Northern Ireland’s chief airport is Belfast International (BFS); nowhere in the region is more than 100 miles from it. City of Derry Airport (LDY), in the northwest, is a regional hub serving UK destinations, and ferry services connect Belfast with the rest of the British Isles. Belfast and Derry/Londonderry are easy to navigate on foot and well served by public transport and taxis. There’s also a train line connecting these principal cities, with a number of other major destinations served by the region’s four train lines, including Newry, Portadown, Coleraine, Portrush, Larne, and Bangor. Otherwise the public transport system relies on the region’s comprehensive bus network, although services may be infrequent, especially in rural areas. Renting a car is a good plan if you want to explore further, while cycling is also a popular option to see the countryside.

June to August are the warmest and often sunniest months in Northern Ireland, a region where rain clouds are never absent for very long. It’s also a time when many major cultural events take place, including the Belsonic music festival in Ormeau Park in June and the annual celebration of Samuel Beckett’s work in Enniskillen in July. Ballycastle’s Ould Lammas Fair in August is a traditional affair that has been taking place for 400 years. Autumn is beautiful in Antrim, when the trees of its nine glens turn colours, and there are a number of harvest-style celebrations, including the Armagh Food and Cider Festival in September. But the countryside is also beautiful between April and May, when the land is at its greenest and full of the sights and sounds of spring.

This L-shaped island sits six miles off the coast of County Antrim, across the Sea of Moyle. From April through June it’s home to tens of thousands of visiting birds, from razorbills and kittiwakes to guillemots and gannets, the most popular draw being its colourful puffins. Its unique “upside-down” lighthouse, built into the cliff face, was constructed in 1912.

The perfectly preserved 400-year-old walls that run all the way round this city are just one part of its historic character. With landmarks that range from a 17th-century cathedral to a neo-Gothic Guildhall to the stunningly contemporary Peace Bridge, it’s a place with a diverse and vibrant cultural legacy.

This mountain peak in the far south, just outside Newry, is part of a stunning landscape of heathland, forest, and bog that spills over the border into the Republic of Ireland. The formation of volcanic hills that encircles it, known as the Ring of Gullion, is a unique geological landform that dates back 65 million years and is laden with mythology.