Larne, Latharna, Co. Antrim

Latharna · Co. Antrim

Working ferry port at the foot of the Antrim Coast Road. Honest about what it is.

Larne is a town that most visitors to the Antrim coast see for about forty minutes - the queue at the ferry terminal, the roundabout out of town, and the moment the coast road opens up north of the Black Arch. That's a fair summary of how Larne presents itself, and it's also why anyone who slows down for an afternoon ends up with a more interesting town than they expected.

It's a port first. Has been for a thousand years - the Vikings used the lough as a base, the Anglo-Norman Bissetts built Olderfleet Castle on Curran Point around 1250, and the deep-water harbour has been carrying freight and emigrants and rifles ever since. Twenty-five thousand of those rifles came in one night in April 1914, when Major Crawford ran guns through this harbour for the UVF. The Jackson family sailed from this port in 1765 with two infant sons; their third son was born on the other side and became the seventh President of the United States.

It is not a heritage village. The town centre is a working high street with the wins and losses of any working high street. The interesting things are at the edges - the Chaine Tower at the harbour mouth, the Olderfleet ruin on Curran Point, Carnfunnock Country Park up the coast road, and Ballygally Castle two miles further on. Stay one night to break a coast-road trip, eat at the Olderfleet Bar, walk to the tower at sunset, and you'll have done Larne about right.

Population

~18,900

Coords

54.8577° N, 5.8243° W

01 / 09

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The ferry

Two hours across to Scotland, six times a day.

P&O runs Larne to Cairnryan. About a two-hour crossing, freight and foot passengers and cars. It's the reason the town is here in its current shape, and the reason most people who come through it don't stop.

Stories & lore → 02 Where the coast road starts

Two miles north and the scenery takes over.

The Antrim Coast Road - engineered through the 1830s - properly begins at the Black Arch, just outside Larne. From there it hugs the sea for sixty miles to Ballycastle. Most people miss the town and head for the road.

Walks & outings → 03 The Chaine Tower

A round tower at the harbour mouth.

Built 1888, granite, 27m high, a replica of an early-Irish round tower in memory of James Chaine, the MP and shipping man who put Larne on the Atlantic map. Converted to a working lighthouse in 1899.

Stories & lore →

02 / 09

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

The Olderfleet Bar

Friendly, harbour-side

Bar & restaurant near the docks

Tucked away on a side street near the ferry terminal. The chowder is the thing people order and the thing people remember. Doubles as the best dinner in town.

Rafters

Local, no fuss

Town pub

On Point Street in the town centre. A drinkers' pub. Not aiming to be anything else.

The Thatch

Wooden, traditional

Old-style local

On Bridge Street. The kind of small pub that doesn't change much between visits. Locals on stools, the racing on the telly.

03 / 09

Where to eat.

Place	Type	€	Local note
The Olderfleet Bar	Seafood & pub food	££	Down near the harbour. Moules mariniére, chowder, fish and chips - the menu is fish-forward and the kitchen knows what it's doing. Booking is wise at weekends.
Sixty Six	Country pub & dining	££	Out at Glenoe, ten minutes south of the town. Formerly Billy Andy's; renamed by new owners in 2024. Salmon on chowder, proper fish and chips, a stone-floor room.
The Stove	Café & lunch	£	On Main Street. Homemade food, daytime hours, the kind of room you can settle into with a paper for an hour.

04 / 09

Where to sleep.

Place	Type	Local note
Ballygally Castle	Hotel (Hastings)	Two miles up the coast road. A 17th-century tower house (1625) with a Victorian and modern wing tacked on - 44 rooms, a ghost story they wheel out for guests, a sandy beach across the road. The closest thing the area has to a destination hotel.
Magheramorne Estate	Country house	Wedding venue most weekends, with 35 bedrooms in the main house and outbuildings. Open for occasional staycation breaks - check before you assume you can book.
North Irish Lodge	Self-catering	A cluster of converted barns and lofts a few miles inland at Ballyhampton. Brennan's Barn and Leahy's Loft sleep small groups. Good base for the coast road without the hotel prices.

05 / 09

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

Two hours to Scotland, since 1872

The ferry

James Chaine, MP for Antrim and shipping man, opened the Larne-Stranraer service in 1872 and made the town into Ulster's short-sea crossing to Britain. The route has shifted along the Scottish coast since - Cairnryan opened as the terminal during the Second World War and took the full traffic in stages. Today P&O Ferries runs the crossing, six or so sailings a day, about two hours each way. It is by some distance the biggest single thing happening in Larne on any given morning.

A ship out of Larne, 1765

The Jacksons

Andrew Jackson senior and his wife Elizabeth Hutchinson, Presbyterian Ulster-Scots from Boneybefore near Carrickfergus, sailed from Larne in May 1765 with their two infant sons. Their third son - born after they reached the Carolinas - became the seventh President of the United States. The Andrew Jackson Cottage itself is not in Larne; it's at Boneybefore, fifteen miles down the coast at Carrickfergus, where the family had farmed before they left. Larne's part in the story is the harbour wall they walked down to board the ship.

April 1914, twenty-five thousand rifles

The Larne Gun Running

On the night of 24-25 April 1914, Major Frederick Crawford and the Ulster Volunteer Force landed around 25,000 German and Austrian rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition through Larne harbour, with smaller shipments at Donaghadee and Bangor. Rifles bought from a Hamburg arms dealer, shipped on the SS Fanny, transferred at sea, then run inland by a fleet of motor cars - said to be the first large-scale military use of motor vehicles. It happened with the connivance of the local police and the silence of the customs, and it changed the political map of Ireland for the next decade.

A round tower for a shipping magnate

The Chaine Memorial Tower

When James Chaine died in 1885, the town raised a memorial in the form of a 27-metre granite round tower at the entrance to the harbour - a replica of the early-medieval towers that stood at monastic sites across Ireland. Built 1888. In July 1899 the Commissioners of Irish Lights converted it into a working lighthouse, and it has marked the harbour mouth ever since. Walk out the Chaine Memorial Road at dusk; the tower at the end is the best thing in Larne.

A Bissett tower, a Chichester warehouse

Olderfleet Castle

On Curran Point at the south end of the harbour, the stump of Olderfleet Castle is what's left of an Anglo-Norman tower house built by the Bissett family around 1250. The Bissetts had come from Scotland after a failed conspiracy against the Scottish crown and held the Glens of Antrim for two centuries. In 1612 Sir Arthur Chichester, Lord Deputy of Ireland, rebuilt the castle as a fortified warehouse to control the port. What survives is one ivy-bound wall and a marker - but the location, looking back across the lough, tells you why this was always going to be a port.

06 / 09

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

Chaine Memorial walk Out the Chaine Memorial Road from the town to the round tower at the harbour mouth, then back the same way. Flat, paved, easy. Best at dusk with the lights of Islandmagee across the water.

2 km returndistance

40 mintime

Carnfunnock Country Park Four miles north on the coast road. Waymarked woodland and coastal trails, a walled garden, an orienteering course, and a hedge maze planted out in 1986 in the shape of Northern Ireland. Free to enter; pay-and-display car park.

191-hectare parkdistance

1-3 hourstime

Curran Point & Olderfleet Walk out along the Curran to the Olderfleet Castle ruin and back along the harbour. Industrial views, a small bit of history, the ferries coming and going.

1.5 kmdistance

30 mintime

07 / 09

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

Carnfunnock's maze and walled garden open up. The coast road north is at its quietest before the summer traffic.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Ferry queues build at weekends and bank holidays. Ballygally Castle and the coast-road hotels fill up. Book ahead.

◐ Mind yourself

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Quieter again, often clear days, and the coast road north of the Black Arch is as good as it gets.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

The town keeps working - the ferry runs year-round - but Carnfunnock's attractions are seasonal and the coast road can be windy enough to close.

◐ Mind yourself

08 / 09

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Coming to Larne for the town centre

It's a working high street, not a heritage one. The good things are at the edges - the harbour, the tower, Curran Point, the road north.

Booking your trip around a Stena ferry to Larne

Stena runs Belfast-Cairnryan. The Larne-Cairnryan crossing is operated by P&O. Easy mistake; check the operator before you check the timetable.

The Andrew Jackson Cottage assuming it's in Larne

It isn't. The cottage is at Boneybefore, fifteen miles down the coast in Carrickfergus. The Jacksons sailed from Larne, but they didn't live here.

Lingering for nightlife

Larne is not a night-out town. If you want music or a late session, drive south to Belfast or Carrickfergus.

Getting there.

By car

On the A8 from Belfast - about 35 minutes, dual carriageway most of the way. From the Glens, the A2 coast road comes down from Glenarm and Carnlough.

By bus

Translink Ulsterbus and Goldliner run frequent services from Belfast Grand Central to Larne, about an hour. The Ulsterbus 162 follows the coast road up through Glenarm and Carnlough to Cushendall.

By train

NI Railways runs the Larne Line from Belfast Grand Central through Carrickfergus and Whitehead to Larne Town and Larne Harbour. About an hour. The harbour station is steps from the ferry.

By air

Belfast International is 40 minutes by car. Belfast City Airport is closer, around 30 minutes via the A2.

Next on the tour

Co. Antrim

Carrickfergus

Norman castle on the lough, fifteen miles south. The Andrew Jackson Cottage is in its parish.

Co. Antrim

Glenarm

First of the Nine Glens, twenty-five minutes north up the coast road. The road starts to open up here.

Co. Antrim

Belfast

Forty minutes south on the A8. The city, the airport, the train back.

Co. Antrim

Whitehead

South-east down the shore towards Belfast Lough, a quiet railway resort with a white lighthouse to walk to.