Walk the clifftops above the Giant's Causeway

A friend has invited you to do this with them.
The National Trust's Red Trail runs along the cliffs above the Causeway's basalt columns, with views out over the North Channel, then drops back down 162 stone steps. It is two miles and takes about an hour and a half, which leaves time to see the columns from the shore.
ModerateUnder £100 / $130An afternoonOutdoorsAlone or with othersNorthern Ireland
How to start
- Read the National Trust's Red Trail page and start from car park 1 by the Causeway Hotel.
- Check the wind forecast before you go, as the cliff edges are unfenced.
- Take the full two-mile loop, or the short trail if time is tight.
Where to go
We opened this link on 27 October 2026 and found it to be what we say. Dates, places and prices are on the official page, where they stay up to date.
Plan this
Pick a day, or a month, and we will set out how to get ready, step by step, with a date and a reason for each. The hard part of a day out is the timing: the right season, tickets and getting there. The plan watches the calendar for you.
Read next
Six pairs of shoes and seven months on the Pacific Crest Trail took Nancy Zelick from Mexico to Canada
How a retired Intel researcher from Baker City, Oregon, walked the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada in about seven months: the snow, the gear, the food and why she thinks pace mattered more than youth. How to start multi-day hiking, or build towards a long trail if you already walk.
Stargazing for beginners: what to see, what to bring and where to look through a telescope
A beginner's guide to stargazing: letting your eyes adapt, the planets you can find without a telescope, why a red torch matters, the honest challenges of cloud and cold, and observatories and astronomy societies near you that will lend you a look through their telescopes.
More like this
Moderate · South West England
Find your own fossil on the Jurassic Coast
Moderate
Walk a geology trail in a UNESCO Global Geopark
Moderate
Go for your first wild swim
Moderate
Stand in the shadow of a total solar eclipse

