The Causeway Coast: Northern Ireland's legendary landscape

Ireland may be relatively small, but its dramatic coasts, country roads, and historic cities have visitors wishing for more time. To help maximize your trip, we consulted local experts, ranging from food writers to photographers, librarians, and tour guides, for their best bets.

Landscapes as green and lovely as everyone says. Literary giants in Dublin; Titanic history in Belfast. A pint and good craic in a traditional pub. The lure of Celtic legends.

Strapped to a dramatic stretches of coastline, Northern Ireland’s Causeway Coastal Route is a wind-battered swirl of churning seas, shattered cliffs, expansive grasslands and long-abandoned castles. Follow it in any direction, and you’ll soon come to appreciate how this landscape became so closely associated with tales of warriors and giants. Home to many of the country’s most iconic and spectacular sites, including the jagged outcrop of basalt known as the Giant’s Causeway, this endlessly surprising route offers drivers more majesty per mile than almost anywhere else in Europe.

Why is the Essex coast so underrated? Close to London, and arguably as pretty as any other, is it because there’s something unchanging about it – perhaps even conventional? And yet stepping off the train at Shoeburyness – the last stop on the capital to coast railway from Fenchurch Street – feels gently discombobulating.

Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.

Although the United Kingdom is one of the closest European destinations to the United States, it’s been out of reach for many Americans for a long time, due to the unfavorable pound to dollar exchange rate.

Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.

May is here, which means Memorial Day–the unofficial start to summer–is just around the corner. Memorial Day isn’t the biggest travel holiday of the year, with many people choosing quick, local getaways (read: driving, instead of flying).

If there’s one adage that sums up Dublin, it’s “big things come in small packages.” The Irish capital covers less than 45 square miles on either side of the River Liffey, but it’s brimming with enough landmarks, history, and character to fill a much larger city. From Irish literary greats such as James Joyce and Oscar Wilde to musical legends such as Bono, Dubliners have had an indelible impact on world culture, and the city promises to do the same for travelers.

It may be hard to believe, but there’s a place in England where the sand is fine and white, the sea is turquoise blue, and the sun shines more than just about anywhere else in the country. In this dream-like place, you can surf, you can sunbathe (and even get a tan), you can hike coastal paths, valleys, and moors, and you can stuff you face with cream teas and pasties. You guess it, Cornwall, England, is a must-see when in Britain. Lucky for you, it’s only a direct train ride away from London.

Repeated heatwaves and growing fears about the climate crisis may spell the beginning of the end for the Mediterranean as a holiday destination, according to a report published by the European Travel Commission.

From the historic chateaux of the Loire valley to the sunshine glamour of the French Riviera, and the quaint villages of Brittany, a holiday to France never fails to delight, offering something there for everyone.