Category: Activities
Walking Route
Portrush
This walking map has details of the many different walking routes around the surrounding areas of Portrush. The distance and sections highlight different areas around the North Coast that consist of beautiful scenery and locations to visit on the way.
Portrush Coastal Zone
Portrush, 5min walk
Portrush Coastal Zone is the Department of the Environment’s main coastal and marine centre. Discovery pools and tanks along with displays and activities give visitors the chance to learn more about Northern Ireland’s marine and coastal wildlife and heritage.
At the rear of the centre is a viewing platform which affords excellent views towards the sea. From here dolphins, seals and harbour porpoises can sometimes be seen.
Whitepark Bay
Ballintoy, 20min drive
The spectacular sandy beach forms a white arc between two headlands on the North Antrim Coast. Its secluded location means that even on a busy day there is plenty of room for quiet relaxation.
The beach is also backed by ancient sand dunes that provide a range of rich habitats for bird and animal life.
Enjoy lazy summer days, picnics, making sandcastles and long walks. You’ll find that even on a busy day, this is a secluded and relaxing place to be.
Game of Thrones tour
Derry, 20min drive
Welcome to Game of Thrones Tours! The epic HBO series is filmed in stunningly beautiful places, most of which are remote and hard to find. We trek you deep into old growth forests, along wild sea cliffs, across rocky beaches, into caves and crumbling medieval ruins. We have Stark and Iron Born cloaks, swords, shields and banners available for use, at no extra cost. So choose Game of Thrones Tours, where every day is a Westeros day!
Although this is a coach tour, please note that this coach tour also includes two long walks, one in the morning at Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge (2kms), the other in the afternoon at the Giant’s Causeway (2kms). Accordingly, this tour is not recommended for anyone with limited mobility.
Royal Portrush Golf Course
Portrush, 10min walk
Royal Portrush Golf Club is home to one of the best and most challenging links golf courses in the world, the Dunluce Links, and the hidden gem, the Valley Links. The only club in Ireland to have hosted The Open Championship, Royal Portrush is a members club which welcomes visitors all year round to face the challenges of its courses and to brave the testing conditions. The former is one of the courses on the Open Championship rota and will next host the tournament in 2019.
Alive Surf School
Portrush Strand, 5min walk
Surfing Packages for beginners and advanced, all ages welcome. We believe surfing is a sport for absolutely everybody no matter age, shape, size or fitness. Our classes are suitable for kids from five years and upwards, there is no upper age limit, the record is a 77-year-old and we hope we can break that record this year!
Alive is the longest running surf school in Northern Ireland and we pride ourselves on our philosophy – ‘be safe and have fun’.
Barry’s Amusements
Portrush, 5min walk
Barry’s Amusements is the largest theme park in Northern Ireland. Barrys Amusements offers out of doors but largely under cover fun with options ranged across the board, so you should find something to amuse everyone, whatever their age!
There are 6 rides aimed at younger children including a miniature caterpillar train, wet roller coaster and towering helter-skelter slide. There are also mini dodgems, an express train through a land of make-believe, and Monte Carlo, which has a good variety of brightly coloured rides to enjoy.
Bushmills Distillery
Bushmills, 10min drive
Bushmills Irish Whiskey is made at Ireland’s oldest working distillery in County Antrim, Northern Ireland on the beautiful North Coast. The original grant to distil was signed in 1608 by King James 1st and there has been distillation on this site since then, using the unique water from their own stream and Irish barley.
The Bushmills Brand Experience encompasses guided tours around a working distillery with all the associated sights and smells, tutored whiskey tastings, a specialist whiskey shop and a well-stocked gift shop with exclusive Bushmills merchandise.
Portstewart
Portstewart, 5min drive
The town of Portstewart and the Strand are located just west of Portrush. Walk along the promenade through town and on to the Strand. You can enjoy the impressive Gothic mansion and coastal views, and relax or walk along the two miles of golden sand beach. This area of natural beauty and of scientific interest is owned and managed by the National Trust.
Portstewart Strand holds the prestigious Blue Flag award for the management, cleanliness and quality of water and it is also one of the few remaining beaches in Ireland where cars still have access and permission to drive onto the beach- perfect for families who wish to picnic on the golden shores.
Ballintoy Harbour
Ballycastle, 15min drive
The small fishing harbour can be found at the end of a small narrow steep road down Knocksaughey Hill, which passes by the entrance to Larrybane and Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. The village itself, which is just one kilometre from the harbour, has a charming array of small shops, two churches, including the quaint white Ballintoy Parish Church on the hill above the harbour, as well as tourist accommodation, restaurants, commercial and social facilities.
It has been used as a filming location in HBO’s epic series Game of Thrones. This stunning harbour location has been used for exterior Pyke shots and as the Iron Islands.
Downhill Forest & House
Coleraine, 15min drive
Downhill Forest is a small mixed woodland of 83 hectares just inland from the North Coast of Northern Ireland, near Castlerock. The Forest was originally part of the estate of Frederick Harvey, the 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry, which included Downhill Castle, now maintained by The National Trust.
A walk through Downhill Forest will allow you to view one of Northern Irelands fattest Sitka spruce (in 1962 the girth was approximately 6m), an Early Christian Promontory Fort and an old water-powered sawmill with its lade running around the small lake in the middle of this woodland.
Mussenden Temple
Coleraine, 15min drive
Mussenden Temple is located in the beautiful surroundings of Downhill Demesne near Castlerock in County Londonderry. It perches dramatically on a 120 ft cliff top, high above the Atlantic Ocean on the north-western coast of Northern Ireland, offering spectacular views westwards over Downhill Strand towards Magilligan Point and County Donegal and to the east Castlerock beach towards Portstewart, Portrush and Fair Head.
The temple was built in 1785 and forms part of the estate of Frederick Augustus Hervey, Bishop of Derry and Earl of Bristol. The temple was built as a summer library and its architecture was inspired by the Temple of Vesta in Tivoli, near Rome. It is dedicated to the memory of Hervey’s cousin Frideswide Mussenden.
White Rocks
Portrush, 10min walk
Awarded the prestigious Blue Flag Award again in 2015, Whiterocks Beach has become a favourite with locals and a must-see destination for international visitors.
The beach, situated just off the Causeway Coastal Route, enjoys a stunning natural coastal location, with the limestone cliffs of the White Rocks stretching from Curran Strand to Dunluce Castle. These soft, sedimentary rocks have been carved through centuries into a labyrinth of caves and arches.
Giants Causeway
Bushmills, 10min drive
Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland’s first UNESCO Heritage Site, is a geological wonder and home to a wealth of history and legend. The 40,000 basalt stone columns left by volcanic eruptions 60 million years ago intrigue and inspire visitors.
State of the art interpretation within the award-winning Visitor Centre unlocks the mystery and stories of this amazing place and offers a unique glimpse into the wonder that is the Giant’s Causeway.
Visitors can explore way-marked trails and enjoy spectacular coastal scenery accompanied by an innovative audio-guide available in 11 languages.