Larne

Larne is a port in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The main reason to come is for the ferry link from Scotland, but the town is close to the Antrim Glens. However there's a surprising collection of sights right on the doorstep of town. 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.

Understand
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. Larne, which in 2011 had a population of 18,755, is for most visitors just the drab place you encounter off the ferry and leave behind as smartly as possible. Since 2015 Larne has been part of Mid and East Antrim Council area.

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

Get in
P & O Ferries sail from Cairnryan near Stranraer in Scotland, taking two hours to Larne. There are 6 sailings a day, a car with two adults might be £350 return.

Trains run every two hours from Belfast Great Victoria St and other city stations via Carrickfergus to Larne, taking an hour. They come first into south of the centre, then continue to.

Goldline Bus 256 runs every two hours from Belfast Europa Station and Bridge St, taking an hour to Larne.

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

Larne is south side of town by the A8 junction. By car the direct route from Belfast is M2 onto A8. The coastal route is A2 through Carrickfergus.

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

Bus 170b runs twice 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.

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. Refurbishment was supposed to start in 2020 but nothing's happened.

In town

 * , 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.
 * is just one wall 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.
 * Linn Falls along Killyglen Rd are on private land and inaccessible in 2021. Killyglen Fort is just a double mound seen from Ballymullock Rd.
 * Linn Falls along Killyglen Rd are on private land and inaccessible in 2021. Killyglen Fort is just a double mound seen from Ballymullock Rd.
 * Linn Falls along Killyglen Rd are on private land and inaccessible in 2021. Killyglen Fort is just a double mound seen from Ballymullock Rd.

Further south

 * (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.
 * in Ballycarry village is a ruined medieval church. Its graveyard holds many of the first Scots Ulster plantation settlers.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.

Further north

 * 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 antiquity. They don't appear defensive, while Knockdhu just south was obviously a hill fort.
 * 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. It's open mid-Mar to Sep daily 10AM-4PM, adult £6, child £3. 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.
 * 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. The Londonderry Arms 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.

Do

 * Watch soccer at Larne FC, who 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.
 * Dalriada Festival is in July. The next is at Glenarm Castle on 17-18 July 2021.

Buy

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

Eat

 * There's a cluster of cheap eateries along Main St, with another group by the harbour.
 * There's a cluster of cheap eateries along Main St, with another group by the harbour.

Drink

 * In town centre are La Bodega and Chekkers Winebar.

Connect
As of July 2021, Larne and its approach roads have 4G from all UK carriers, but 5G has not reached this area.

There is no land-based mobile service on the ferries. Switch off in case your phone latches onto the ferry company Wifi; they will be delighted to connect you at international rates.

Go next

 * 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