On the next morning, I got up quite early, had a quick breakfast at my B&B and off I went to Bushmills to visit the main reason I came to Northern Ireland: the Giant´s Causeway – declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.
I remember looking through a book at Waterstones in Cork many years ago and seeing the first picture of this place and instantly fell in love – it took some time but finally, I was going to visit it!
Some logistics:
The Giant´s Causeway is one of the most visited tourist’s attractions in Ireland, be there as early as possible. There are some parking spaces around the visitor centre which were slammed when I left around 11 – I was very pleased that I choose to park at the park & ride in Bushmills and take the free shuttle bus from there, way less stressful! And even helps save money!
When you arrive at the Giants Causeway there are two ways to enter, one for free via the path or the second one via the visitor centre, which costs £10,50 (or £9 if you´ve used the bus!) and offers an audioguide, exhibitions, toilets, coffee shop and a souvenir shop.
The path (Coastline & North Antrim Coast Path) is open from dawn to dusk, the visitor centre from 9 to 5. (spring & summer until 7 or 9 pm)
From that point, it´s about one-mile walk down to the Giant´s Causeway – you can either walk or take the Bus for £1 – also know as Translinks shortest and probably most profitable bus route.
The Grand Causeway
The area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption thousands of years ago is probably the most known feature of the Giant´s Causeway:
The columns may even continue under the sea as there are similar ones in a place in Scotland.
