Northern Ireland with my 13 year old grand daughter in July
 

I am going to London for 5 days and flying in and out of Dublin. We will be in Ireland a total of 6 days and I would like to arrive, take the train to Newry and stay in Rostrevor for two days. From there I will take the train to Belfast. Where should I stay in Belfast and is there a local tour group that anyone recommends we take to visit the Giant's Causeway and perhaps stay one night up that way. We will spend the last two days in Dublin before flying out again. Thanks for your help and please keep in mind this is a 13 year old girl travelling with her Nana!

As for accommodations in Belfast, I highly recommend Avenue House on Eglantine Avenue. The owners have a lovely home and they were both very helpful to us. It's a good location in a nice neighborhood near Queens University and the Botanic Gardens. We even walked to the City Center (about 3 km.)

The City Sightseeing Hop on/Hop off tour was very good. Our guide was both informative and entertaining and your granddaughter will enjoy sitting on the upper level of the bus. (It's got the best views, too.)

We did a tour of the Giant's Causeway area on our own, so I can't help with a tour recommendation. But, be sure that the tour includes a stop at Carrick-a-rede Bridge. While Nana may not relish walking across the bridge, I'm sure that Granddaughter will!

Thank you so much I will look into everything you have suggested. I am not sure I really relish doing the driving (have done it before in Ireland and.....)

Would you suggest the hop on and off versus the Black Cab tour?

I think your choice of HOHO bus tour vs. black taxi tour depends on your touring style. If you like intimate tours where there is a lot of conversation/questions between you and the tour guide, then you would probably prefer the black taxi tour. If you prefer a less intimate setting but with great views, then you will like the HOHO bus.

I went back and forth on which to choose before we visited Belfast, but ultimately chose the HOHO tour because I had read too many reports of partisan black taxi drivers. I wanted an unbiased view of Belfast's history and that's exactly what we got with our guide on the HOHO bus.

I think the HOHO bus will be best - I have done the Black Taxi tour and while it was awesome, it was definitely biased!

Any other suggestions about what else to do??