United Kingdom
Exploring the area
The area around the famous Giant's Causeway is very easy to explore by car. A lot of places are closeby which makes it very doable to explore more than one place in a day! - in a realistic way too!
Visiting the Giant's Causeway
The Giant's Causeway is a popular place but that's not for nothing because it really is worth it. Formed by volcanic activities many years ago. There is also a legend about the formation with two giants fighting which resulted in the uniquely formed stones. To visit you can book a tour or visit by car yourself. We drove ourselves and because it was only a 10 minute drive from Portbradden we arrived early to get an available parking spot. TIP: arrive early, even with a booked tour. You can visit the Giant's Causeway for free, but the experience is not for free (which comes with a guided tour and an exhibition and other facilities). It is a hike of about 25 minutes to the rock formations but you can take a bus for a pound or 2. If you come early you have more chance of exploring the formation with less people. The hike itself is very beautiful too.
Drive 10 minutes from the Giant's Causeway to Duneluce Castle.
Dunluce Castle
Dunluce Castle is a ruin of a very old castle on a cliff. It is very easy to acces, if the parking spots are full, try the viewpoint parking space just a view meters further! You have to pay a small fee to visit the castle but on a day with great weather it is totally worth it because of the views you get from the castle! You can still see the layout of the castle pretty clearly. And a nice addition are the views! On both side you can see beautiful cliffs and spot Portrush, a lovely seaside town.
Just a 20 minute ride away you'll arrive at the Dark Hedges
Game of Thrones Kings Road: Dark Hedges
The Dark Hedges is a road with big wimsical trees that was used as a filming location for Game of Thrones (like many other plaec in Northern Ireland!). It was busy in the middle of the day but still a very beautiful road with the old trees. You do have to pay a small fee to park. And there is a hotel where you can have a very tasty lunch! You can find a carved door with a Game of Thrones theme made of fallen trees from the Dark Hedges during a storm in 2016. There were 10 doors made and distributed to inns and pubs alike near GoT filming locations.
