Overview
The richest haul of Spanish Armada treasure ever recovered came out of the sea off Portballintrae – but more on that below. The village itself is a small, quiet place on the north Antrim coast, within the Antrim Coast and Glens, home to about 500 people (down from 734 twenty years ago) and sitting two miles west of the Giant’s Causeway and four miles east of Portrush. That location is the point: you can base yourself here, on a horseshoe bay backed by dunes and Runkerry Strand, and reach the big Causeway Coast sights without staying in the middle of the crowds. The name is from the Irish Port Bhaile an Trá, ‘port of the beach settlement’.
History
People have used this shore for a long time. The clearest trace is the Lissanduff Earthworks, two sets of concentric earthen banks lined with clay – a State Care Monument, thought to have held water for some kind of ritual use in prehistory.
By the 1770s the coast was drawing well-off visitors for sea bathing. The Leslie family built Seaport Lodge around 1770 as a bathing house, and its old coach house and stables now hold Sweeney’s wine bar on Seaport Road. A century later Sir Edward Macnaghten built Runkerry House in the 1860s, the large residence above Runkerry Point that’s now divided into private apartments.
The village’s odd claim to fame is the Girona. In 1588 the Armada galleon, crammed with survivors from other wrecks and fleeing home, went down off this coast. Belgian divers, among them the pioneering aquanaut Robert Sténuit, found the wreck between 1967 and 1968 and recovered the richest Armada treasure ever raised – gold and silver, coins, jewellery and navigational instruments. It’s now in the Ulster Museum in Belfast, which is where to go if you want to see it; there’s nothing to view at the village end.
Runkerry Strand and the walks
Runkerry Strand is the main reason to be here: a long stretch of soft sand behind protected dunes, good for a walk, a fly of a kite or birdwatching, with the open Atlantic in front of you. From the car park you can join the Causeway Coast Way, the long-distance cliff path that runs to the Giant’s Causeway and beyond.
The Giant’s Causeway Tramway, a heritage line, runs through the dunes above the beach and connects the Causeway with Bushmills. It operates seasonally, so check the current timetable before you count on it.
Nearby
- Dunluce Castle – a short drive west, the ruined MacDonnell stronghold on a basalt crag above the sea, and one of the most photographed spots on the coast.
- The Giant’s Causeway – two miles east, reachable on foot along the coast path or by the tramway.
- Old Bushmills Distillery – the working whiskey distillery in Bushmills, a couple of miles inland.
Food, drink and staying
The eating is built around Atlantic seafood and pub staples. Sweeney’s, in the old Seaport Lodge coach house, is the characterful spot for a drink, and the Bayview Hotel is the village’s main hotel and restaurant. Beyond those it’s mostly family-run B&Bs and holiday cottages, many within walking distance of the beach – handy, because the village is compact and most of it is a ten-minute walk end to end.
Practical information
Free parking is at the Runkerry Strand car park and near Bushfoot Golf Club, with more at Beach Road; all fill quickly in July and August, so come before 11am or after 4pm. Ulsterbus routes link Portballintrae with Portrush, Coleraine and Belfast, and the nearest mainline railway station is Coleraine. A car makes the Causeway, Dunluce and Bushmills much easier, as connections between them are thin.
The reason to base yourself here rather than in Portrush is simple: you can be standing on the Giant’s Causeway before the first coach parties arrive. Use it.