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THE GIANT’S CAUSEWAY is one of the top attractions on the island of Ireland, famous for its 60-million year-old rock formations, stunning sea views, and the legend of Fionn MacCumhaill’s stand-off with the giants of Scotland.
But what’s the best way to explore this Unesco World Heritage site? We asked Eimear Flanagan of Away A Wee Walk, who takes visitors on walking tours around Antrim’s famous causeway coast.
When’s the best time to visit?
The Giant’s Causeway is open all year round and gets busiest during the summer months. However, Flanagan says this shouldn’t deter people from visiting when the weather is good as there is plenty of space on the causeway’s stones to go exploring.
“People have a great fear that the stones will be packed, but it’s not like that. You might not get a photo in the middle of the day in July without someone else in the background, but you never get a sense that there’s too many people there.”
Pro tip: Avoid peak afternoon hours when tour groups descend on the area. “If you can get to the stones and finish your visit before 11 in the morning, or arrive after 3pm, that will transform your experience of the causeway,” Flanagan says.
Where should I park?
Although the stones of the causeway rarely get too crowded, Flanagan says that parking can be the main issue if you decide to go at a busy time.
The car park at the Giant’s Causeway site costs £12.50 per person, or €11 online - this covers entrance to the visitor centre and helps to fund the maintenance of the National Trust site. If that’s full, there is another carpark in Bushmills – a five minute drive away – with a park-and-ride bus service.
There are other options in the nearby areas, but Flanagan adds that visitors shouldn’t abandon their cars on the side of the road. “People will be tempted to park on the grass verges and the rural roads leading up to the site, but they’ll end up with a ticket and they’ll cause chaos if coaches can’t pass.”
Pro tip: Park for free in the village of Portballintrae and walk to the Giant’s Causeway. There is a path that runs along the beach and the headland, which takes around an hour each way.
What are the top sights?
The Giant’s Causeway itself is free to enter and it is possible to do a self-guided tour around the area. The main attraction is undoubtedly the causeway’s 40,000 hexagonal basalt columns, and natural rock formations such as the ‘Giant’s Boot’, the ‘Organ’ and the ‘Wishing Chair’.
If you decide to go to the visitor centre, your admission includes parking as well as access to videos, interactive exhibits and an outdoor audio guide. From the visitor centre it’s a 10-minute walk down a steep hill to the stones, or you can hop on a shuttle bus for £1 each way.
Pro tip: If you’re going for the first time, Flanagan says to allow half a day to explore the full site. “Walk down to the stones and then over to the next bay to see the ‘Amphitheatre’ – it’s spectacular. Then you can climb the ‘Shepherd’s Steps’ – there’s 162 of them – up to the cliff and take the high road back to the visitor centre. That’s the proper way to do it.”
Where can I stop for lunch?
If you’ve worked up an appetite, there are three options for lunch or a snack at the Giant’s Causeway site – the cafe in the visitor centre, the restaurant in the Causeway Hotel next door, and pub grub in The Nook.
“There’s an old primary school that was converted into a pub, now called The Nook. It gets busy but they do good food and it’s very atmospheric,” Flanagan says. “If you’ve had a wild day on the stones you might want a fireside lunch there.”
Pro tip: Head back to Bushmills for a few more food and drink options. “Bushmills is superb food wise – one of the best options on the causeway coast,” Flanagan adds. “There’s fine-dining in the village, the Bushmills Inn does a great carvery, and the Bushmills Distillery now does a great tour.”
How can I escape the crowds?
Both the Giant’s Causeway and the nearby Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge draw huge numbers of tourists to the area, but there’s plenty of other stops along the coast to explore if you’re looking to get away from the crowds for an hour or two.
“There are six beaches on the coast from Portstewart to Ballycastle, and you’d be shooting yourself in the foot if you were that close and didn’t visit one of them,” Flanagan says. “Portstewart Strand is famous. You can drive right onto the beach and there’s a gorgeous place to eat at the end of the strand called Harry’s Shack.”
Pro tip: If you’re heading to the beach, don’t miss a trip to Morelli’s. “In Portstewart town there’s Morelli’s ice cream, which has been trading for over 100 years. It’s famous for sundaes but the whole menu is fantastic,” Flanagan adds.
Are there any hidden gems that visitors might miss?
For families with older children or people looking for more of an adventure, Flanagan suggests starting your day at Dunseverick to get the full causeway experience and some of the best views of the coast.
“Park at Dunseverick Castle or get the local bus. It’s an ancient site, there’s not much to see now, but from there you can walk to the causeway. The showstopper hike is five miles and takes around two hours,” she says.
“A million people see the stones every year, but most people don’t see the best bits of the causeway coast. The coastal path is extraordinary and not everyone knows how stunning the high cliffs are.”
Pro tip: Bring your swimsuit and head to the harbour before your walk. “There are rock pools at the tiny Dunseverick harbour where you can go swimming. It’s great for families because it’s more sheltered than the sea. That’s a real unheard-of gem, even some of the locals don’t know about it.”
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Extend it to 19year olds on condition they remain in school to complete their Leaving Certificate.
Dependant schoolgoers everywhere where parental income is less than €200k? Doesn’t seem at all unfair….
From someone who would have benefited from it (damn December children!), I can appreciate that it has to end sometimes. It would be better to give the option of remaining in receipt of it if below a certain income threshold, or getting tax relief for dependant children in full time education. This should also include 18 year olds in secondary, and those continuing on to college.
Better still give the child benefit to the child at 18 provided they are still in 2nd level school to encourage them to complete and move into 3rd level . If there’s only 7% involved then that’s small shekels . It’s a win win situation and give them a little pocket money which they will spend ploughing it back into the economy and thus helping others. My little one will be eighteen on 28th feb and still has one more year in school and is not considered and there’s many others . Cmon minister cop on and at least extend to any child who is still in 2nd level schools .
My son turned 18 in the oct of his leaving cert year. He is still a dependant and the leaving cert is a very expensive year. You have exam fee, maybe grinds to pay for, cao, college day trips etc. There are little or mo jobd available in small towns so its difficult for them to get even partime work. Child benefit would help ease the pressure. It should be payed until june of when they leave school.
An expensive year alright. And as his parent you certainly shouldn’t have pay for it. The gullible taxpayers of Ireland are more than happy to pick up the bill.
Alan, I pay my taxes to ensure that we have a fair and equal society for all, including children. It’s fair to say that the majority of children in the state are not mine, but I do not begrudge every one the subsistence to ensure they will be fed, housed and educated regardless of their parents.
Alan O Connor will this young man not be a tax payer some day funding your your old age pension and multi hospital visits when your close to kicking the bucket. He seems like a good investment to me and his mother should get all the help she needs to help educate the future….
Any child at school should receive child benefit, well parents should. As a parent of a daughter in college in UK and one in LC and no way of getting any help or grants and the child allowance taken off my daughter last July because she was 18 but still a year left in school, it’s a struggle. If she left school at 17 or 18 she would be getting the dole. But then that’s the way our government work, as they don’t live in the real world.
It probably should increased by a year to 19 but I’m sure if there were 19 year olds sitting the Leaving Cert they were probably only 19 by a few months.
Does that 7% include mature students ?
Are the figures slightly skewed ?
Not really. Most of us started school at 4 and finished when we were 17. Most kids are 5 now when they start school and finish at 18, 19 if they do Transition Year.
I will receive no child benefit for the last year of my sons schooling as he will be 18 the September he begins 6th year
My son sat his leaving cert. last June and child benefit stopped in June when he was 17 and only turned 18 in September, tbh it’s not 18 but the end of the academic year, and to get a job you have to have experience his cb was stopped no notification about this well there are peeps that abuse the system. So many families were affected by this and only receive back pay if u go to college not everyone goes to college.
Well if he wasn’t going to further education he would be doing something to earn a wage (or looking anyway) in which case he isn’t a dependant child anymore. Also saying you had no idea it was coming is a bit disingenuous, you knew he was coming to the end of his school years.
I do think families with dependant kids in full time education should continue to receive it. But some people’s sense of entitlement is baffling.
Sk bit all over the place there. If her son only sat the lc in june how did he know he was going on to full time education? Exam results or college offers dont come out as soon as you leave the exam hall.
Exactly, who is to know whether or not they will go on to full time education? As soon as they walk out the exam hall they are available to work….
To be honest a child is a dependant child at 17 cb stopped in June wen 17. It shud continue until he turns 18 simple as. Yes, he did have a job but had to wait 6 months to start and no company would take anyone on for 6 months. Well I am a carer and its a very limited amount and would of been
Better to contine, obviously you don’t know or understand how expensive LC is.
Yvonne, CB is only given until children are 16 unless they are still in school. When they turn 16, you have to get a form stamped by the school stating when the child is expected to finish. That’s why it stops in the June, because that’s the information provided by the school.
I do know how expensive LC is, that’s why I said all LC students regardless of age should be entitled to the benefit. However, the day after they finish the LC they are free to work. I, and most people I was in school with were out working or looking for work the week after the leaving cert.
Now if they continue on to full time education, they are no longer available to work and families should get the payment in order to support them.
There are plenty of jobs that will take people on for short term work. It sounds like your son wanted to go out and doss around for the summer, but for some reason you expect tax payers to fund him to do this?
NO ! Child benefit needs to be means tested or at least taxable. Outrageous that families earning €75,000 a year getting hand-out from the State… #no shame
I am so sorry I got an education and worked bloody hard to earn the 75k a year just so that I can fund 52% of it for you.
I wouldn’t get out of bed for 75k.
But the whole argument that people who earn 75k deserve child benefit because they work hard is silly…..
Child benefit is a benefit not a reward, plus are you saying people who earn 25k don’t work hard?
Seriously smug there man.
Wasn’t meant to be smug (and I am sorry if it came across that way – next time I need to take a breath before hammering at the old keyboard) and I am not saying that people earning 25k don’t work hard either. Anyway at the end of the day it is all about the children.
It shouldnt be a reward for the prosperous it should be an aid for those less fortunate than yourself. Should the better off get grants to send their kids to college so they can make 75k a year after? Your grand contribution might be less if anyone who brings their kid to school in a land rover didn’t get their petrol money from the aul cb
If they’re over 16 they can get a job. There’s no need to change the rules on this. There are far more deserving causes to give that money to e.g. children with life threatening illnesses who can’t get a medical card!
Or phone calls to Kenya.
The guru your name certainly doesnt give you insight. There ate no jobs for teenagers. Especially im small towns. Nothing as most deserving as supporting our young prople through the education process. As these youngsters are our future!
You saying if they’re over 16 they can get a job is a bit like me saying if they need one they can get a medical card. Narrow minded and ignorant.
Guru,
I am a parent bringing up my child on my own. I work full-time and my wages are the only income coming into the house (no other benefits, supports or maintenance). My child is about to turn 18 this month and will complete the Leaving Cert in 2016 due to undertaking Transition Year.
As a result of the work experience gained during TY my child did secure a part-time job. He was lucky to get the job, even living in the Dublin area these jobs are rare and the jobs that are available usually entail extremely long hours. It became impossible for him to continue with the part-time job hours as he was working the entire weekend, from 9am until late in the evening on Saturday and Sunday. The volume of homework required to do well at LC made it impossible to continue with the job in the long term.
Child Benefit will be stopped in a couple of months time. When the water rates begin he will be 18 and I presume we will be classed as a two adult household (I cannot find clarity on this on the water.ie website).
As a single parent working full-time, I also take care of the house, washing, cooking, cleaning etc., so my working week entails very long hours. I don’t receive any other benefits and we are fully self-supporting. So, please do tell me how the reduction in Child Benefit is fair to a family like mine and how we are not deserving of this payment.
Your “child” can get a job. One can work on weekends and in the evenings and still do the leaving cert. There’s more to life than the Leaving Cert anyway.
Guru is right, anyone over 16 can work.
Why does everyone feel sorry for themselves on these comments section?
A kid can skip transition year. That’s an easy way to do the leaving exam a year earlier.
Child benefit should be means tested just like university fees. Why give benefits to people who don’t need them?
You know any children that would fail a means test?
A few…. Not sure what your point is.
Benefit is NOT paid to children…. Give it to parents who NEED it
Trust me, the means test for Uni does not cover people who ‘need it’. The government’s idea of what people should be able to survive on is disgusting. As someone whose parents struggled beyond belief, along with working every job I could in college, just to get me through and qualified while the government said we should have no problem covering costs, I can tell you that the government hasnt a clue what its on about money wise, and clearly neither do you.
I agree- there should be an income threshold and then a sliding scale so parents on the lowest incomes get the most. They should also stop paying it to people whose children do not reside with them here in R.o.I; this state pays one of the highest rates of CB in Europe and yet it is being claimed for children who live in countries where it costs a fraction to feed, clothe and educate a child of what it costs here! Then they could easily afford to reinstate the ayment to parents with offspring in full-time education up until they reach 22 years of age. They still get it up until 22 in the UK and it is outrageous that they have stopped it here.I will be supporting my son for over a year yet and I am now 2 months without it, trying to manage on 140 Euros a month less than what I was and that was not much so I am getting desperate.He is applying for jobs for the summer but we live in a village,I can’t afford to get him driving lessons, never mind a car and most jobs are given to relatives around here and we do not have much family in the area.I am scared to death really.This is so cruel on behalf of the government but they don’t give a damn about people like us and I can’t beleive the begrudgers! If I earnt 75K a year I would happily give up CB so people WHOSE CHILDREN LIVE HERE and who really needed it could have it for as long as their kids were in full time education AND they could have MORE!
I have twins who were 18 in May the year before they sat their leaving cert. This meant a drop in my monthly income of two amounts of child benefit, plus the extra amount for twins. I have a child 5 years younger than the twins. This caused so much hardship for us. As a single mum, child benefit was an essential part of our income, that really just about kept our heads above water. The ruthlessness of the cut off point at age 18 needs to be addressed. It should be continued until the young person has finished their leaving cert, rather than at 18.
Providing a picture of the Senator would be a more useful indicator of who not to vote for at Election time.
Universal child benefit needs to be stopped. I didn’t ask for it, don’t especially need it but get it anyway.
You can inform the DSP you longer wish to receive it,they’ll happily stop it for you.Somehow I don’t think you will though.
I’ve just checked form CB56 and there is no option to refuse the money without lying to the DSP
You’re wrong, try harder.
You can stop the payment if you genuinely wish to do so.
“Senator for Carlow/Kilkenny, Pat O’Neill”
Just to point out that there are no geographic constituencies for the election of Senators. He was elected by county Councillors nationally and so he is a national politician. Just because he says he is Senator for Carlow/Kilkenny in his press release, doesn’t mean you should copy the line as is.
Why do so many people in Ireland rely on government support? it’s not normal.
have your say