Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [577]
Camus Country House ( 7034 2982; 27 Curragh Rd, Castleroe; s/d £33/60; ) This lovely, ivy-clad, 17th-century house with views over the River Bann occupies the site of an 8th-century monastery, with an old Celtic cross in the adjacent cemetery. The owner can organise fishing trips on the river. It’s on the A54, 5km south of town.
Lodge Hotel & Travelstop ( 7034 4848; www.thelodgehotel.com; Lodge Rd; s/d from £65/85; ) The Lodge offers a choice of rooms with all the mod cons in the main hotel, or slightly more basic rooms in the motel-style annexe (family rooms that sleep two adults and two kids from £63 per room without breakfast). It’s fairly central too – less than 1km southeast of the town centre.
Ground ( 7032 8664; 25 Kings Gate St; mains £2-5; 9am-5.30pm Mon-Sat; ) This cheerful and child-friendly coffee shop serves excellent fairtrade coffee and tasty organic grub, including soups, sandwiches, panini and home-baked cakes, as well as offering organic baby food, bibs, wipes and a baby-changing room.
Getting There & Away
Goldline Express bus 218 links Coleraine to Belfast (£9, 1¾ hours, hourly Monday to Friday, six on Saturday, two on Sunday), while bus 234 goes to Derry (£6, one hour, five daily Monday to Saturday) via Limavady. See also Getting There & Away, Click here.
There are regular trains from Coleraine to Belfast (£9, two hours, seven or eight daily Monday to Saturday, four on Sunday) and Derry (£7.50, 45 minutes, same frequency). A branch line links Coleraine to Portrush (£2, 12 minutes, hourly Monday to Saturday, 10 on Sunday).
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PORTSTEWART
pop 7800
Ever since Victorian times, when English novelist William Thackeray described it as having an ‘air of comfort and neatness’, the seaside and golfing resort of Portstewart has cultivated a sedate, upmarket atmosphere that distinguishes it from populist Portrush, 6km further east. However, there’s also a sizeable student community from the University of Ulster in Coleraine.
The fantastic beach is the main attraction, along with a couple of world-class golf courses – a combination that has created the North’s highest property prices and a large demand for holiday homes. Concerns about overdevelopment were realised when the economic downturn of 2008 hit the North – you’ll see no shortage of half-built houses and For Sale signs.
Orientation & Information
Central Portstewart consists of a west-facing promenade with a harbour at the north end. A coastal walk, paralleled by Strand Rd, runs south for 1.5km to the beach of Portstewart Strand.
The tourist information office ( 7083 2286; Town Hall, The Crescent; 10am-1pm & 2-4.30pm Mon-Sat Jul & Aug) is in the library in the red-brick town hall at the south end of the promenade.
Sights & Activities
The central promenade is dominated by the castellated facade of a Dominican college, looming over the seaside fun and games like a Catholic conscience. The broad, 2.5km beach of Portstewart Strand is a 20-minute walk south of the centre, or a short bus ride along Strand Rd. Parking is allowed on the firm sand, which can accommodate over 1000 cars (open all year round, £5 per car from Easter to October).
Heading in the opposite direction, the Port Path is a 10.5km coastal footpath (part of the Causeway Coast Way) that stretches from Portstewart Strand to White Rocks, 3km east of Portrush.
Portstewart is within a few kilometres of three of Northern Ireland’s top golf courses – the championship links at Portstewart Golf Club (green fees weekday/weekend £80/95), Royal Portrush (£125/140) and Castlerock (£65/80).
In early May the North West 200 motorcycle race (www.northwest200.org) is run on a road circuit taking in Portrush, Portstewart and Coleraine – you can see the starting grid painted on the main road on the eastern edge of town. This classic race – Ireland’s biggest outdoor sporting event – is one of the last to be run on closed public roads anywhere in Europe, and attracts up to 150,000 spectators; if you