Breakaway Destination Guides (International)

Clochán na bhFómharach is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, and a National Nature Reserve in 1987 by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland.

The only World Heritage site in Northern Ireland

Explore the caves by foot or by boat

Bruce's Cave on Rathin Island

Causeway Visitor Centre, Portcoon Cave, Runkerry Cave, Old Bushmill's Whiskey Distillery

By car from Derry of Belfast

It is thought that the Giant's Causeway was formed some 60million years ago. As a result of a series of underground volcanic eruptions a vast amount of molten basalt was pushed up to the surface. As it cooled, the basalt shrank and cracked into the 37,000 largely hexagonal columns that are found today, extending from the cliffs right into the sea. It is such a weird and wonderful place that it is the stuff of many legend. The most common of which tells of the giant warrior, Finn Mac Cool, who laid the causeway across the sea to the Isle of Staffa in Scotland where his lover lived. Today it is the only UNESCO World Heritage site in Northern Ireland and attracts a great many visitors.

The Causeway coast is a fascinating area in its own right with spectacular caves to be visited, some by boat and some by foot, ruined castles and lovely sandy bays. The thirteenth-century Dunluce Castle is perched on the rock that is connected to the mainland by a bridge that spans a yawning chasm down to the sea. Dunseverick Castle is an even earlier fortification lying to the east of the Giant's Causeway and further east still you can find the sixteenth-century Kinbane Castle.

Rathlin Island lies five miles off Bally castle and can be reached daily by boat in the summer. The main interest on the island is Bruce's Cave, where in 1306, Robert Bruce, King of Scotland was inspired by a spider to win back his kingdom.

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