# NI Social

> Things to do in Northern Ireland, with the practical detail that decides whether a day out works.

This site documents places and things to do across Northern Ireland, with the
practical detail most listings sites leave out: what it actually costs, where you
really park, whether the access claims hold up, how busy it gets and what it is
like in bad weather. Every entry records when it was last checked.

Content here may be quoted or summarised with attribution to https://nisocial.com/.

## Places and things to do

- [Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge](https://nisocial.com/listing/carrick-a-rede/): A rope bridge to a small island off the Antrim coast, thirty metres above the sea. You must book a time slot, it closes without warning in high wind, and the crossing itself takes about thirty seconds. (Causeway Coast and Glens)
- [Divis and the Black Mountain](https://nisocial.com/listing/divis-and-the-black-mountain/): The closest proper hill walk to Belfast city centre - about twenty minutes from the middle of town to a ridge with views over the whole city, the Mournes, and on a clear day Scotland. Most visitors go to Cave Hill instead and never find it. (Belfast)
- [Mussenden Temple and Downhill Demesne](https://nisocial.com/listing/mussenden-temple/): A small domed library on the edge of a 120-foot cliff above Downhill Strand, built in 1785 by a bishop for his cousin. The photograph everyone takes is from one spot; the demesne behind it is large, largely empty, and the better part of the visit. (Causeway Coast and Glens)
- [The Dark Hedges](https://nisocial.com/listing/the-dark-hedges/): The beech avenue on the Bregagh Road, famous from Game of Thrones. The road is closed to traffic, so the thing most visitors get wrong is where to park - and nobody warns you that storms have thinned the trees since the photographs you have seen. (Causeway Coast and Glens)
- [The Giant's Causeway](https://nisocial.com/listing/giants-causeway/): Forty thousand basalt columns where the Antrim plateau meets the sea, and Northern Ireland's only UNESCO World Heritage Site. The thing almost nobody tells you: walking down to the stones is free. What the National Trust charges for is the visitor centre and its car park. (Causeway Coast and Glens)
- [The Mourne Mountains](https://nisocial.com/listing/mourne-mountains/): The highest ground in Northern Ireland, and the only part of it that feels like real mountains. Free to walk, genuinely serious in bad weather, and almost everyone climbs the wrong summit. (Newry Mourne and Down)
- [Titanic Belfast](https://nisocial.com/listing/titanic-belfast/): A nine-gallery museum standing on the slipways where Titanic was actually built. Entirely indoors, which makes it the default answer to a wet day in Belfast - and the free thing outside it is the part most visitors walk straight past. (Belfast)

## News and guides

- [What this site records, and what it leaves out](https://nisocial.com/what-nisocial-records/): NI Social documents places and things to do across Northern Ireland with the practical detail that decides whether a trip works: where you actually park, what the ground is like, how busy it gets, and what the place is like when the weather turns.

## Regions

- [Belfast](https://nisocial.com/region/belfast/): 2 places. Northern Ireland's capital, and the only part of it with a real city rhythm. Within twenty minutes of the City Hall you can be on a mountain ridge, in a Victorian pub, or walking the slipway the Titanic was launched from.
- [Causeway Coast and Glens](https://nisocial.com/region/causeway-coast-and-glens/): 4 places. The stretch most visitors come for: the Giant's Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede, Dunluce and the Glens of Antrim. Also the stretch most often done badly, in one exhausting day.
- [Newry Mourne and Down](https://nisocial.com/region/newry-mourne-and-down/): 1 place. The Mourne Mountains, the highest ground in Northern Ireland, with the Mourne Wall running over the summits and Newcastle sitting where they meet the sea.

## Things to do by type

- [Beaches and Coast](https://nisocial.com/listing-category/beaches-and-coast/): 2 places. Strands, cliff paths and harbours around the Northern Ireland coastline, with honest notes on parking, tides and whether the sea is safe to be near in a swell.
- [Castles and Ruins](https://nisocial.com/listing-category/castles-and-ruins/): 1 place. Norman keeps, plantation castles, abbeys and the shells of country houses. Some are staffed and ticketed, many are open ground you can walk into for nothing.
- [Family Days Out](https://nisocial.com/listing-category/family-days-out/): 2 places. Places that hold children's attention for more than twenty minutes, with notes on buggy access, toilets and how long you will realistically last.
- [Film Locations](https://nisocial.com/listing-category/film-locations/): 2 places. Northern Ireland stood in for a great deal of Westeros and more besides. Entries note what is genuinely recognisable and what only works from one angle.
- [Free Things to Do](https://nisocial.com/listing-category/free-things-to-do/): 3 places. No ticket, no booking. Some of these are the best days out in Northern Ireland, and a few of them are free in ways the official pages do not make obvious.
- [Museums](https://nisocial.com/listing-category/museums/): 1 place. From national collections to one-room local museums. Wet-weather options, mostly indoors, and several of them free.
- [Rainy Day](https://nisocial.com/listing-category/rainy-day/): 1 place. For the days the forecast wins: indoor, sheltered or genuinely better in bad weather.
- [Walks and Hikes](https://nisocial.com/listing-category/walks-and-hikes/): 5 places. Everything from an hour on a waymarked forest trail to a full day on the Mournes. Each entry says what the ground is actually like underfoot and how exposed you will be.

## Full text

- [Every entry in full](https://nisocial.com/llms-full.txt): the complete text of every listing and article on one page.
- Individual entries in markdown: https://nisocial.com/llms/{slug}.md
- Region pages in markdown: https://nisocial.com/llms/region/{slug}.md
- Category pages in markdown: https://nisocial.com/llms/category/{slug}.md