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Belfast & Giant's Causeway: 2-Day Rail Tour from Dublin
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From €78 per person
If you want to do Belfast and the Causeway Coast justice, a single day isn’t really enough. This two-day rail tour from Dublin gives you the time to actually take it all in - and you get a night in a four-star city centre hotel included.
The tour departs daily from Dublin, returning the following day. In January, February, November, and December, departures run Monday to Saturday.
Day 1
Check in at Dublin Connolly Station at 06:30 for the 06:50 Enterprise Service to Belfast. On arrival, the tour heads straight out to the famous Antrim Coast Road, crossing the Glens of Antrim on the way to Ballycastle and the Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge. This coastal section runs from mid-March through October only, and on a clear day you’ll catch glimpses of the Scottish coast. You’ll then continue to the Giant’s Causeway and make a photo stop at Dunluce Castle before heading back to Belfast for an overnight stay at your four-star city centre hotel.
Day 2
After a full Ulster Fry breakfast, you’ll join a hop-on hop-off bus tour around the city. The route includes a stop at the Titanic Quarter, where the great ocean liner was built, plus Belfast Castle and time for shopping in the city centre. You can return to Dublin on any scheduled train service, or travel back with the group departing at 20:00, arriving at Dublin Connolly at 22:15.
Ballycastle is worth more than a drive-through. Day 1 takes you through Ballycastle on the way to the Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge - if there’s any free time here, the town centre is five minutes from the harbour. The House of McDonnell on Castle Street has been in the same family since 1766 and is one of the finest heritage pubs on the north coast. If the schedule is tight, even a 15-minute stop at the seafront to look across to Rathlin Island sets the tone for the whole coastal drive.
The Antrim Coast Road in the morning is a different thing. Day 1 starts early from Dublin, which means you hit the Glens of Antrim before the day-trip coaches. The coast road between Ballycastle and Carrick-a-rede is at its best in morning light. On a clear day from Ballycastle you can see the Mull of Kintyre and, if you’re lucky, Islay - the Fair Head clifftop east of town is where the crossing feels real.
For Day 2 in Belfast, use the hop-on hop-off bus as an orientation and then walk. The city centre is compact enough to cover on foot in an afternoon. The Titanic Quarter waterfront walk is 3 km and free; the Crown Liquor Saloon on Great Victoria Street (National Trust-owned, still a working pub) deserves 30 minutes before any return train. Kelly’s Cellars on Bank Street is a five-minute walk from the city centre and trading since 1720.
The Ulster Fry on Day 2 is the real thing. Belfast does it properly - soda bread, potato bread, back bacon, eggs, sausage. If your hotel does it well, this is the meal. Don’t skip it to get an early start.
Bushmills is the village three kilometres from the Giant’s Causeway and the place where the tour is effectively based during the Causeway section of Day 1. Dunluce Castle - the photo stop on the return to Belfast - sits five minutes’ drive west of Bushmills on its basalt stack above the sea; archaeologists found a planned settlement of 1608 beside it in 2011, complete with a grid street plan and indoor toilets. The Causeway Hotel up at the stones was built in 1836 and has sea-view rooms if you ever want an early-morning Causeway walk before the coaches get there.