The Giants Causeway – A Natural Wonder of Northern Ireland
Forty thousand columns of black stone, fitted together so neatly that the people who found them were certain a giant had laid them by hand. Stand on the Giant’s Causeway and you will see why. The hexagons run out under your feet and step down into the Atlantic, and nothing about them looks like an accident.
The geologists have a duller answer. Lava, cooling and cracking as it set, about sixty million years ago. The giant is Finn McCool, and the story goes that he built the whole thing as a road to Scotland to settle an argument. Both versions are further down this page, and I would not want to talk you out of either. It is the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in Northern Ireland.
What most people do not realise is that the stones themselves are free. They sit on open land and you can walk down to them at any hour, all year round. What the ticket pays for is the car park and the Visitor Experience building. It is an hour and a quarter from Belfast, the path down is half a mile, and the way back up is the part people forget about.
I am on this coast most weeks of the year, so let me tell you what actually matters about visiting the Giants Causeway from Belfast: how to get here with a car and without one, what the ticket does and does not cover, how long to give it, the times of day the crowds thin out, and what else along this coast is worth putting into the same day.
What Is in This Guide
- 1The Giant’s Causeway, Myth and Majesty on the Antrim Coast
- 2Things to See at the Giant’s Causeway
- 3What Is the Giant’s Causeway?
- 4Visiting the Giant’s Causeway: Tickets, Parking and Practical Tips
- 5The Walking Trails at the Giant’s Causeway
- 6Accessibility at the Giant’s Causeway
- 7The Clifftop Experience, a Guided Walk to the Causeway
- 8How to Get to the Giants Causeway from Belfast
- 9How the Giant’s Causeway Was Formed
- 10What’s Nearby: Exploring the Causeway Coast
- 11The Giant’s Causeway Story and Legend
- 12Frequently Asked Questions
- 13Visiting the Giant’s Causeway on a Private Tour from Belfast
The Giant’s Causeway, Myth and Majesty on the Antrim Coast
The Giant’s Causeway sits on the North Antrim coast, beside the village of Bushmills. The address is 44 Causeway Road, Bushmills, County Antrim, BT57 8SU. It is about 60 miles from Belfast, roughly an hour and a quarter along the Causeway Coastal Route, and only ten minutes from Portrush and Bushmills.
It also sits within easy reach of the rest of this coast, including the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, Dunluce Castle, Old Bushmills Distillery and the Dark Hedges. That is why most people make a full day of it along the coast rather than driving up and straight back.
Things to See at the Giant’s Causeway
The Causeway is not one single thing. It is a headland of named formations, and most people walk past half of them because nobody told them what to look for. These are the ones worth finding.
The Grand Causeway
This is the one in every photograph. The largest of the three sections of columns, stepping out from the cliff and down into the sea until the tide takes them. Stand at the seaward end and look back at the white chalk cliffs, because that is the view most people forget to take.
The Middle and Little Causeways
Two smaller fingers of columns running alongside the Grand Causeway. The Middle Causeway is sometimes called the Honeycomb, and it is the easiest place to see how tightly the hexagons lock together.
The Organ
A bank of tall columns standing upright in the cliff face further along the shore, looking exactly like the pipes of a church organ. It is a few minutes past the main stones on the lower path and it is well worth the extra walk.
The Giant’s Boot
A single boot shaped rock sitting on the shore at the far end of the Blue trail. The story says Finn McCool lost it running from Benandonner. Going by the size of it he would have taken a fair number of shoes.
The Wishing Chair
A natural seat formed by a group of shorter columns among the stones, worn smooth by generations of visitors sitting in it. Local tradition says a wish made there comes true. Everyone queues for it, so go early if you want the photograph without a stranger in it.
The Camel
A long ridge of rock lying on the slope near the start of the path, with a hump that gives it its name. Said to be Finn McCool’s camel, turned to stone.
The Shepherd’s Steps
A steep flight of stone steps cut into the cliff, linking the shore path to the clifftop trail above. It is a hard climb, but it turns the walk into a loop instead of an out and back, and the view from the top is the best on the site.
The Visitor Centre
Built into the hillside so it barely shows from the coast. Inside there is an exhibition on both the geology and the legend, the audio guide in eleven languages, a shop and a cafe.
What Is the Giant’s Causeway?
The Giants Causeway is the only UNESCO World Heritage site in Northern Ireland. Situated on the beautiful North Coast, in an area of outstanding beauty, with breathtaking views, this is a must-see for anyone travelling to Northern Ireland. Often called the Eighth Wonder of the World, the Giants Causeway is a magical, mythical and mysterious place to visit.
The Causeway lies at the foot of the basalt cliffs along the sea coast on the edge of the Antrim plateau in Northern Ireland. It is made up of some 40,000 massive black basalt columns sticking out of the sea. These geological formations were formed 50–60 million years ago during Tertiary volcanic activity, and are a major tourist attraction.
Visiting the Giant’s Causeway: Tickets, Parking and Practical Tips
Is the Giant’s Causeway free?
The stones are. They sit on open land and you can walk down to them at any hour of the year. What you pay for is the Visitor Experience: the car park, the Visitor Centre and exhibition, an audio guide and the guided storytelling. Under fives and National Trust members go free. Booking online in advance is cheaper than paying on the day, and it spreads the crowds out, which is why the site asks everyone to book ahead.
Parking at the Giant’s Causeway without a ticket
The Causeway Coast Way car park at Innisfree Farm, 60 Causeway Road, charges £12 per vehicle and is paid through the JustPark app, location ID 77819. National Trust members park free there by entering their membership number in the app.
Campervans and motorhomes
Do not drive a campervan to the site. Head for the Park and Ride at Dundarave car park in Bushmills. Buy the discounted Park and Ride ticket in the Bushmills Visitor Information Centre, which covers both the Visitor Experience and the bus, then take the Translink bus up. Blue Badge holders, National Trust members and Neighbour Pass holders should go straight to the Causeway Coast Way car park instead.
Coaches and mini coaches
Groups arriving by coach or mini coach have to be booked in advance with the Giant’s Causeway bookings office.
Arriving by bus or train, the Green Ticket
Show your valid bus or train ticket at the desk and you get a discounted Green Ticket for the Visitor Experience.
The shuttle bus to the stones
Translink run it between the Visitor Centre and the Grand Causeway for £1, or €1.20, every fifteen minutes. It takes cash and card, it is wheelchair friendly, and it is free for National Trust members on showing their card.
Audio guides and equipment
Audio guides are included in the ticket and come in eleven languages. The Visitor Centre also lends all terrain wheelchairs and mobility scooters at no charge.
How long to spend at the Giant’s Causeway
Two hours at the stones, or half a day if you want to walk the trails. Early morning and late afternoon are the quiet times, and spring and autumn are noticeably quieter than midsummer.
What to bring
Shoes with grip, because the stones are uneven and get slippery, warm layers and something waterproof. The weather here turns quickly.
Visitor information
Opening times. The stones themselves are open access at any hour, all year. The Visitor Experience building keeps seasonal hours, generally 09:00 to 18:00 in summer and 09:00 to 17:00 in winter, with last entry an hour before closing. Check the National Trust page the week you travel.
Guide prices. Giants Causeway tickets prices run from around £15.00 to £16.00 adult, £7.50 to £8.00 child aged 5 to 17 and £37.50 to £40.00 family, cheaper booked online. Under fives and National Trust members go free. Parking is included in the ticket.
Is the Giants Causeway free? The stones are open land and you can walk down to them for nothing. What you pay for is the Visitor Experience building, the exhibition, the audio guide and the car park. If you are not paying, you need to park elsewhere and walk in.
Facilities. Cafe, shop, toilets, audio guides in several languages. The Visitor Centre lends all terrain wheelchairs and mobility scooters at no charge, and a shuttle bus runs down to the stones for £1 each way.
Where it is. 44 Causeway Road, Bushmills, County Antrim, BT57 8SU. Sixty miles from Belfast, about an hour and a quarter.
What is nearby. Old Bushmills Distillery about five minutes away, Dunluce Castle ten, Carrick-a-Rede and the Dark Hedges both within half an hour.
The Walking Trails at the Giant’s Causeway
There are four waymarked trails at the Giant’s Causeway, colour coded Blue, Red, Green and Yellow. Most people only ever walk the Blue one, and for a first visit that is the right choice.
The Blue trail starts at the Visitor Centre and runs downhill to the stones. Allow about twenty minutes at a steady pace. If you carry on to the very end of it you cover 0.8 miles in all and finish at the Giant’s Boot. It is tarmac the whole way and it is the route the shuttle bus follows.
The Red trail climbs to the clifftop above the Causeway and gives you the view down onto the stones that the postcards use. It is steeper, it has steps, and it is worth the effort on a clear day.
The Green and Yellow trails run further along the coast and take you away from the crowds within a few minutes. If you have half a day rather than two hours, this is where to spend it.
My advice is simple. Walk down on the Blue trail, spend your time on the stones, then climb the Red trail on the way back rather than retracing your steps. You see the place twice, from two completely different heights.
Accessibility at the Giant’s Causeway
This is a site that has put real thought into access, and it is worth knowing the detail before you come rather than finding out at the gate.
The Visitor Centre is fully accessible, with ramps and step-free access throughout. Mobility equipment, including all terrain wheelchairs and powered scooters, can be borrowed free of charge during opening hours.
Parking. The main car park beside the Visitor Centre is paved, with sloped kerbs onto the footpaths. Disabled parking is first come, first served for Visitor Experience ticket holders, National Trust members and Neighbour Pass holders.
The Changing Places facility has a peninsular WC, a height adjustable changing table, a sink, a shower and an overhead hoist. It is open to everyone, ticket or no ticket. Tell a member of the team you need access to it.
Hearing and sight. Induction loops run through the exhibition area, a portable loop is carried on the guided walks, and there is an audio guide for visually impaired visitors. Most of the exhibits are tactile, interactive or available in Braille.
Which trail to take. The looping section of the Green trail is the only fully accessible stretch, and it takes prams, wheelchairs and powered scooters, though there are loose stones in places where a hand helps. The Blue trail is the most direct route down to the stones but has steep inclines that do not suit a wheelchair. A powered scooter can take the Red trail as far as the top of the Shepherd’s Steps, and no further.
The shuttle bus runs every fifteen minutes from behind the Visitor Centre down to the stones and back. It costs £1, or €1.20, takes cash or card, and has priority seating at the front for wheelchair users. It is meant for people who cannot manage the walk, so leave the seats for them if you can.
Dogs are welcome on leads throughout, indoors and out, and there are water bowls at the front and back of the Visitor Centre.
The Clifftop Experience, a Guided Walk to the Causeway
If you want to see the Causeway properly rather than just visit it, there is the Clifftop Experience. It is a fully guided five mile walk from Dunseverick Castle along the coast to the stones, led by guides from Away A Wee Walk.
It runs daily from March to October and at weekends from November to February. It needs at least two people and it has to be booked in advance through the official Giant’s Causeway website.
It is a proper walk rather than a stroll, so come dressed for the weather, but you arrive at the Causeway having earned it, and with the whole coastline behind you.
How to Get to the Giants Causeway from Belfast
This is the question I am asked most often. Doing it without a car is possible, but it takes most of your day.
By car. Sixty miles from Belfast, about an hour and a quarter each way along the Causeway Coastal Route, or a little quicker on the M2 if you are pushed for time. The coast road is half the reason to come, so I would take it at least one way. Parking is included in your Visitor Experience ticket.
By bus. Translink’s Goldline service 221 runs from Laganside in Belfast straight to the Giant’s Causeway and takes about an hour and thirty five minutes. There are only two departures each way on a weekday, so the timetable decides your day rather than you deciding it. Check Translink for the current times before you travel, because they change with the season.
By train and bus. Take the train from Belfast Grand Central to Coleraine, which is the fast and comfortable part at about an hour and fifteen minutes, then change to a bus for the last stretch. In summer the Causeway Rambler links the coast and is worth having if you want to stop at Carrick-a-Rede or Ballintoy on the same ticket. Allow the best part of three hours each way once the connections are added in.
By private tour. If you are not driving, I would suggest this is the best way to visit. You are collected from your hotel or the ship, the coast road becomes part of the day rather than something to get through, and you are not tied to two buses a day. That is what our Giant’s Causeway tour from Belfast is built around.
Is two hours enough? At the stones themselves, yes. Two hours covers the walk down, time on the Causeway and the walk or shuttle back up. Add an hour if you want the Visitor Experience exhibition as well. What two hours does not cover is the journey, so budget five to six hours for the round trip from Belfast by car, and a full day by public transport.
How long is the walk? About half a mile from the Visitor Centre down to the stones, ten to fifteen minutes on a tarmac path. It is downhill on the way there and uphill on the way back. A shuttle bus runs it for £1 each way if you would rather not walk back up.
How the Giant’s Causeway Was Formed
The short version is that this coast was once on fire.
About sixty million years ago molten basalt forced its way up through the chalk that makes the white cliffs along here, and spread out into a huge lava plateau. Then it stopped, and it began to cool.
Lava that cools slowly contracts as it sets, and when it contracts it cracks. The cracks spread the way they do across a dried out mud puddle, in a rough honeycomb, and they travel straight down through the depth of the flow. What you are left with is columns. The slower the cooling, the bigger the column, which is why they are not all the same size.
Look at the tops of the stones and you will see the other half of it. Most of them are slightly domed or slightly dished, because each column also cracked across its width as it cooled, into stacked sections that sit into one another like a ball in a socket.
Forty thousand of them, mostly six sided, some five, a few seven. The same rock runs on under the sea and comes back up at Fingal’s Cave on Staffa, off the west coast of Scotland. Which, as you are about to read, the other story explains rather better.
What's Nearby: Exploring the Causeway Coast
One of the joys of the Giant’s Causeway is everything around it. Within a short drive you will find some of Northern Ireland’s most memorable places. That is why we build a full, unhurried day around the coast:
- Old Bushmills Distillery, the world’s oldest licensed whiskey distillery, about 5 minutes away.
- Dunluce Castle, dramatic clifftop ruins, around 8 minutes along the coast.
- Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, the famous rope bridge over the Atlantic, about 15 minutes east.
- Ballintoy Harbour & White Park Bay, a picturesque harbour (a Game of Thrones location) and a sweeping sandy beach, 10–12 minutes away.
- Dunseverick Castle & Portbradden, quiet, scenic spots just minutes from the Causeway.
- The Dark Hedges, the iconic beech-tree avenue, about 20 minutes inland.
- Portrush & Whiterocks Beach, a lively seaside town and a beautiful limestone beach, around 12 minutes away.
- Mussenden Temple & Downhill Demesne, a clifftop temple with breathtaking views, about 25 minutes west.
You can comfortably combine several of these with the Causeway in a single day, and on our private Giant’s Causeway tour from Belfast we do exactly that, at a relaxed pace with door-to-door pickup.
The Giant’s Causeway Story and Legend
Now the other version, and this is the one I tell on the road.
Finn McCool was a giant who lived on this coast. A decent man by all accounts, who looked after his people. Across the water in Scotland lived Benandonner, whose name means mountain of thunder, and the two of them had been roaring threats at each other over the sea for years. Neither had ever laid eyes on the other. The water was too wide and too deep, and Benandonner could not swim.
One morning Finn had enough of it. He tore columns of rock out of the ground and drove them into the seabed with his bare hands, one after another, until there was a road running the whole way to Scotland. Then he stood at this end of it and shouted over that Benandonner was welcome to come and fight him for the land, whenever he found the courage.
It was the worst idea he ever had. Benandonner came striding across the new causeway, and Finn saw him properly for the first time. The Scotsman was twice his size.
Finn ran home to his wife Oonagh and told her to pack. Oonagh was the cleverer of the two. She put a sleeping draught in his morning beer. When he was out cold she dressed him as a baby, bonnet and all, built a cradle big enough to hold him, and put his thumb in his mouth.
Benandonner hammered on the door. Oonagh answered it smiling. She told him Finn had forgotten the whole business and gone off to the fields, and that he was welcome to wait, though he might be wiser to go home before Finn got back. He could come in, but he was not to wake the baby.
Benandonner was not going to be called a coward, so in he came. Then he saw the cradle, and the baby lying in it. Red bearded, snoring, breath like stale beer.
He did not wait to meet the father of that. He ran, and as he went he smashed the causeway behind him so that Finn could not follow.
The noise woke Finn. Raging at the sight of his work being broken up, he tore a sod of earth out of the ground and hurled it after Benandonner. He missed. The sod flew out over the water and landed in the Irish Sea, and that is the Isle of Man. The hole it left behind filled with water, and that is Lough Neagh, the largest lake in the British Isles.
You are entitled to believe the volcano. But go and look at a map. Compare the shape of Lough Neagh with the shape of the Isle of Man, and then tell me which story fits.
