A Northern Ireland itinerary works best as a Belfast-to-Derry loop along the Causeway Coastal Route: Titanic Belfast, the Dark Hedges, Ballintoy Harbour, the Giant’s Causeway, Dunluce Castle and Derry’s city walls. Five to six days covers it without rushing the coastline’s Game of Thrones filming sites.
The Route at a Glance
Northern Ireland is compact enough to see most of its signature sights in under a week. It is not somewhere to rush through in a single day trip from Dublin, despite how often it gets sold that way — the Causeway Coast alone deserves a full day, and Derry rarely makes it onto a day-trip itinerary at all.
| Days | Base | Highlights | Drive from Previous Stop |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | Belfast | Titanic Belfast, Cathedral Quarter, black taxi mural tour | — |
| 3 | Ballycastle / Bushmills | Dark Hedges, Ballintoy Harbour, Cushendun Caves | 1h 15m |
| 4 | Bushmills | Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, Giant’s Causeway | 25m |
| 5 | Derry~Londonderry | Dunluce Castle en route, Derry’s city walls | 1h |
| 6 | Belfast | Free morning, return drive | 1h 20m |
Days 1–2: Belfast
Titanic Belfast is the obvious first stop and earns the two to three hours it takes — the museum sits on the actual slipway where the ship was built, which lands differently than a museum built anywhere else would. According to Titanic Belfast, the attraction has drawn several million visitors since opening in 2012 and is consistently ranked among the UK and Ireland’s top paid visitor attractions, so book a timed entry slot a day or two ahead in peak summer months. Pair it with a walk through the Cathedral Quarter for street art and a proper pub lunch.
The black taxi tour of the political murals in the Falls Road and Shankill Road areas is worth booking on Day 1 rather than treating as optional. Belfast’s history through the Troubles isn’t something you can piece together from a guidebook paragraph, and local drivers who lived through the period give context a self-guided walk can’t. Most tours run 90 minutes to two hours and can be booked directly through the taxi companies or as part of a wider city tour.
Spend the second day at the Ulster Museum, St George’s Market (Friday to Sunday only — check before you plan around it), or the Crumlin Road Gaol, a former Victorian prison now open for tours.
Day 3: Belfast to the Dark Hedges and Ballintoy Harbour
Leave Belfast mid-morning for the Causeway Coast. The Dark Hedges — an avenue of beech trees planted in the 1750s, known on-screen as the Kingsroad — is a 15-minute stop, but arrive early. By mid-morning in summer, the narrow lane fills with cars and coach groups, and the photo everyone wants requires an empty road.
Ballintoy Harbour, used as the Iron Islands in the series, is a short, scenic detour off the main coast road. It’s a working harbour rather than a set piece, so there’s no admission fee and no crowds to speak of outside peak summer weekends. Overnight in Ballycastle or push on to Bushmills, which puts you closer to the next day’s stops.
Day 4: Carrick-a-Rede and the Giant’s Causeway
Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, managed by the National Trust, connects the mainland to a small island 30 metres above the water — not for anyone uneasy with heights, but a five-minute crossing each way. Booking a timed slot ahead is worth it in summer, since capacity is limited for safety reasons.
The Giant’s Causeway itself is the centrepiece of the day: roughly 40,000 interlocking basalt columns formed by volcanic activity some 60 million years ago, according to the National Trust, which manages the site. It’s free to walk the coastal path and columns; the visitor centre charges for parking and the exhibition. This in-depth guide to the Giant’s Causeway breaks down the best route down to the stones and how to avoid the worst of the coach-tour crowds.
Day 5: Dunluce Castle and Derry~Londonderry
Dunluce Castle, a dramatic ruin perched on a cliff edge near Bushmills, is a 20-minute stop worth making even from the car park view alone — it’s one of the visual references for House Greyjoy’s seat in the series. From there, it’s about an hour to Derry~Londonderry.
Derry rewards a proper look, not a drive-through. It’s the only completely intact walled city in Ireland, and walking the full mile of 17th-century walls takes under an hour with stops at the cannon bastions overlooking the Bogside murals below. The Peace Bridge, a pedestrian crossing linking the two sides of the River Foyle, is a five-minute walk from the city centre and worth timing for early evening light.
Day 6: Derry’s Walls and the Return to Belfast
Spend the morning at the Tower Museum for context on Derry’s role in the Troubles and the 1689 Siege, then start the drive back to Belfast — about 80 minutes on the A6. If your flight isn’t until evening, Antrim Castle Gardens breaks the drive roughly halfway.
Game of Thrones Filming Locations, Mapped
Nine of the show’s most recognisable Northern Ireland locations sit within a two-hour radius of Belfast, which is what makes this route work as a single loop rather than a series of day trips from different bases.
| Location | On-screen as | Nearest Base |
|---|---|---|
| The Dark Hedges | The Kingsroad | Ballycastle |
| Ballintoy Harbour | Iron Islands / Pyke | Ballycastle |
| Castle Ward | Winterfell exteriors | Belfast (45 min) |
| Cushendun Caves | Where Melisandre gives birth to the shadow creature | Ballycastle |
| Dunluce Castle | Visual reference for the Iron Islands | Bushmills |
Several tour operators run this exact route as a single- or multi-day guided trip. Great British Trips’ Game of Thrones tour of Northern Ireland is built specifically around these stops for travellers who’d rather not self-navigate the smaller coastal lanes with only a phone map.
Practical Planning: Currency, Getting There and Safety
Belfast International and Belfast City airports both have direct connections from several major US hubs via one European stop; a smaller number of routes run direct from the US in summer months. Most visitors fly into Dublin and drive north instead, since it’s roughly a two-hour drive from Dublin Airport to Belfast.
Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and uses pounds sterling. It is not the euro used just across the border in the Republic of Ireland, so budget for a currency switch if you’re combining both countries in one trip — cards work everywhere in both, but cash machines dispense different currency on each side.
According to Discover Northern Ireland, the region’s official tourism board, the Causeway Coastal Route is consistently ranked among the world’s great coastal drives, and Belfast’s political history is now presented directly to visitors through official tours rather than avoided — the murals and the black taxi tours are treated as heritage sites, not off-limits topics. Safety concerns that circulated in the 1980s and 90s no longer reflect the tourist experience in either city.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many days do you need in Northern Ireland?
Four to six days covers Belfast and a full loop of the Causeway Coast at a comfortable pace, with a night in Derry~Londonderry added on. Three days is workable if you base in Belfast and do the Causeway Coast as a long day trip, but you’ll skip Derry and see the coast in one direction only.
Can I visit Northern Ireland without a car?
Belfast and Derry are both walkable, and organised day tours run from Belfast to the main Causeway Coast stops, including several sold specifically as Game of Thrones tours. What you lose without a car is flexibility — most tours hit two or three filming locations in a single day, not the full run from Ballintoy to the Dark Hedges.
Is Dublin or Belfast the better base for Game of Thrones filming locations?
Belfast is the better base. Almost every Northern Ireland filming location — the Dark Hedges, Ballintoy Harbour, Castle Ward, the Giant’s Causeway coastline — sits within 90 minutes of Belfast. Dublin is over three hours from the Causeway Coast, which makes it workable only as a very long single-day excursion.
Do I need pounds or euros in Northern Ireland?
Northern Ireland uses pounds sterling, the same currency as the rest of the United Kingdom. It is not the euro used in the Republic of Ireland just across the border, so if you’re combining both in one trip, budget for a currency switch partway through.
Is Northern Ireland safe to visit?
Yes. Northern Ireland receives well over a million visitors a year and its tourist areas — Belfast city centre, the Causeway Coast, Derry’s Walled City — see no more security presence than any other UK city. Political murals are a genuine part of Belfast’s history and are covered on organised black taxi tours if you want context rather than just a photo.
