• Travelsignposts Home
  • Country Guides
  • City Guides
  • River Cruises
  • Europe Photos
  • About Us

Ireland Travel

  • Home
  • Photos
  • Map
  • Weather
  • Site Map
  • Destinations
  • Sightseeing
  • Shopping
  • Food
  • Getting around
  • Useful facts
  • News & Events
You are here: Home / Sightseeing / The Giant’s Causeway – Antrim Coast

The Giant’s Causeway – Antrim Coast

By Helen Page Leave a Comment

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Northern Ireland’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site is Most Fascinating :

The Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site, is located on the north Antrim Coast, an area of outstanding natural beauty.  Thousands of visitors come to this part of the north Irish coast just to see these intriguing rock formations which are the result of volcanic eruptions.

Giant's Causeway - Antrim Coast

Giant's Causeway © Travel Signposts

Antrim Coast

Over 60 million years ago the Antrim Coast was subject to intense volcanic activities.  Millions of tonnes of molten rock were thrown up and over the course of time, the rapid cooling process and variations in the cooling rate caused the formation of columns, mainly into hexagonal and some octagonal shapes. But what’s bizarre about these basalt formations is the symmetry of the columns.

Some aerial photos that I had seen of the Giant’s Causeway gave the impression of dramatic and steep cliff-like structures plunging from a great height down into the sea.  So, before we arrived here, I imagined that we would be standing on top of the cliff and looking down at these unusual stepped columns.

But my impressions were totally wrong – a road leads to the rock formations and when you reach it you can actually walk on the basalt columns.  For the more sure-footed, there are some high sections that you can climb up to for a magical aerial view of the Giant’s Causeway and surrounding landscape.

Did A Giant Build the Causeway?

When this amazing natural phenomenon was discovered in 1693 it caused quite a sensation at that time. There were a lot of arguments and speculation as to whether the Causeway had been created by men with picks and chisels, by nature, or by the efforts of a giant. It was not until 1771 that a Frenchman (Demarest) announced that the Causeway was the result of volcanic action.  However, some might still choose to believe that it was really the Irish giant Finn McCool who built it.

Giant's Causeway - Antrim Coast

Giant's Causeway © Travel Signposts

Reaching the Giant’s Causeway

From the Visitor Centre you can take a leisurely one kilometre walk down to the Causeway and enjoy the views along the way.  When we visited, the road was undulating and it took about twenty minutes for some – less for the fast walkers – to walk to the stones.  In the 2012 transformation of the visitor centre, some of the trails and pathways throughout the site were upgraded. An alternative way to get to the Causeway is by the Causeway Coaster which is a mini-bus shuttle service that leaves every few minutes.  The bus is accessible for people with disabilities and the trip costs £1 each way. We strolled down, spent time on the rocks and then caught the mini-bus back up to save time.

The Giant’s Causeway Visitor Centre houses the Tourist Information office, bureau de change, accommodation booking service, an Interpretive Audio-visual presentation and a souvenir shop.  A ‘giant’ transformation of the Visitor Centre now makes this a state-of-the-art facility for visitors. The Giant’s Causeway is a designated National Nature Reserve and The National Trust are the guardians of the Causeway.  The National Trust also services the Trust Shop and the Tea Rooms.
The Visitor Centre is open 09:00 – 21:00 (summer). Ticket prices are £8.50 (adults), £4.25 (child), £21.00 (family).

Getting There

The Giant’s Causeway is about 2 miles away from Bushmills. The closest road is the B146 Causeway–Dunseverick Road. To get here by bus, there is the Causeway Rambler bus (Ulsterbus service 376) that runs from Bushmills and Carrick-a-Rede, though it only operates in summer.

Address:
Giant’s Causeway Visitor Centre
44 Causeway Road
Bushmills
Co Antrim
BT57 8SU
Website: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/giantscauseway

Giant’s Causeway visitor centre

Things to do in Belfast

Click here to get a free PDF of this post

What are your thoughts on the subject?
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Sightseeing Tagged With: antrim coast, causeway coast, causeway giant, causeway ireland, giant causeway, giant causeways, ireland antrim, ireland attractions

avatar

About Helen Page

Helen Page is a prolific blogger and ardent traveller; she runs Travelsignposts with her professional writer and photographer husband Tony.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

You can also find us on

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Latest Additions

  • Festival in Dublin: St Patrick’s Day 2017
  • An “Irish Ireland” – a Cultural Nationalism Tour of Dublin
  • Dublin’s Vibrant, Unmissable Indie Writing Scene
  • Useful facts for travel to Ireland
  • A Visit to Belleek Pottery in Co. Fermanagh

Plan and Book Your Trip


eNews and Updates

feedburner Sign up now to get emailed news as well as other site updates!

Get the Guerrilla Travel Photography ebook here now!
City Guides
Country Guides
River Cruises

Who is behind Travelsignposts?

Helen and Tony Page at Singapore Changi Airport

We're Helen and Tony Page, and we love travelling - lucky as we've been doing it for the last few decades!

Tony has long been a professional photographer and writer, but Helen now writes most of the posts and takes a lot of photos herself!

Travelsignposts is our main travel planning site, but we've just launched Travelsignposts China and Tony also runs the Travelsignposts Photo and Guerrilla Travel Photography web sites, as well as publishing the Take Better Digital Photos and Guerrilla Travel Photography eBooks.

Read more about Helen and Tony or contact them.

Other Countries

  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Bulgaria
  • Croatia
  • Czech Republic
  • Devon & Cornwall
  • England
  • Estonia
  • Europe (General)
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Italy
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Portugal
  • Scotland
  • Spain
  • Switzerland
  • Turkey
  • Ukraine

Resources

  • Take Better Digital Photos eBook Take Better Digital Photos eBook
  • Take Better Digital Photos Free eCourse
  • Travel Signposts Photo – our main travel photography site
  • Guerrilla Travel Photography eBook Guerrilla Travel Photography eBook

Copyright © 2021 Travelsignposts Pty Ltd · All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy   |   Terms of Service   |   Affiliate Disclaimer   |   Log in

Get a free PDF of this post!
Just enter your email address below and we'll send it to you immediately.

Please enter your Email Address