Our Giants Causeway Bus Tour with City Sighting Tours

Towards the end of our summer {which feels like a lifetime ago!} I arranged a last-minute bus tour to take with the kids. We’d never taken a bus tour before and I wasn’t entirely sure if it would be for Annabelle – due to her only being six years old. But I booked the tour anyway!

We booked the Giants Causeway tour with City Sightseeing Tours here in Belfast and the whole process was so smooth. From booking over the phone to checking in at reception before boarding our Irish Tours coach.

I’ve been to the Giants Causeway before, in fact, Annabelle came along with me a few summers ago and she loved it. However, my two older children had never been! And our summer was all about trying to do a few things we’ve never done before or visited places we’ve never been. So, booking ourselves on this bus tour fitted that summer goal beautifully. 

Our first leg of the journey was lovely. The sun shone, the kids were happy with their tablets and snacks as I listened to the tour leader sharing information about where we were going first – which was the Giants Causeway.

I have to admit, even though I have made this journey a dozen times, I’ve never heard the myths or the true stories behind some of the areas we drive through on the North Coast. It was pretty interesting stuff and before we knew it, we were pulling up outside the visitor centre. We actually went to The Causeway Hotel for lunch last year and it was beautiful! I would highly recommend!

Hotel lunches aside, it was time to hop off the bus, stretch our legs and to climb on volcanic columns and search for giants! 

We had around 2hrs at the Giants Causeway, which was long enough {just about}. We ventured onto the columns, watched the waves splash up on the rocks and walked around the visitor’s centre.

Our next stop wasn’t far from the causeway and it was just for a brief photo stop! Dunluce Castle is filled with history and one of the most intriguing tales of battle and family. 

From Dunluce Castle, we made our way over to Bushmills, in particular, the Bushmills Whiskey Distillery. This wasn’t a place I was keen to take the children into – no offence to the whiskey distillery! So, we decided to grab some lunch and head to the salmon river just down the road. 

We sat right here, feet off the edge, wasps flying around us by the dozens {they drive Jacob mental!} but it was lovely. The sun was out in full force and the sound of the river was really soothing. Bonus factor? There were a few pieces of gym equipment and when you’ve been on a coach for a few hours – these were great for us to play on for a while. 

The river is next to the Riverhouse Salmon Station and even though we didn’t see any salmon as we’d hoped – it was still a gorgeous spot to sit by for lunch. 

After we left Bushmills, our next stop was Carrick-a-rede rope bridge. We didn’t get a ticket to be able to cross the bridge, sadly – which is usually included in your bus tour tickets.

There are only 240 people allowed to cross the bridge each hour and by the time we’d booked our tickets, the hour we were to be there, the bridge crossing capacity had been reached. Annabelle was heartbroken! So I had to make a promise to her that we’d cross it next summer – which she will hold me too, 100%! 

This is Annabelle, in full strop mode because she couldn’t cross the bridge. Poor kid! The island she is looking over too is Rathlin Island – you may remember we shared a post about our Rathlin Island Adventures over the summer. Such an amazing place, so if you’ve never been – make plans to visit! You’ll love it. 

The walk from the car park to Carrick-a-rede rope bridge is a good 1km walk – which is up and down steps, hills and rocky terrain. It’s a decent walk, so if you’re going to visit – wear decent shoes! 

This is as close as we could get to the bridge and of course, a family photo is a requirement! 

It was time to board the coach for the final leg of the journey, which was to visit Carnlough for an infamous Mauds ice-cream! I actually had the opportunity earlier on in the year to visit the Mauds Ice-cream Headquarters and what an amazing experience that was. Seeing how it was all done and made behind the scenes! Loved it. Best ice-cream in my book!

The final part of the journey was to see Carrickfergus Castle – but this is a place we have visited countless times and don’t actually live that far from. So we hopped off, thanked our driver and tour guide for the day and got the train home. The kids were tired, I was tired but what a day we had! We got to see so much in a single day and my views on taking children on a bus tour forever changed. 

Will we do another one? Hands down, yes! But which one to take is the question!

Have you ever went on a bus tour? If so, where places did you see? 

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