Best coastal holiday spots in Ireland or Northern Ireland for teens

[MissElizabethGrayling]

Can anyone help me narrow down where to go on holiday in Ireland or Northern Ireland next summer as the kids keen to go and I am not really sure where to start. Thank you so much.

Our ideal place would:
Be coastal, on a sandy beach
Have nice restaurant options
A train station for going on day trips to other places (and ideally no more than a couple of hours from Dublin or Belfast by train)
Surf lessons or other water sports for teens

I don't know NI but I think Kinsale in Cork fills a lot of your criteria. Lovely town, a foodie town so lots of great restaurant options, nice beaches nearby, surf school just outside the town.

No train station though, only buses.

The obvious answers are anywhere along the North Antrim coast ...Portrush Portstewart, Castlerock, Ballycastle. There are beautiful beaches all along the coast. They are all fairly close together and have golf courses, tennis courts, nice restaurants. Cant offer much info on surfing etc sorry, but the cold water swimming is very popular.

Next year the Fleadh will be on in Belfast again and if it is even a fraction as successful and popular as it was this year it will be worth experiencing.

Ballycastle is directly below Rathlin island so to give you an idea re distance is approximately a 1 - 1.5 hour drive to Belfast City . There is Belfast City Airport in the heart of Belfast but also Aldergrove International Airport which is under an hour away.

Train stations more accessible from Portrush and Portstewart, no train station in Ballycastle although there are buses available.

Trains to Dublin from Belfast take about 2 hours.

Hope this helps. Someone im sure will be along with more info.

Another suggestion for Portrush. I was there last week with DC and it was amazing. We got the train from Belfast.

The beach is beautiful. The rock pools are amazing. There are indoor amusements and rides for when it rains. Urban does great food as does the pie shop.😍

For the surfers - take your pick!

https://www.discoverireland.ie/guides/guide-surfing-ireland

Strandhill is a cute little chi chi place, surfers haven. The train from Dublin goes to Sligo and the local bus goes out to Strandhill regularly.

For travelling between places, the train is limited enough, however buses are plentiful see Bus Eireann.ie and Local Link. The latter connects tiny rural spots with bigger towns and is available for use by anyone, rural locals and visitors alike.

https://www.transportforireland.ie/tfi-local-link/

Also have a look at the Wild Atlantic Way for more ideas.

https://www.thewildatlanticway.com/

I haven't been to the Causeway Coast in NI yet, but I hear it is stunning.

Ballycastle is beautiful and has all of that except the surfing, the beach has a safe area for swimming but there are rip tides at each end, portrush and port steward are best for surfing but not as pretty and scenic as ballycaslte so I would stay in Ballycastle and just drive over to portrush for surf lessons.

This is great thank you

I know the area really well @MissElizabethGraylingif you have any questions feel free to dm me