How to get to N. Ireland from South West England.

[catsarebetterthanpeople]

Hi everyone,

Looking for some advice, but the travel sections seem a bit quiet!

I'm near Bristol and want to book a holiday to N. Ireland for the October half term, mainly to visit the Giant's Causeway. I'm thinking a stay in Belfast and then travelling up to the Causeway for one of the days we're there. It'll be me and my husband.

I've looked at the ferry so we can take our own car. The most direct route seems to be drive to Liverpool (3 hours ish) then ferry to Belfast (8 hours). Or maybe ferry from Holyhead to Dublin and drive up from there (4 hours to Holyhead, 2.5 on the ferry, 2ish hours up to Belfast).

Am I making hard work for myself? Should I just fly from Bristol and hire a car when I'm there? Easyjet flights are looking no more than £50 per person one way. Ferry is at least £300.

Any tips?

I'd just hire a car when you get here! (You might not even need to there are bus tours that go to the giants causeway?) Belfast as a city is very walkable but depending where you stay the hotel may not have parking for your car!! Parking in the city centre is pretty crap too tbh.

Yep I'd fly and hire a car.

Car hire has become extremely expensive here in NI. If you're just over for a few days, I'd fly and either do a bus tour or bring your own car on the ferry if you're staying longer.

Thanks everyone :) Good to know about car hire being expensive. Maybe a bus tour would work out better and be easier. Flying is SO much cheaper, which seems crazy to me.

Fly and take a bus tour to the Giants Causeway. Belfast is small and easy to get around on foot or with public transport.

Yep, fly for sure. Travel into Belfast on the airport bus. Stay in Grand Central or Merchant hotels. You could go to the Titanic Centre one morning, then from there get a taxi to Botanic Gardens and eat lunch in one of the nice restaurants around there. There’s a lovely pizza place on Stramillis Road at the bottom. Walk around Botanic and Queens University, and maybe the museum if you can be bothered. Evenings you have plenty of good bars to choose from. Then hire a car from Belfast City centre, and drive up to visit the Belfast Castle on your way to the Giants Causeway. You can book the Bushmills Inn to stay in one night and a tour of the distillery, then have a day up in the Giants Causeway and drive up the coast to see Dunserverick Castle. You’ll have a great time!

It depends what you’re looking for really! The bus tours are great and the city is small. But if you have a car there some beautiful stops along the way to the giants causeway that a tour might not cover.

We have family who travel from Bristol and they do the liverpool overnight ferry so the kids sleep and it’s a bit exciting!

what age are your kids? I can give you some activity and restaurant recommendations. Belfast is a beautiful, welcoming city!

Going the opposite way I take the Belfast Liverpool ferry. The kids sleep and we have our car and whatever we need.

Car hire in Ireland is very expensive. Overnight ferry from Liverpool is ace, and breaks up the journey.

You can also get the ferry to Dublin and drive up, it’s not that far.

I really have not found car hire very expensive at all( although to be fair I rarely travel over school holidays) - why don't you check the process with travelsupermarket.com - I usually book quite a bit ahead too. I would not rely on public transport - it's pretty crap. If you are traveling with Easyjet - they have reduced the size of free hand luggage, it's tiny now and they have pounced on a few groups of people whilst we've been traveling who didn't have a clue things have changed and were fined - you might be lucky and get away with it but remember to add in the extra cost. Stayed at The Grand Central in Belfast over the weekend - it's gone downhill since the last stay before the pandemic, the customer service was appalling - welcoming it certainly was not!

I was there recently, flew in and hired a car. Didn't find it very expensive. How long will you stay? Belfast is fine and there are some interesting parts but I also think there are some very pretty areas along the coast which would also be nice to visit if you're there for more than a couple of days and much easier to do with a car. Have you been to NI before?

Belfast city has loads to do for 2-3 days, i would fly into Belfast international, take the bus into the city centre, then bus back to collect a hire car from the airport and then spend a couple of days touring the Antrim coast, it's beautiful. A car in the city centre will seriously limit your accommodation options if you need parking.

We stayed at the Grand Central and while they didn't have parking we parked at the bus station car park...5 mins walk away. The price for 24 hours was reduced to hotel rates at £12... My sister who stayed with us parked at a car park recommended by the hotel - I wouldn't call it limiting at all.