Tour summary & highlights
Rathlin Island – SD#45 – is an optional free time (island walk or in the early summer months, you need longer, the puffin seabird colony) half day day
of any of our longer private multi-day Northern Ireland tours, while you are in Ballycastle on the Antrim coast.
Tours of Northern Ireland
Our private & personalised small group Northern Ireland multi-day tours consist of:
Day 1 travel from Scotland to Northern Ireland
Travel from Scotland to Northern Ireland via 1D#4 – Ayrshire coast , 1D#26 Ayrshire coast
catching either the Cairnryan to Larne (best – if you wish to head straight up the Antrim coast)
or P&O or the Cairnryan to Belfast (best – if you first wish to visit Belfast, the Titanic quarters, County Down or have a free time day to travel to & visit Dublin) Stena Line ferry
Day 2 and onwards of our Northern Ireland multi-day tours
County Antrim & the Causeway Coast – 1D#100
(2 days or longer for the Causeway Coast Antrim would be ideal)
County Londonderry (or Derry) & the Causeway Coast – 1D#101
&
Final day our Northern Ireland multi-day tours
- finishing our tour of Northern Ireland in Belfast (for example having a half day free day in Belfast or finishing our Antrim coast tour before checking in at the ferry in either Belfast or Larne) – travelling back to Scotland
- or continue our tour of Northern Ireland and at the end of the day drop you off at any location, hotel or airport in Northern Ireland and end the tour there
Rathlin Island – optional free time half day for walking on Rathlin Island, when on one of our Northern Ireland multi-day tours starting in Scotland
From Rathlin Island just off the Antrim Coast in Northern Ireland you are at one of the closest points between Northern Ireland and Scotland with great views over towards the Kintyre peninsula, Islay and beyond in Scotland and of the Antrim coast.
After the walk (circular walk, 45 minutes each way) over to Rathlin East lighthouse you are being rewarded with spectacular views over to Kintyre, Argyll & the Isles in Scotland.
During the early summer seabird breeding season (late April to early August), on request it is also possible to stay on Rathlin Island for a whole day for the longer walk to see some puffins – RSPB Rathlin Island
Rathlin Island – Northern Ireland
Rathlin cycle hire – summer only
Tour itinerary
Rathlin Island – optional free time half day for walking on Rathlin Island, when on one of our Northern Ireland multi-day tours starting in Scotland
From Rathlin Island just off the Antrim Coast in Northern Ireland you are at one of the closest points between Northern Ireland and Scotland with great views over towards the Kintyre peninsula, Islay and beyond in Scotland and of the Antrim coast.
After the walk (circular walk, 45 minutes each way) over to Rathlin East lighthouse you are being rewarded with spectacular views over to Kintyre, Argyll & the Isles in Scotland.
During the early summer seabird breeding season (late April to early August), on request it is also possible to stay on Rathlin Island for a whole day for the longer walk to see some puffins – RSPB Rathlin Island
Rathlin Island – Northern Ireland
Private tour price for the 8 passenger seater mini-bus & driver/tourguide, i.e. the tour price for a private group of min. 1 and max 8 passengers. For a short day private tour price = proportional percentage of the standard full 10 hour 1 day private tour price, i.e. the price of a 5 hour tour is 50% of the 10 hour tour price, a 3 hour tour price is 30% of a 10 hour tour price.
Our visit on Rathlin island
will be a FREE TIME walking/cycling
(or if during the early summer puffin season – wildlife watching) tour
as part of your longer extended private multi-day Northern Ireland tour with Coast, sea Highlands & Islands – Unicorn Tours
so the normal short day tour prices, won’t apply:
Personalised & private small group tours all over Scotland (100+ itineraries: ½ – 7 day tour options & discounted multi-day tours to choose from) – with a set daily tour price for our tour guide driver & 8 passenger seater mini-bus (due to the fixed same overall cost for up to 8 passengers, the cheapest per person price for a private small group tour is if 8, 7, 6 or 5 are travelling together to share the set fixed daily cost, which is the same total cost, no matter if there are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 passengers on a private mini-bus tour)
All of these private & personalised, small group tours of Scotland
are available on any available green calendar days for private tours
| 5, 6, 7 days | 4 days | 3 days |
| 2 days | Scottish destinations/Tour extensions & add ons | 1 day |
| Activities, special interests & tour themes | Walking tours | ½ & short day tours |
- Choose any private & personalised tailormade 1/2 day tour on any available green calendar day.
- Choose any private & personalised tailormade 1 day tour on any available green calendar day.
- Choose any private & personalised tailormade 2 day tour on any 2 consecutive available green calendar days. Any private 2 day tours will already show a 2.5% discount.
- Choose any private & personalised tailormade 3 day tour on any 3 consecutive available green calendar days. Any private 3 day tours will already show a 5% discount.
- Choose any private & personalised tailormade 4 day tour on any 4 consecutive available green calendar days. Any private 4 day tours will already include a 7.5% discount.
- Choose any private personalised & tailormade 5 day tour on any 5 consecutive available green calendar days. Any private 5 day tours will already include a 10% discount.
- Choose any private personalised & tailormade 6 day tour on any 6 consecutive available green calendar days. Any private 6 day tours is discounted by 12.5%.
- Choose any private personalised & tailormade 7 day tour on any 7 consecutive available green calendar days. Any private 7 day tour prices already show the 15% discount.
Additionally from September to May there is a 12.5% student discount, which also applies to seniors over 65 and to children up to 17 travelling as part of a family group.
Extra costs & ferry info (if applicable)
Tour links
Rathlin Island – optional free time half day for walking on Rathlin Island, when on one of our Northern Ireland multi-day tours starting in Scotland
Rathlin Island – Northern Ireland
Rathlin cycle hire – summer only
Northern Ireland – National Trust
Tour options
Rathlin Island – optional free time half day for walking on Rathlin Island, when on one of our Northern Ireland multi-day tours starting in Scotland
From Rathlin Island just off the Antrim Coast in Northern Ireland you are at one of the closest points between Northern Ireland and Scotland with great views over towards the Kintyre peninsula, Islay and beyond in Scotland and of the Antrim coast.
After the walk (circular walk, 45 minutes each way) over to Rathlin East lighthouse you are being rewarded with spectacular views over to Kintyre, Argyll & the Isles in Scotland.
During the early summer seabird breeding season (late April to early August), on request it is also possible to stay on Rathlin Island for a whole day for the longer walk to see some puffins – RSPB Rathlin Island
Rathlin Island – Northern Ireland
Information about private tours in general
Private & personalised tailormade tours to suit your group’s preferences
This is your very own private tour for you and your friends and family members of up to 8 people travelling on this tour together.
Before any private tour, we always check for your must-see stops, interests, hobbies, activities, preferences, priorities and any special requests you might have and we ask you about your preferred pace of travel so to tailor make and personalise the tour to suit your needs.
The route, the stops and the itinerary we give on our website for any private tour are for information and guidance only, as in the end it is you, who decides, what you wish to do, where you wish to stop and what you wish to do and see.
Any private tour itinerary can be shortened, extended or amended, if you wish to do so.
Flexibility on private tours
We also like to keep things flexible as our experience is that there are places, once you arrive and see them, you just fall in love with and wish to spend more time and longer.
whereas some other times we arrive at a place and they are different from what you had expected and you are ok to have a shorter stop and to move on quicker.
Flexibility is also good as on a beautiful gorgeous blue sunny day when all colours in nature and the landscapes are sparkling and you have clear and amazing far distant visibility and the scenery and places are at their best, you probably prefer to spend more time outdoors, while on a stormy, wet, dark, grey and cold day, you are likely to prefer more indoor venues during your stops.
Travelling at your own pace on private tours
Some guests are on a whirlwind tour with little time and wish to pack as much into a short time as possible and are ok with just short photo stops,
whereas other tour guests prefer to travel at a more leisurely pace to be able to explore and discover and soak it all in and leaving the tour with a memorable and lasting experience.
All of this is possible within the constraints of your chosen route, the distances involved
and during the winter season the shorter daylight hours we have.
Lunch breaks on private tours
Some guests put a lot of emphasis on a good quality lunch in a good atmospheric restaurant and we can prebook lunch venues,
whereas other guests are ok to just stop at a supermarket for a sandwich to eat on the go
or just need a short lunch stop for some light snack to eat.
Your tour options on any private tour are unlimited and endless
Same place, same route – but one one private tour, the private tour guests would want to visit the castle, while on another tour at the same place, they want a whisky tour instead and yet again same place on the next tour the private tour guests, want to just go for a walk on the beach there, while another time at the same place, they just want to go shopping, visit the museum or stop at the golf course – so same place, but on each private tour at this very same place, we visit different places and the itinerary, stops and experience is different.
As this is a private & personalised tour to suit your interests, preferences, hobbies and activities, it is up to you and we can either offer our normal tour itinerary for the location with all the many local highlights and sights and be flexible depending on the season, the weather, the time we have and also be fully flexible during the tour (as some places, you will love and stay longer and at other places you come to, you might wish to just take a photo and then leave, so in the end you might on the day of the tour decide to stay longer or shorter at some of the places we visit or you might still decide to add in some additional stops and places you had not thought about before) and also partially or fully adjust it to suit your interests and preferences or entirely turn it into a specialist interest tour “a whisky tour”, “a castle, cathedral, historic sights tours”, a “walking tour”, a “nature & wildlife tour”, a “golf tour”, an “activity tour”, etc. depending on what you request (also see our full range of Activities, special interests & tour themes.)
If it says on the tour itinerary, the tour starts in A and ends in Z and on our journey from A to Z we are travelling and can be stopping at B, C, D, E, F…… X & Y,
it might be the same route on every such private tour, but with every private tour group and individuals, it could still be an entirely & very different tour after all,
as there are so many different special interests & tour themes
so that the main focus of some private tour groups could be
- architecture & charming towns & villages
- castles, history
- child-friendly stops
- churches, abbeys & religious sites
- dining & and having a great lunch eating out
- events based, such as visiting the Highland games while on the tour with us
- family history & genealogy
- gardens, flowers & parks
- golf, football or other sports’ venues
- literature, film or movie fictional based tour, i.e. visiting filming locations of Outlander, Harry Potter, Shetland crime series, Downtown Abbey. etc.
- nature & wildlife, seabirds, puffins or whale
- watching
- the scenery, the coast & beaches
- snow and wintry landscapes
- tourist steam train in conjunction with our tour
- walking
- waterfalls
- whisky distilleries, gin and breweries
- etc.
Pick ups & drop offs anywhere on private tours
As mentioned in the pick up section, on a private tour we can pick up from anywhere and drop off anywhere and offer staggered free pick ups and drop offs, which are dependent on the distance from our Alloa home base near Stirling. Our home base is 30 miles from Edinburgh, Glasgow & Perth in the heart of the Scottish Central belt:
- for short & half day tours the free pick up/drop off zone is within 15 miles of our Alloa home base (which includes Stirling, Falkirk, Dunfermline & Gleneagles)
- for 1 day tours the free pick up/drop off zone is within 35 miles of our Alloa home base (which additionally includes Edinburgh, Glasgow & Perth)
- for 2, 3 & 4 day tours the free pick up/drop off zone is within 50 miles of our Alloa home base (which additionally includes Dundee, St. Andrews & the entire Scottish Central belt)
- for 5, 6 & 7 day tours the free pick up/drop off zone is within 75 miles of our Alloa home base
Additionally as stated we sometimes offer free pick ups for places on the route to our destination, even though they might exceed the free mileage zone, so for example for a West Coast tour and we need to head westbound anyway for the tour, we could be pick up at locations west free of charge, depending on the exact route and distances involved.
(During a few weeks every year we are also Shetland, Orkney, Hebridean Isles or regionally based
and the free pick ups will then be based from that local area, such as on the Shetland, Orkney or on some of the Hebridean Isles for example.)
Accommodation on multi-day tours is your choice
Some of our guests are budget travellers, whereas others are luxurious travellers, while others chose a mid-range 3* hotel.
We are happy to give you tips, links and info about your accommodation options for the towns and villages we are staying overnight, but in the end it is up to you, where you would like to stay, at which hotel or guesthouse and for which price.
However much or however little you wish to spend for your overnight accommodation is your choice.
On a private tour we will pick you up from any accommodation in the morning and in the evening drop you off at any accommodation of your choice for your overnight tour accommodation and and chosen location.
Free time & activities
Rathlin Island – optional free time half day for walking on Rathlin Island, when on one of our Northern Ireland multi-day tours starting in Scotland
From Rathlin Island just off the Antrim Coast in Northern Ireland you are at one of the closest points between Northern Ireland and Scotland with great views over towards the Kintyre peninsula, Islay and beyond in Scotland and of the Antrim coast.
After the walk (circular walk, 45 minutes each way) over to Rathlin East lighthouse you are being rewarded with spectacular views over to Kintyre, Argyll & the Isles in Scotland.
During the early summer seabird breeding season (late April to early August), on request it is also possible to stay on Rathlin Island for a whole day for the longer walk to see some puffins – RSPB Rathlin Island
Rathlin Island – Northern Ireland
Tour booking
This free time 1 or half day must be part of one of our Northern Ireland multi-day tours starting in Scotland
To enquire about those email contact@unicorntours.co.uk
Tour pick up/start, drop off/end & joining options near to & along our tour route
Unicorn Tours will be parked at the Ballycastle ferry port, so it is only a 1 minute walk from the mini-bus to the ferry for you and back again