Most visitors to Ireland see the Giant‘s Causeway, and most see it in the two hours either side of noon, which is the worst possible way to experience it.
What it is
About 40,000 interlocking basalt columns on the Antrim coast, formed by a lava flow cooling roughly 60 million years ago. Most are hexagonal. Some are five- or seven-sided. The tallest are around 12 metres.
The other explanation involves the giant Finn McCool building a causeway to Scotland to fight a rival, then disguising himself as a baby to frighten him off. Both accounts are told locally and one is better company.
The thing nobody tells you about the cost
The stones themselves are on National Trust land with free public access. What you pay for is the visitor centre and the car park, and the two are bundled.
You can park in Bushmills and take the shuttle, or walk in from the Causeway Hotel, or park at Dunseverick and walk the coastal path. Whether that is worth the saving depends on your legs and the weather; the visitor centre is genuinely good and the audio guide is included.
When to go
Coaches from Belfast and Dublin arrive between eleven and three. Before nine or after five and you can have the stones to yourself, especially in shoulder season. The site is open access outside centre hours.
The walk worth doing
Most visitors take the shuttle bus down, photograph the columns and leave. The Red Trail climbs the cliff on the Shepherd’s Steps and returns along the top, and it is where the view actually is. Allow ninety minutes.
Further out, the Causeway Coast Way continues to Dunseverick Castle and beyond. Almost nobody walks it.
What else is within ten minutes
Dunluce Castle, a ruin on a sea stack that is more dramatic than the Causeway and a fraction as busy. Part of its kitchen fell into the sea in 1639. Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, which is a five-minute crossing and a two-hour queue in summer. Bushmills distillery. And the Dark Hedges, which is a beech avenue that photographs better than it visits.
Is it worth the trip north?
Yes, but not for the Causeway alone. The Antrim coast road from Belfast is one of the great drives in these islands and the Causeway is the excuse to do it. Give it two days and a night in Ballycastle or Portrush rather than a long day out of Belfast.