Did you know you can take a day trip from Ireland to Scotland? 

Tom Breathnach goes Northern Ireland hopping, taking a tour of County Antrim - with a Scottish twist

Rathlin centres around its main Church Bay community and features a hotel, hostel, co-op shop, pub, a pretty vibey yacht scene, and a whole lot of birdlife.

Thinking of dipping your toes outside the land of staycations? Well, did you know you can take a day trip from Ireland to Scotland? Aye, you can. Separated by just 20km from Antrim across the Sea of Moyle, Scotland often feels within touching distance to those visiting the region.

But with a number of operators now offering trips across the Sea of Moyle, I embarked on a weekend along the Causeway Coast with a difference — and headed to Northern Ireland to head even further north.

Following a handy overnight stay in Belfast — and an early morning start scooting up the stunning Causeway Coast — my Antrim adventure began by jogging down the slipway of Ballycastle harbour for my first leg of island-hopping. I was making my long-awaited, first visit to the cultural gem and Northern Ireland’s furthest outpost of Rathlin Island.

Flung 6km off the mainland, but looming large thanks to its dramatic folds of limestone and basalt cliffs, Rathlin can be reached from the mainland in 30 minutes. Perhaps in contrast to many offshore islands in the Republic, it’s also handily served by both passenger and car ferries.

But, not exactly being road-trip territory at just 10km wide, I opted to park up in Ballycastle to enjoy the island at a more pedestrian pace.

Home to a population of 150 (and rising…), Rathlin centres around its main Church Bay community and features a hotel, hostel, co-op shop, pub, a pretty vibey yacht scene — and a whole lot of birdlife. The latter is best viewed at Rathlin’s top attraction: the RSPB centre located on the western fringe of the island.

Taken from the Puffin Bus, Rathlin Island.

And as soon as we touch land at Church Bay, there’s an immediate transfer to check them out. All aboard the ‘puffin bus’ then. Buckled up, we veer up the sheer and pretty spectacular roadways that rise above Rathlin with dramatic views across the mainland improving with every gear grunt. 

Driving along, the lament ‘Rathlin Island’ sung by Frances Black (whose father hailed from here) plays a fitting soundtrack on the bus radio. “An baile i mo chroí,” she sings; Irish was actually spoken by a majority of the island’s people just a century ago. Soon, as we pull up to one of Ireland’s most raucous bird havens, even Frances can’t out-sing the cacophony that’s brewing outside.

This is kittiwake, puffin, and gannet country and the West Light Bird Centre, set in Rathlin’s upside down lighthouse, makes a dramatic spot to few on the cliffs below. Followed with a lazy hike afterwards to Rathlin’s East Lighthouse (there are three lighthouses in all here), I chased my daytrip with a visit to McCuaig’s bar, which proved a great spot to nurse a deoch during an incoming squally cloudburst.

Bushmills Inn was one of Tom's top overnight stays in Ireland.

Back on the mainland that evening, I headed west from Ballycastle to check into the base for my journey, and what would rank as one my top overnight stays in Ireland, the Bushmills Inn. Estimated to have opened as a coach house in — not a typo — 1608, when the neighbouring distillery began operations, this hotel has history and character seeping through its every beam, even its Mill House wing extended so sensitively in 2009. 

I was staying in one of the inn’s classic Mill House rooms, which, with a vaulted ceiling over a cosy lounge, has the plush and proportions of a suite. Dining in the inn’s restaurant, where the building’s original stables have been converted into an incredibly unique dining space which, although pure Ulster, feels like walking into a yesteryear Tyrolean tavern.

The food is fantastic, too and I tuck into excellent dishes from a vegan mozzarella and heirloom tomato salad and delicious grilled salmon served on a bed of champ to a decadent butterscotch sundae to finish. Elsewhere at the inn, you’ll find a cinema, a secret library, and remarkably, a flag room, which stores every flag of the world to honour guests that stay (and which explains that Swiss flag hoisted outside).

The Bushmills Inn's historic bar.

Later that evening, I find the ultimate nook in the inn’s historic bar, still lit by gas lamps to this day, where I enjoy a peaty Bushmills (I’m so basic) next to an inglenook turf fire before turning in for the night. There was another adventure tomorrow.

That adventure is of course the USP to this visit to Antrim: namely a day trip from the county to the Inner Hebrides. In recent summers, a number of outfitters have begun offering popular tourism services from Ballycastle to Campbeltown on the Mull of Kintyre. 

However, to continue my island theme, I was off to Islay, located just 20km north of Rathlin. Lesser known than the likes of Skye, Mull or Iona, the Isle of Islay (pronounced ‘eye-la’) is actually one of Scotland’s largest islands spanning a rugged, if not overly dramatic, expanse four times larger than Ireland’s largest island, Achill.

Ballycastle-based company Aquaholics (who also offer a range of Antrim coastal trips) were taking me there. I paid £90 for the novelty. This may sound pricey for a day-trip, but there are options to also stay over and explore the island further, and hey, I figured I’d need a fuller calendar — and sporran — to get there via Glasgow or Edinburgh.

Perfect pairings

Carraig Fhada lighthouse near Port Ellen, Isle of Islay.

An 8am start and we’re soon out on the choppy Sea of Moyle, my weekend copy of the Irish Examiner,picked up in Ballycastle, would have to wait until Scotland. Soon Islay appears beyond Rathlin and to make the most iconic of Scottish arrivals we’re mooring at Ardbeg, one of no less than nine Scotch distilleries which pepper the island’s shores. 

Disembarking our vessel, and now on Scottish turf, I gather my bearings by wandering through the distillery’s warehouse grounds, the pairing of salty sea air and whiskey kegs offering the perfect perfume pairing.

Tastings are already on at the distillery, but a little before my comfort zone at 10am, so I make my way towards the village of Port Ellen, from where I’ll be picked up on our boat later.

To get there, the island features a scenic marked distillery trail — a pretty impressive and separate winding greenway that runs parallel to Islay’s sleepy southern roadway. And so off I meander, alongside stonewalled pastures of grazing sheep, rugged hills scoring the backdrop, as blooms of fuchsia, rowan and loganberries blot my wayside ditches. It’s the first time I’ve been outside Ireland in about 20 months but, with a definite hint of Beara to the landscape, it still feels a lot like home.

After passing a couple more distilleries en route, I wind down to Port Ellen, a white-washed village of about 500 souls. Fàilte (note the fada) marks the sign on the local Co-op as I wander by; Scots Gaelic is still spoken on Islay, and, in fact, this entire region from the Highlands to North Antrim was once the ancient kingdom of Dal Ríáda — so you certainly sense the cultural continuity of the region. 

The Islay Hotel is a welcome refuge in Port Ellen where I enjoy a fine plate of gluten-free haddock and chips before I traverse some turquoise coves to hike out to Carraig Fhada lighthouse. It caps a great few hours on the island and a fun addition to my Antrim itinerary.

With my boat leaving Port Ellen at 4pm, it was a pretty neat feeling to have been able to enjoy lunch on the Hebrides and still be back in Antrim for teatime. For that last supper, I dined at the French Rooms, another stellar restaurant in Bushmills that offers wonderful seafood, steaks, and regional French dishes so expect things to be made with amour and garnished with lavender. Hautemente recommandé, as they say.

The sunset at Dunluce Castle, Co Antrim.

Post dessert, there was just enough time for a sunset swansong. What makes North Antrim so impressive is its concentration of epic sites, from Dunluce Castle and Torr Head, to Ballintoy Harbour and the Mussenden Temple. Sure, there’s the Game of Thrones buzz here — but this part of the island doesn’t need any Netflix hype. 

Driving along the road from Ballycastle to Bushmills, a crest on the road literally takes my breath away. There’s Rathlin Island to the north and in the far distance, Islay. I finally wind down to the Giant’s Causeway before the sun dips, gilding the most epic Northern Ireland getaway. With just a twist of Scotch.

For more on coastal trips around Antrim see aquaholics.co.uk or kintyreexpress.com; crossing to Scotland last from just 45mins one way. B&B rates at the Bushmills Inn start from a great value €230 per night. 

• Tom stayed in Antrim as a guest of Discover Northern Ireland (excluding his leg to Islay). For more, see discovernorthernireland.com.