Tips
- If you are renting a car, be prepared to drive on the left side. Expect curvy, hilly, and narrow roads.
- If you are traveling to Northern Ireland, make sure to exchange for some pound currency.
- Northern Ireland is at least a week's worth in itself. We only spent 2 days in Dublin and did not have time to explore the rest of Ireland.
- In Dublin, get a LEAP card to travel by bus/train
- Homestays are great! The owners provide lots of information and will make you an Irish breakfast at a small fee.
Causeway Coastal Route
The Causeway Coastal Route is a scenic route along the coast of Northern Ireland. I recommend renting a car and spend 3-7 days to visit all the points of interest along the way. Most of the drive along the ocean is great, but the drive in the hilly farm area is not. I have to warn ya that for about a couple of miles in the north, the drive is quite scary. In the hilly farm area, the width of the road is only wide enough for one car to drive and it's a 2-way road. Because it gets very hilly, it's hard to tell if a car is going to appear at the top of the hill. I had to drive very slowly and constantly honking before heading to the top of each hill. The road is also very curvy, another hurdle that makes it hard to foresee what's coming. Also, bring binoculars since there is so much to see. If you are lucky, then you might see some Irish animals.
There are well over 10 points of interest along this route. Because we only had about 4 days, we only visited a small selection of locations and made each visit fast.
Titanic Museum
Spoiler Alert: If you haven't watched the movie Titanic, then skip this section. The first half of the museum talks about the goods being transported on the ship, how it was built, the background behind building it, interior design, and layout. The later half finally goes in detail on what happened after hitting the iceberg. They explained at each moment, who on the ship was contacting and who amongst other ships responded. I really enjoyed this place a lot!
Castle Ward
Spoiler Alert: If you haven't watched Game of Thrones, then skip this section. This place is massive. We didn't have time to check the entire place out. We stopped by a mansion and had a tour of it. It gave us an idea of how life was like back before electricity was invented and how hard servants' lives were.
The tower where Bran got pushed off by Jaime.
Iron Islands tower.
Torr Head
It's a little bit of a hike up the hill to reach a tiny abandoned structure. The view is spectacular from all directions, especially with the ocean view.
Dark Hedges
Spoiler Alert: If you haven't watched Game of Thrones, then skip this section. This is where Game of Thrones filmed Arya traveling towards The Wall on Kingsroad. The trees are very unique and they are plants on both sides of the road. Some trees have been chopped off or broken, leaving a gap. If you plan to take pictures, I recommend coming here very early in the morning. We parked in a nearby parking lot and walked about a couple of blocks.
Carrick-a-Rede
Carrick-a-Rede is known for the bridge across the tiny island. There is a fee to cross the island which we decided not to cross. It is a nice, short, and easy hike.
Giant's Causeway
Giant's Causeway has a lot of different hiking trails ranging from easy to hard. I consider the rocks here as nature's wonder because of its hexagonal shape that's stacked in layers. There is a lot to see and a great place for taking photos. We parked at a hotel and grab something small to snack on to get our parking ticket validated. This was a neat trick advised by one of the homestays we lodged at.
Dunluce Castle
This is one of the many uninhabited stoned castles along Ireland. It's crazy how there used to be a town with proper architects in the 1700s and 1800s. And now, it's only a ruin and we're sure what happened to the inhabitants. This place used to have a very small town connected to the castle via a bridge.
Dublin
There is a lot in Dublin. Just gotta figure out where you wanna go and map it out.
The Irish coffee and Irish breakfast are delish!
Guinness Brewery
The brewery tour felt more like a museum where the path is self-guided with information at each step along the way. There are several floors and you eventually make your way up. I was hoping that the traditional stout tastes better in Ireland, but it really tastes the same as the draft in the states. At the topmost floor, is a panoramic view of Dublin. Quite gorgeous. It's just very crowded with people and hard to find a place to sit and a place near the window. Overall, this place didn't live up to my expectations.
She's a superwoman!
She made a super girl!
Prison
The Kilmainham Gaol is a very interesting place to visit. Make sure to go there early to book a ticket since it gets filled up quickly. The tour guide gave an extensive history of Ireland's revolt, the great hunger, the heroes of Ireland, and the life of living in prison back in the olden days.
Irish Emigration Museum
My experience of the museum wasn't as fun, but I was able to learn so much about Ireland. They explain a lot about the history of Ireland, the people, the hardship that people go through, and the culture of Ireland. If you like to learn about the history of countries and their culture, then I would recommend it. Otherwise, it's pretty boring lol.
Jameson Distillery
I wish I had time to visit this place :(
Book of Kells
We didn't get a chance to go here due to a very long line during Easter weekend. We heard great things about it. It is a gigantic library in the University. There are a ton of books and the shelves go really high up in the ceiling. That's all I can say about it :)
