Ballintoy

Ballintoy is a small village — around 140 to 200 people depending how you count it — on the Causeway Coastal Route between Ballycastle and the Giant’s Causeway, about 5 miles from Ballycastle. Its name comes from the Irish Baile an Tuaigh, “the northern townland.”

The real draw is Ballintoy Harbour, a short, steep drive down from the village past the white Ballintoy Parish Church on the hill. The first harbour here was built in the 18th century by a trickster known locally as “Graceless” Stewart, to ship cheap coal to Dublin. It was rebuilt a century later for a different trade entirely: sett stones for paving city streets, cut at nearby Brockie Quarry by more than a hundred men at peak production, then hauled to the quayside by rail and shipped out by schooner to Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and across to Scotland.

The harbour has changed little since, which is exactly why HBO chose it for Game of Thrones — it played Lordsport, the port of Pyke, for Theon Greyjoy’s arrival and Drowned God baptism scenes in Season 2.

There’s a small café at the harbour for tea, coffee, and homemade Irish baking, and plenty to explore around the rocks — walk the cliff path, watch the birds and boats, or just sit and take in a genuinely unusual stretch of coastline. Parking is available but fills up in peak summer.