We will be docked in Belfast from 0800-2200 on Saturday 13 September. I am looking at the possibility of renting a car (there are 3 adults in party) and driving to Giant's Causeway. Other posts have mentioned visiting the Bushmill distillery and a few other sites. That sounds like a good idea. Questions:

1. Do we have time to do this trip without stressing too much?
2. How long are we likely to spend at the Giant's Causeway itself? MapQuest says it's about 1:45 trip up via the coastal route and 1:10 back on the more direct route.
3. Big crowds?
4. Any other tips for this trip/route?
5. Is this still doable if I add the constraint of being back in Belfast by 1700? 1800? I'm cheap and am thinking of getting back in time for our "no additional charge" dinner on the ship.

My wife is good at driving on the left side of the road and we will have just spent two weeks in England and Scotland prior to our cruise.

Thanks for your assistance and recommendations,
Greg

Greg - We did a 12 day land tour last year of Ireland and spent quite a bit of time in beautiful Northern Ireland. I'm not sure of the driving times, but the Giant's Causeway is a major attraction. We were there in late May and it was very crowded due to all the cruise ship excursions. Unless you want to take a lengthy uphill/downhill walk of the road, you will need to take the shuttle from the visitor's center - we experienced long lines, especially on the return drive. Giant's Causeway is basically a lot of unique rock formations. We also went to nearby Bushmill's but didn't do the distillery tour. We also took the short drive to Dan Luce Castle (ruins) which was beautiful. We felt the North Antrim Coastline was absolutely gorgeous and any chance you can see it would be really worth it (IMHO). As an alternative you may consider to a little research and go to Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge. I believe the most direct route is about 1- 1/2 hrs from Belfast. It is a 66 ft long, 98 ft. high rope bridge connecting to a tiny island. For 350 years, the fisherman used it to haul their salmon catch. The scenery is stunning, far less crowds and was one of the highlights of our trip. We also very much enjoyed our Black Cab tour of Belfast (you can probably book this on your own at a much reduced price), the tour really gives you a lot of prospective of the Catholic vs Protestant struggles, which still goes on today. All in all for us, we were glad we saw the Giant's Causeway, but was not in our top 10 of Ireland (mainly due to the crowds) and we are not that into rocks. Whatever you decide, I'm sure it will be well worth your time.

We rook a private tour from the ship a few years ago - in one day we had a brief tour in Belfast, then drove to the Antrim coast, the rope bridge and the Giants Causeway with a few other stops.

If you are not sailing until 10 PM, you have plenty of time to do this, and even get back for dinner - our tour was probably something like 9 AM to 5 PM.

Here's a description of the day from my blog:

Northern Ireland

Leslie,
Great Blog! Any chance you can share who you used to set up the tour, please?

Thanks,
Greg

I will see if I have anything in my notes, but I think Andi was the one who found him. I'll email her to check.

Greg, we have come up blank - all we know is that his name was Norman...

Any chance it was ToursbyLocals?