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Photograph the Giant's Causeway

Giant's Causeway, Ireland, United Kingdom

4.4/5
based on 5 reviews

Description

Added by Eric Bennett

Photogenic, Hexagonal Stones. 3 Beautiful Beaches. Awesome Hikes and Views. No Park Entrance Fee!

Alright, so there are 2 different ways to see this place:
1: Paying a lot of money for a tour and hotel
2: My way, sneaking in and camping (DISCLAIMER: This is Not legal, but Not illegal)

From Belfast you will have to take a bus or train to Coleraine and from Coleraine, the bus to Bushmills. Make sure it is the Bushmills bus that goes to the Giant's Causeway and it will drop you off right there.

You will see a hotel and another structure, which is the visitors center. From the 4 way stop, looking toward the visitors center, head right. Walk down the road until you pass a couple of houses and there is a path to your left that goes up a hill and out towards the coast. Go straight up this road between the 2 fences/properties and you will come to the edge of the cliff, looking down on the beach. Head right until you hit some stairs and they will take you down to the beach. Follow the walkway and you will arrive to the stones, easy to find.

Stay at least for one sunset or one sunrise and you will have an amazing time. To get back to Belfast, you can wait for the bus or walk into town just about 2 miles away and there are busses every 40 minutes or so. This is definitely for the risky and adventurous, for those who want a more mellow and safe route, just book a tour.

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Features

Chillin
Photography
Hiking
Beach
Family Friendly
Scenic
Wildlife

Photograph the Giant's Causeway Reviews

The views here, and the rocks, are iconic. An absolute must if you're anywhere nearby. Even after hours the rocks were still crowded making it difficult to get a clear picture. However, the nearby cliffs were entirely vacant and incredibly scenic in their own right. Highly recommend.

This site is one of the most amazing places i have ever seen, the unique geology with the location is incredible. Although it can become extremely crowded with people this is a place you should not pass up. Due to the volume of people getting the perfect photo here might be difficult but its nothing a little photoshop can't fix.

Giants Causeway is seriously a photographers paradise. The hexagonal basalt columns make for great geometric foreground subjects. Because of the causeway's great and unique beauty and its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site, it is also very popular amongst busloads of tourists and landscape photographers alike. There is really enough beauty to go around, but this is not the largest place, so if you want to avoid the crowds, try going for a sunrise or sunset. You can also avoid paying the entrance fee this way, but I think it is good to support the people and organization that keep this place safe and pristine. The winds in this part of Northern Ireland can get very, very high. I experienced gusts north of 60mph while I was there, so that made photography especially tricky, especially with sea mist flying everywhere. The combination of the sea mist and the wind also made the rocks extremely hazardous. An emergency response team was actually on site all day, just waiting to pluck people out of the water if they fell and got dragged out to sea or simply fell and hurt themselves. Apparently, both scenarios are very common. I even fell pretty hard just when I started getting too comfortable on the slippery rocks. Be careful out there, but have fun!

The entry fee is £9 a person and you can pay an additional £1 to take the bus and not have to walk from the visitor center to the causeway itself, making it more accessible for any non-walkers in your group. After exploring the causeway for a while, we opted instead of taking the road and sidewalk back to take the trail that leads up to the top of the cliffs. This escaped a large number of the crowds down at the water and allowed us to enjoy the views from above the cliffs and see down on the causeway. There is a couple switchbacks and then a hundred stairs or so to get to the top but after that it is an easy walk back to the visitor center. While waiting for the bus to take us back to Bushmills we walked over to the little shop next to the visitor center and enjoyed an ice cream cone.

If you aren't as adventurous as Eric the fee to enter is £9 per person. I visited Giant's Causeway while on a self-drive round-the-island road trip and combined it with Carrick-a-rede (15 minutes east) for a perfect day of exploring!

Leave No Trace

Always practice Leave No Trace ethics on your adventures and follow local regulations. Please explore responsibly!

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