Starting points · Derry
Starting in Derry? You're 30 minutes from the northern terminus.
City of Derry Airport, trains from Belfast, road from anywhere
Derry — Londonderry on the maps, Derry to most who live there — is the closest city to the Wild Atlantic Way's northern end. City of Derry Airport gets a handful of UK flights; most arrivals come by car or train. From the city walls you can be on the WAW in half an hour, walking Inishowen's empty beaches the same afternoon. This is the gateway for travellers doing the route north-to-south, or anyone who wants Donegal first and the rest later.
The drive
30 minutes to Inishowen. 1 hour to Malin Head.
Route: A2 across the Foyle bridge, then the R238 around the peninsula.
Walk the city walls in the morning, cross the border at Muff, and you're on the WAW by lunch. Sleep at Malin Head or Ballyliffin night one — staying on Inishowen is the whole point.
Sleep here night one
Fanad & Inishowen
Half an hour from the city. The Inishowen 100 is one of the great loop drives — Grianán of Aileach, Five Finger Strand, the Star Wars beach at Malin. Sleep here, spend a full day.
Open the Fanad & Inishowen guide
Then where
The next 48 hours
Malin Head
Ireland's most northerly point and the WAW's northern terminus. An hour from Derry. Banba's Crown, the EIRE sign, the dolphins offshore.
Downings
Cross to the next peninsula. Sheephaven Bay, Tranarossan, the Atlantic Drive. Quieter than Inishowen, every bit as wild.
Dunfanaghy
Further west again. Horn Head's cliffs, Killahoey's long sand, the bookshop. A natural overnight on the way south.
Honestly
Doing the Wild Atlantic Way north-to-south from Derry is the contrarian play and it works — Donegal is the wildest county on the route, and starting there means you finish in soft southern Cork rather than spending your last days on long northern drives. Worth considering.
The other direction · Causeway Coastal Route
Or head east along the Causeway Coast
40 minutes to the Giant's Causeway, 1.5 hours to Belfast.
Derry is the western end of the Causeway Coastal Route. East along the A2 takes you to Mussenden Temple, Portrush, the Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede and on to the Glens of Antrim and Belfast. If you've already done Donegal, or you're flying out of Belfast, do the north coast in the other direction — same currency, same country, no border to think about.
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