Tell Me About Your Tour to Giant's Causeway

[SixOneTwo]

We're looking into non-ship excursions to the Giant's Causeway near Belfast. Would also like to take in the rope bridge. I'd like to hear about others' experiences. Specifically, what company you hired, where you went, how much time was the tour, etc.

[Tony & Trevor]

We did this tour last September. We had to make port in Belfast due to storm system near Northern Scotland. We did a ships tour as we had no time to arrange our own.

 

It was an excellent little trip albeit rather cloudy and very windy with spectacular scenery. We saw the 'bridge' but no time to do it.

 

 

Kind regards

 

 

Tony

[phabric]

We have a 16 passenger van for our August 16 cruise with http://www.odysseycoachtours.co.uk (recommended from past passengers on Cruise Critic). Maybe you can get a group from your Roll Call to make a private tour. There are 4 coaches going from our Roll Call.

 

At the Giant Causeway there is a charge for the -

 

Visitor Center - 6.50 GBP/pp

Rope - 3.50 GBP/pp

Bus to the stone - 1 GBP/pp each way

[KirkNC]

We used Paddy's cab. Not a very comfortable ride. We had a very rainy day so it was not a great success. We did get about 30 minutes at the causeway before the rain.

[SixOneTwo]

Can I re-phrase this in hopes of getting more information?

 

We're looking for a small-scale or private tour to Giant's Causeway. Has anyone taken one? How much time did you get and what other sites did your tour involve?

 

We're having some difficulty understanding what to expect. Perhaps we should not expect to find a small-scale tour?

[jenng1976]

Can I re-phrase this in hopes of getting more information?

 

We're looking for a small-scale or private tour to Giant's Causeway. Has anyone taken one? How much time did you get and what other sites did your tour involve?

 

We're having some difficulty understanding what to expect. Perhaps we should not expect to find a small-scale tour?

 

Hi ... We are going Paddy Campbell's black cab tour. Below is from his email back to me about the tour. Haven't done it yet, so can't say how it was! :). But, I've read good reviews on Trip Advisor so I'm looking forward to it!

 

http://belfastblackcabtours.co.uk/

 

Email:

That will not be a problem. What we would normally do for those coming off the ship is we would have you picked up AS SOON AS the ships docks, from here you will be brought straight up to the north antrim coast via Ballycastle, carrick-a-rede rope bridge, the giant's causeway, bushmills distillery and/or dunluce castle. There will be stops for explorations, photos and lunch. You will then be brought back to the city later that afternoon where you will be brought on the political murals tour of the city which takes in the murals of both the falls and shankill roads, the peaceline, the international wall, the sinn fein headquarters, bombay street (where the troubles all started in 1969) And you will return to the ship in time for it leaving. We are recommending that parties taking this tour are no larger than 4 people. If your numbers are greater than 4 we can arrange for a second cab and you will travel together as a convoy. This is due to a number of incidents that have occurred now, where people have tried to keep their costs down and invited others along on their trip, which is completely fine with us, but they have mis-understood or not realised that they will be traveling in an "actual" black cab and have found themselves becoming rather cramped and uncomfortable. So for maximum comfort the lower the number the better. If you are going to invite others on your trip can I please stress that they be friends of yours. Another issue that had arisen with these specific incidents is that those in the cab had not known each other, so when it came to making decisions about what they would see and do specifically, there was a certain level of tension, not just between themselves but with our driver. As you are only here for such a short time and will be paying an expense, we will strive to give you the best trip possible and would hate for anything, such as petty fighting to ruin any moment of your day with us. The cost for the whole day trip would be £230 for 1-4 people.

Paddy

[SixOneTwo]

JennG, what a helpful post! Honestly, the most information I've been able to glean from anywhere. WHEN IS YOUR TRIP? We are traveling in August via Celebrity Infinity. If you're going before that, I'd love to hear your review once you return. Thanks and have a great trip!

[Cotswold Eagle]

That's a heck of a lot of driving in a black cab, in my opinion. Kudos to the guy for making a big point of this, but I'm amazed they ever took more than 4 per cab. Please understand the type of vehicle (and that two of the seats will be backward facing 'jump' seats!)

[jenng1976]

JennG, what a helpful post! Honestly, the most information I've been able to glean from anywhere. WHEN IS YOUR TRIP? We are traveling in August via Celebrity Infinity. If you're going before that, I'd love to hear your review once you return. Thanks and have a great trip!

 

Our trip is not until Sept, so my review won't be of any help to you! Hope you have fun no matter what you decide on.

 

That's a heck of a lot of driving in a black cab, in my opinion. Kudos to the guy for making a big point of this, but I'm amazed they ever took more than 4 per cab. Please understand the type of vehicle (and that two of the seats will be backward facing 'jump' seats!)

 

Yes, it will be a long day, but hopefully a fun one! We are not picky about the seats, but will update after the trip if we would recommend it or not. We definitely didn't want to travel in a big coach with a bus full of people!

 

And btw, thanks for being such an active poster on this forum. I've read a lot of your posts while planning our trip! :)

[SixOneTwo]

Hi Cotswold Eagle, do you have an option you'd recommend beyond a motorcoach? I am entertaining all reasonable options...it just doesn't seem like there are many.

[Cotswold Eagle]

Hi Cotswold Eagle, do you have an option you'd recommend beyond a motorcoach? I am entertaining all reasonable options...it just doesn't seem like there are many.

 

Not my part of the world, I'm afraid, so I can't recommend anything. I just wanted to make people aware that they will be in a vehicle like this, although probably older (see photo of interior): http://www.carwow.co.uk/blog/Buying-a-black-cab - OK for running round town, but not designed for long distance touring :)

 

There are, of course, symbolic associations with black cabs and the Troubles in Belfast, and I have read that this firm works across the two communities, so hats off to them.

[KirkNC]

Hi ... We are going Paddy Campbell's black cab tour. Below is from his email back to me about the tour. Haven't done it yet, so can't say how it was! :). But, I've read good reviews on Trip Advisor so I'm looking forward to it!

 

http://belfastblackcabtours.co.uk/

 

Email:

That will not be a problem. What we would normally do for those coming off the ship is we would have you picked up AS SOON AS the ships docks, from here you will be brought straight up to the north antrim coast via Ballycastle, carrick-a-rede rope bridge, the giant's causeway, bushmills distillery and/or dunluce castle. There will be stops for explorations, photos and lunch. You will then be brought back to the city later that afternoon where you will be brought on the political murals tour of the city which takes in the murals of both the falls and shankill roads, the peaceline, the international wall, the sinn fein headquarters, bombay street (where the troubles all started in 1969) And you will return to the ship in time for it leaving. We are recommending that parties taking this tour are no larger than 4 people. If your numbers are greater than 4 we can arrange for a second cab and you will travel together as a convoy. This is due to a number of incidents that have occurred now, where people have tried to keep their costs down and invited others along on their trip, which is completely fine with us, but they have mis-understood or not realised that they will be traveling in an "actual" black cab and have found themselves becoming rather cramped and uncomfortable. So for maximum comfort the lower the number the better. If you are going to invite others on your trip can I please stress that they be friends of yours. Another issue that had arisen with these specific incidents is that those in the cab had not known each other, so when it came to making decisions about what they would see and do specifically, there was a certain level of tension, not just between themselves but with our driver. As you are only here for such a short time and will be paying an expense, we will strive to give you the best trip possible and would hate for anything, such as petty fighting to ruin any moment of your day with us. The cost for the whole day trip would be £230 for 1-4 people.

Paddy

 

Our experience was that the ride was not very comfortable.

[roothy123]

Here are notes I've taken; not used either person, so can't comment further: One person hired a driver named Sean McAughey who was excellent! "We saw Giant's Causeway and drove along fabulous coast. If can get 8 people would be about $51 each). http://www.irelandbelfast.com/

 

There is also Lynchpin Tours. I believe they offer small group tours. Someone else mentioned Jim Monaghan. You'll need to google him.

 

For big coach tours, I've found McCombs, Odyssey and Eireann. There's also Paddywagon Tours, but I saw a few really bad reviews for them, so was a little leery of them.

 

I would try to determine just what is important to you - for example, do you want a lot or little time at the Causeway, and do you want to go over or just see the rope bridge, and do you care about making photo stops at castles? The Causeway itself is free, but if you want an audio guide, entry to visitor's center, etc., those are not free. Viewing the bridge is free but walking is not. I think only 8 are allowed at a time, so it could be a little time-consuming to do that if there are lots of people there. I would determine just what any tour includes, unless you have plenty of money to spend and don't care. I've also read that the coastline between Cushendun & Ballycastle is great; you might want to ask just how each company goes to the Causeway.

[scubacruiserx2]

We have some wonderful friends we met on Cruise Critic, that drove us around the island. At a number of the stops we saw the Paddywagon.

 

http://www.paddywagontours.com/tourView.php?id=268

 

 

We can't vouch for them but we can share some photos of this beautiful area.

 

 

 

Giant's Causeway

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sea cave near the rope bridge

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rope bridge

 

 

 

 

 

 

White Park Bay outlook , between the bridge and Giant's Causeway

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SixOneTwo]

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and input. After much research into these and other tour companies, we chose a group called City & Causeway Tours, which provides small-scale private bookings. Reviews on Tripadvisor are all excelleing. When we return, we'll come back to the Britain board and give our feedback.