On our first full day in Northern Ireland we decided to book a tour in order to see a lot of sites around Northern Ireland. We booked with a company called Paddy Wagon Tours (which cost us 29 euro each). The tour left Belfast central Bus station at 10 am. The bus was late, so we waited around for quite awhile, and despite the fact that we were the first ones there waiting, we were the last too climb onboard the bus (all the American tourists were much pushier). We had to sit apart for a portion of the journey. Eventually we found two seats together at the back of the bus, but an incredibly rude American tourist felt it was her right to have the whole row to herself…. so we had to be pretty firm that we should be allowed two of her five seats….URG. Come on, people.

ANYWAYS!

The tour was an excellent way to see a lot in a short period of time, but if you are able to rent a car and do the trip yourself, we would highly recommend this option! The tour started off at the Dark Hedges, a spot made famous by Game of Thrones. This part of the tour was incredibly rushed. We were allowed to get off the bus for approximately 10 minutes, which is roughly how long it takes to walk from the car park to the Dark Hedges themselves.

The second stop was at Carrick-a-rede rope bridge. We were allowed about an hour at this location. If you decided that you wanted to cross the rope bridge, then you had to pay an additional 8 pounds to the National Trust.

The walk to the rope bridge was a beautiful 15 minute, meandering walk along the gorgeous coastline. We thoroughly enjoyed this stop on the tour.

Here is a video we made at the Dark Hedges and the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge:

Next stop was the incredibly famous Giant’s Causeway. The iconic lava formations lived up to the hype! We had about two hours at this stop, and that was plenty of time to see the site, and even walk to the natural amphitheatre.

Here is a video we made about Giant’s Causeway:

The last stop on the tour was an incredibly brief stop at Dunluce Castle. We were the last off the bus, so we literally had 20 seconds to take a photo before the bus started pulling away, leaving us behind.

We arrived back in Belfast around 6pm and went for some pub food and a few pints in order to relax after a crazy crazy day!!!