon a Margie Friary in Ballycastle, the ancestral burial grounds of the Macdonnells’. Time for lunch at Thyme and Co.

Next up is the iconic site of Northern Ireland, the Giant’s Causeway. You’ll explore this 8^th Wonder of the World in depth, and learn about the geology, history and legends of this very unique and special place. The Giant’s Causeway is Ireland’s only natural UNESCO World Heritage Site.

After this fascinating site you’ll make a stop at Bushmill’s, home to the famous whiskey distillery. A visit here may be able to be incorporated in your program if you are interested. Please ask for possible options. From Bushmill’s, continue on to Dunluce Castle, the ancestral home of the clan MacDonnell, and hear stories of the castle’s history and ghost stories of some of her former residents (all true, to be sure!).

The next stop is the picturesque Dark Hedges, known as The King’s Road, a well known filming location for Game of Thrones.

Return to Belfast through the interior of Country Antrim. You’ll be able to see Slemish in the distance, the mountain where St. Patrick was a shepherd as a young slave boy.  Time permitting you may be able to make a side trip to see it up close and perhaps to stop in the award winning town of Broughshane for a pint before returning to the city. If you wish to incorporate this stop please let us know and we can rework your itinerary to ensure it is included.

Private tour with personal chauffeur-driven Mercedes Benz vehicle & guide for parties of 1-8 people. Tour is fully customizable.