Larne Voyage Tips and guide

Larne is a port in County Antrim in Northern Ireland, with a population in 2021 of 19,000. Most visitors are just passing through on the ferry from Scotland, and all they will see is drab industrial docklands, yet the town has a surprising collection of sights right on its doorstep. Just south is Islandmagee, where The Gobbins is Ulster's answer to the Italian via ferrata. All around are glens where streams roar out of the Antrim hills over waterfalls and cascades. The best known are to the north, the nine Antrim Glens; those closest are described on this page. Take the time to explore them and don't just hurry down the well-worn track to Giant's Causeway.

Latharna means "the descendants of Lathar", a pre-Christian dynasty who may have been real or just legend. Flints found in this area date to 6000 BC, the Middle Stone Age, among the earliest traces of human settlement in Ireland. Later came Celts, Vikings, Normans, Tudors - and absolutely none of this can be seen in the grubby industrial town that Larne has become. Until the 19th century it was one of many small ports lining Belfast Lough. Then the Victorians, especially James Chaine, built up the port facilities and trade links to Scotland which remain its chief livelihood. The six counties of Northern Ireland are no longer units of government and since 2015 Larne has been part of Mid and East Antrim Council area.

The visitor information point is within the Post Office at 96b Main Street. It's open M-F 9AM-5PM, Sa 10AM-4PM, Su 11AM-3PM.

54°51′0″N 5°48′36″W

Map of Larne

P & O Ferries sail 6 times a day from Cairnryan near Stranraer in Scotland, taking two hours to Larne.

Trains run every two hours from Belfast Grand Central, taking an hour via Carrickfergus. They come first into 54.8501-5.81391 Larne Town south of the centre, then terminate at 54.8482-5.79952 Larne Harbour.

Goldline Bus 256 runs hourly from Belfast Laganside, taking an hour to Larne.

Ulsterbus 130 runs four times M-Sa from Ballymena, taking 45 min to Larne.

54.8486-5.82043 Larne bus station and P&R is south side of town by the A8 junction.

By road the direct route from Belfast is M2 onto A8. The coastal route is A2 through Carrickfergus.

Bus 162 runs north along the coast to Ballygalley, Glenarm and Carnlough, with four M-Sa.

Bus 170b runs thrice M-Sa south along the lough shore to Glynn, Glenoe (for waterfall), Duff's Corner and Ballycarry - the turnoff from main road is a mile west of The Gobbins.

The trains to Belfast stop at Glynn, Magheramorne, Ballycarry (for The Gobbins), Whitehead and three stations in Carrickfergus.

Taxi firms include AA (+44 28 2827 7888) and AB Cabs (+44 28 2827 3739).

The ferry across Larne harbour to Ballylumford on Islandmagee has been suspended since 2013 as the pier there has collapsed, so it's a bit of a drive round the lough to reach the peninsula.

• 54.8532-5.79841 Chaine Memorial, 28 m tall, is a replica of an Irish Round Tower, a slim stone pencil with a conical top. It was completed in 1888 as a memorial to James Chaine (1841-1885), the shipping entrepreneur who established the modern port of Larne, and fostered its railway connections and trade link with Scotland. He was MP from 1874 until his early death. The Tower informally served as a day-mark, and in 1899 it was adopted as a lighthouse and fitted with a light, to help shipping steer clear of Hunter's Rock. (Five miles out in Belfast Lough, this rock is 4 m clear at low tide but submerged at high tide; it's marked with a buoy, but in 1878 the State of Louisiana was wrecked when the buoy became dislodged. The wreck is now a popular dive site, in 15-25 m depth.) Chaine himself was buried (and later joined by his family) in a fenced mound at the north end of the town park: the mound is so he could be buried upright facing the sea.
• 54.8428-5.80082 Olderfleet Castle is the ruin of a tower-house built in 1612. There are no signs that it was a dwelling place, so it may have been simply a fortified warehouse and watchtower.
• 54.853503-5.8168363 Larne Museum and Arts Centre, 2 Victoria Rd BT40 1RN, ☏ +44 28 2826 2443. M-F 10AM-4PM. Housed in the former library, opened in 1906 with funding from Andrew Carnegie - that library has moved 100 yards along the street. The museum displays the agricultural, industrial, military and maritime history of the area, while the John Clifford Gallery has rotating exhibitions. Free.  (updated Jan 2026)
• 54.8908-5.84664 Carnfunnock Country Park, Coast Rd BT40 2QZ, ☏ +44 28 2826 2471. Closed for redevelopment.  (updated Jan 2026)
• Killyglen Fort is just a double mound seen from Ballymullock Rd.

• 54.8-5.8325 Gleno Waterfalls (pictured at head of this page) are in a deep wooded gorge. The land is owned by the National Trust: it's free to stroll but you pay for the car park. The village itself is picturesque.
• 54.77-5.756 Templecorran Church in Ballycarry village is a ruined medieval church. Its graveyard holds many of the first Scots Ulster plantation settlers.
• 54.752-5.7097 Whitehead is a village at the entrance to Belfast Lough that developed as a seaside resort in the 1890s. Not much has happened here since so it retains its period atmosphere, and it's an access point for The Gobbins and Islandmagee. Whitehead or Chichester Castle is a turret from 1603 by the railway station. Old Castle Road is closed to traffic and you walk along it to Blackhead Lighthouse.
• Whitehead Railway Museum, Castleview Road, Whitehead BT38 9NA (quarter mile north of Whitehead railway station), ☏ +44 28 9358 6200, [email protected]. Th-Sa 10AM-4PM. Museum and depot of the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland. Seldom any train rides, but plenty of locos in the sheds and workshops, as well as a replica signal box. Adult £9, child £6. (updated Jan 2026)
• 54.7811-5.70838 The Gobbins, Middle Rd, Islandmagee BT40 3SL (Train to Ballycarry), ☏ +44 28 9337 2318. Closed. These are a line of basalt sea-cliffs, traversed by a remarkable metal walkway built in 1902. It was the best of several embellishments by railway engineer Berkeley Deane Wise to boost Whitehead as a holiday destination. Early visitors paid 6d to follow it across chasms, caves, tunnels and a sea-stack. It has suffered repeated storm damage and landslip, and is closed in the 2020s. Access is by guided walk in hard hat from the Visitor Centre, from where you're led down a lane to the coast and on to the walkway. It's 5 km there and back, not suitable for anyone with impaired mobility, young children or dogs.  (updated Jan 2026)
• 54.83-5.739 Islandmagee is the peninsula enclosing Larne Lough; the south end of the lough is a wetland Ramsar site. The islet of Portmuck off its east coast is also a nature reserve. In medieval times the peninsula was the petty kingdom of Semne within the Ulster kingdom of Uliad, from which derives the surname McNulty.
• 54.849-5.78510 Ballymumford alas is what you can't help seeing at the tip of Islandmagee, as a power station looms over the entrance to Larne Lough. Since 1996 the station has been fired by natural gas, which is also piped to Belfast, and the site is the west end of a power cable to Ayrshire which enables electricity to be traded between Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the Republic. No tours. On B90 just south of the power station, Ballylumford Dolmen is probably a grave chamber from 2000 BC, but it's next to a modern bungalow and looks like a misguided garden ornament.

• Ballygally is the first village north of Larne: the castle is now a hotel, see Sleep. It has a sandy beach with a "polar bear" (a prominent white rock) but its most scenic feature is the headland just south, a volcanic plug, which aeons of geological processes have sculpted into a golf course. The similar plug seen further north is Scawt Hill. Along the lane two miles west of the village, Linford Barrows are a puzzling set of structures: earthworks of unknown age and purpose. They don't appear defensive, whereas Knockdhu just south was obviously a hill fort.
• 54.968-5.95111 Glenarm is the village at the start of the nine Glens of Antrim. An elaborate Barbican is the entrance to Glenarm Castle, built from 1636, with an attractive walled garden. The castle is occasionally open for tours, the gardens are open April to Sep daily 10AM-4PM. Further up the valley is Glenarm Forest Park. A mile southeast of the village, the Madman's Window is a natural window onto the sea created by a heap of glacial boulders.
• 54.99-5.9912 Carnlough village stretches along a sandy beach at the foot of Glencloy, the second glen. The railway bridges were for a tramway from quarries to harbour. Harbourview Hotel was established in 1848 by the great-grandmother of Winston Churchill. Cranny Falls are reached half a mile up a lane helpfully called Waterfall Rd.
• Glencloy carries the main road A42, but it's paralleled by the quiet narrow Slane Road, a better option for scenery.
• See Cushendall for the glens further north, and the coast route to Ballycastle, Carrick-a-Rede Bridge and Giant's Causeway.

• Football: Larne FC play in the NIFL (Danske Bank) Premiership, the top tier in Northern Ireland. Their home ground is Inver Park, capacity 2500, along the main road half a mile from the harbour.
• Golf: Larne GC is at Ballylumford on Islandmagee. Grey tees 6150 yards, par 70.
• Dalriada Festival or Dalfest was in July at Glenarm Castle. The 2024 and 2025 events were cancelled and it's not known if it will return in 2026.

• Asda by the harbour is open M-Sa 7AM-10PM, Su 1-6PM.

• Brooklyn Bay Diner is by the harbour on Redlands Rd, open Su-Th 9:30-AM-9PM, F-Sa 9:30AM-10PM.
• Mayur at 1 Redlands Rd is open daily 4:30-9:30PM.
• New Lotus Flower at 117 Main St is open M, W-F 5-10PM, Sa Su 4-10PM.
• Upper Crust at 40 Main St is open M-Sa 8AM-4PM.

• Olderfleet Bar is by the harbour at 42 Fleet St.
• Station Bar is at 52 Circular Rd.
• Ruby's Bodega is at 13 Point St.
• Chekkers Winebar is at 31 Lower Cross St.

• Curran Court Hotel, 6 Redlands Rd BT40 1FD (by harbour), ☏ +44 28 2827 5505. Clean welcoming place half a mile from ferry pier. B&B double £130. (updated Jan 2026)
• Seaview House, 145 Curran Rd BT40 1BX (by harbour station), ☏ +44 28 2827 2438. Pleasant spacious guesthouse. (updated Jan 2026)
• Harbour Inn, 25 Olderfleet Rd BT40 1AS, ☏ +44 28 2827 2400. Bright welcoming place next to harbour railway station. (updated Jan 2026)
• Curran Caravan Park is by the harbour railway station.
• 54.8525-5.81311 Derrin Guest House, 2 Princes Gardens BT40 1RQ, ☏ +44 28 2827 3269. Smart dog-friendly B&B near harbour and town centre. B&B double £90.  (updated Jan 2026)
• 54.899-5.86172 Ballygally Castle Hotel, Coast Rd, Ballygally BT40 2QZ, ☏ +44 28 2858 1066. "This is luxury you can afford, by Cyril Lord!" but that carpet tycoon (1911-1984) frankly couldn't afford the upkeep, nor could his firm nor even his ghost, one of the few spectres not reputed to haunt these corridors. It's a charming fortified house of 1625 in Scottish baronial style that withstood assault during the rebellion of 1641. It's now a hotel in the Hastings group getting good reviews for comfort, service and ambiance. B&B double £170.  (updated Jan 2026)

As of Jan 2026, Larne and its approach roads have 4G from EE, O2 and (in patches) Three, and 5G from O2.

There is no land-based mobile signal on the ferries. Switch off in case your phone latches onto the ferry Wifi: they'll be delighted to connect you at international rates.

• Carrickfergus has a fine Norman castle, the best preserved in Ireland.
• Cushendall is the route to the northern Antrim Glens, Ballycastle, Carrick-a-Rede and Giant's Causeway.
• Belfast is a fascinating city that needs several days to explore

END ←	W  E	→ Cairnryan
END ←	N  S	→ Newtownabbey → Belfast