Little River Glamping

If it’s first stop the beach with the kids, your biggest problem is likely to be which one to choose. Ballycastle Beach (15 minutes’ drive) is the closest, with a promenade, pier and safe swimming (lifeguards are on duty in summer), while Portrush (half an hour) is the best for surfing. For sheer size, Benone Strand (40 minutes) is hard to beat, while Portstewart (half an hour) is the spot for bracing walks backed by cliffs. On the Causeway Coastal Route (20 minutes) and flanked by the Atlantic Ocean, the spectacular Giant’s Causeway (25 minutes) is a promontory of basalt rock columns criss-crossed by hiking trails. Location of several film scenes, it shares its fame with the Dark Hedges (10 minutes), a 18th-century avenue of beech trees that featured in ‘Game of Thrones’. Other local landmarks include the rope bridge suspended 100 feet in the air between the mainland and Carrick-a-Rede Island (25 minutes). You’ll need a head for heights crossing that, and again at Fair Head (half an hour), a soaring cliff with views to Rathlin Island (make the 20-minute ferry trip from Ballycastle) and Murlough Bay (35 minutes).