Hi,
I am delighted to know you will be visiting the Causeway Coast in the summer of 2025 - it is wise to plan ahead.
No advance booking is required to visit either Dunluce Castle or the Dark Hedges. The castle ruins can be seen as you travel the scenic Causeway Coastal Route, but to explore them properly, you need to purchase a ticket. At the Dark Hedges you pay for carparking – there is no space to park along small country roads – but it is free to walk up the Bregagh Road where the Dark Hedges are. Please note Bregagh Road is closed to normal vehicles.
Pre-booking a ticket online is necessary to cross Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge in order for the National Trust to manage numbers of people on the bridge and on the island at any one time. This is a matter of safety as well as making it more pleasurable for visitors. You explore the area on your own and at your own rate; there are no guided tours.
At the Giant’s Causeway the price of the Visitor Experience ticket includes either being led to The Stones by one of the National Trust’s story-telling guides who will then leave you to explore the site at your own pace, or you being completely independent with an audio-guide. This ticket also includes car-parking at the Causeway and access to the Visitor Centre with its interactive displays, lovely gift shop and small café. Favourable rates for this ticket come with pre-booking online and choosing to come before 11am or after 3pm.
As the Causeway Coast Way runs through the Giant’s Causeway site, this coastal path is free and accessible to walkers all the time. Those with a car will need to pay for parking nearby or else use Translink’s Rambler Bus between Coleraine and Ballycastle (Service 402). This normal public bus serves local people and visitors alike and there is a stop in Bushmills.
A great option to consider is to purchase a green ticket from Bushmills Visitor Information Centre, which combines bus transport to the Causeway with all the benefits of the Visitor Centre at a reduced rate. After all, this is arguably the most important tourist attraction in Northern Ireland and its only UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s worth exploring it properly!
Hope you have a great time!
Mary