Cave Hill Country Park: Belfast Travel Guide (4.8★)

A cliff with a profile

Look north from almost any Belfast street and you’ll see it. Cave Hill’s basalt escarpment rises above the city’s northern edge. From below, its crags look like a man lying on his back. People call the jutting cliff his nose, Napoleon’s Nose, and a long-told local legend says the shape gave Jonathan Swift his sleeping giant in Gulliver’s Travels.

The park takes in the whole slope. At the bottom there’s woodland around Belfast Castle. The caves sit in the cliff face, and open moorland covers the summit plateau. It stays a quieter find than the city-centre sights, though weekends do fill up (see the timing advice below).

Castle, caves, fort

Most walkers follow the waymarked Cave Hill Trail, a loop of about 7km. It’s steep in places and muddy after rain. The route links the park’s three main stops:

• Belfast Castle: a sandstone Scottish Baronial house finished in 1870, with a turreted tower and terraced gardens. This is the usual starting point and has the visitor centre.
• The caves: five man-made caves cut into the cliff, possibly for iron mining. You can see the lower ones from the path. The higher ones sit on sheer rock and should be admired from below.
• McArt’s Fort: an earthwork ringfort on the summit promontory. In 1795, Wolfe Tone and fellow United Irishmen swore an oath here to fight for Irish independence.

From the fort, you look across Belfast Lough and the docks to the yellow Harland & Wolff cranes, Samson and Goliath. On clear days you can see as far as the Mournes, and sometimes Scotland. Belfast Zoo lies on the hill’s southern flank, so it’s easy to pair with the walk.

Getting to the Antrim Road side

All the entrances are off the Antrim Road, a few kilometres north of the city centre. Translink Metro 1 buses run up the Antrim Road from Donegall Square. Get off at the Belfast Castle or Belfast Zoo stops, then walk uphill to the trailheads.

If you’re driving, use the car parks at Belfast Castle or the zoo entrance. The castle drive is the better base, because it puts you straight onto the main loop. A taxi from the city centre is short, and it saves your legs for the climb.

Timing the climb and sharing the summit

The park is open 24 hours, but the cliff-edge paths are unlit and drop sharply. Plan to walk in daylight. On weekends, measured footfall puts the quietest window at 8am–8pm and the busiest at 10am–8pm. In practice, crowds build from 10am and stay until evening. Set off at 8am and you’ll have McArt’s Fort mostly to yourself before the mid-morning wave arrives.

How people use the hill:

• Go clockwise from the castle. You get the steep climb past the caves done early and walk down the gentler moorland side.
• Stay on the marked paths near the edge. The ground beside Napoleon’s Nose is loose and has no fence.
• Pack a layer and waterproofs. The summit is exposed, and Belfast’s weather can turn quickly up there.
• Finish at the castle. Walkers usually end the loop with a hot drink there before catching the bus back down the Antrim Road.