Overview
Cave Hill rises 368m (1,207 ft) over the northern suburbs of Belfast, and its basalt cliffs are one of the most recognisable things on the city skyline – visible from the harbour, the city centre and, on a clear day, the distant Mourne Mountains. The pull is Napoleon’s Nose, the outcrop at the cliff edge that looks in profile like the emperor’s face, and the Iron Age fort behind it. Entry is free, the park opens daily from 7.30am, and it has held the Green Flag Award every year from 2009 to 2022.
If you only do one walk, make it the climb to McArt’s Fort for the view over Belfast Lough. One honest caveat: the summit trails are steep, rocky and exposed, and cattle graze the open ground, so this is not the gentle city stroll the castle gardens below it suggest.
History and geology
The hill isn’t limestone, despite what you’ll sometimes read – it’s basalt, built up by Paleocene lava flows around 65 million years ago as part of the great Antrim Plateau, the same volcanic episode that produced the Giant’s Causeway. The cliffs and the caves that give the hill its name are all in that basalt.
There are five caves on the main cliffs, four of them visible from below; they’re man-made rather than natural, and were probably early iron mines. Beside them sits the Devil’s Punchbowl, a natural hollow once used to corral cattle. The hill was known long before Belfast was, as Ben Madigan – Beann Mhadagáin, ‘Madagán’s peak’, after a king of Ulster who died in 856 – and also as Collinward Mountain.
The most striking structure is McArt’s Fort, an Iron Age promontory fort perched at 368m and named after Brian MacArt O’Neill, a chieftain of the O’Neills. It’s a ringfort defended on the landward side by a single ditch, ten feet deep and twenty-five wide. This is where, in 1795, Theobald Wolfe Tone and Henry Joy McCracken and the other United Irishmen met to swear they would not rest until Ireland was independent – the meeting that set the 1798 rebellion in train. McCracken was captured on the hill in 1798. The hill’s sleeping-giant silhouette is also said to have suggested the recumbent giant of Gulliver’s Travels to Jonathan Swift.
Belfast Castle sits on the lower slopes, built in the late 1860s in Scottish baronial style for the 3rd Marquess of Donegall to a design by the Belfast firm of Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon. The Earl of Shaftesbury gave it to the city in 1934, which is why the grounds and the hill above are open to all. The gardens are worth a wander for the topiary cats worked into the beds.
What to see and do
- Napoleon’s Nose – The basalt outcrop at the cliff top, best reached on the Cavehill Trail. The view runs the length of Belfast Lough and out to the Antrim coast.
- McArt’s Fort – The Iron Age fort at the summit, and the single best vantage point in the park.
- Belfast Castle Estate – Free to enter, with lawns, a café and restaurant, and the topiary cat garden. The castle interior hosts exhibitions and events, and there’s a German bomb crater from the Belfast Blitz still visible in the grounds.
- The playground – A play area near the castle, handy if you’re bringing children who won’t manage the summit.
Walking the trails
There are three waymarked routes. The Cavehill Trail (4.5 mi / 7.2 km, 256m of ascent, graded strenuous) is the one that takes in McArt’s Fort and the clifftop, and it’s the reason most people come. The Estate Trail (2.4 mi / 3.9 km, 134m ascent, moderate) is a middle option through the woodland and lower slopes, and the Castle Trail (0.8 mi / 1.3 km, easy) is a short loop around the castle grounds for anyone not wanting the climb.
Signage is clear, but the ground shifts fast from smooth gravel to bare rock and soft peat, and the upper sections are genuinely steep. Sturdy footwear matters after rain, and poles help near McArt’s Fort. Cattle graze the open hill for habitat management: keep dogs on a short lead, but if cattle come towards you, let the dog off – it’s the standard advice, and it works.
Practical information
- Location: Antrim Road, north Belfast, County Antrim, BT15 5GR.
- Opening hours: Parks open daily from 7.30am; closing times vary seasonally, roughly 10pm in summer down to 4.30pm in winter. No booking required.
- Admission: Free.
- Entrances and parking: Free parking at Belfast Castle and Belfast Zoo (both off the Antrim Road); more limited parking at Carr’s Glen (Ballysillan Road) and Upper Hightown Road, plus a pedestrian entrance at Upper Cavehill Road.
- Facilities: Visitor centre, café and restaurant at Belfast Castle, toilets and a playground.
- Public transport: Metro routes in the 1-series (1A–1H, Monday to Saturday) run from the city centre to Belfast Castle; routes 12 and 61 serve Carr’s Glen. York Street station is about ten minutes by taxi.
- Accessibility: The visitor centre, café and lower garden paths are wheelchair accessible. The upper hill trails are steep and uneven, and not suitable for wheelchairs or pushchairs.
- What to bring: Walking shoes, a layer for the wind, water and a camera. Hill weather turns quickly even when the city below is dry.
Cave Hill works as a half-day out, easy to fold into a Belfast visit or a longer loop through the wider Belfast Hills. Come before midday at weekends for parking at the castle, and do the full climb to McArt’s Fort if the legs and weather allow – the view is the whole point.