The North of Ireland: A Writer’s Tour

July 23 - August 3, 2025

North of Ireland Writing Tour

Join us for a 12-day tour of the beauty of the North of Ireland with Nerds Tour founder, Joan Weber, who spent summers in the North. We will begin in the vibrant city of Belfast, followed by a tour of the Antrim Coast, including Giants Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede Bridge, and the glens. While in Belfast, we will have a story writing workshop with Belfast writer Malachi O’Doherty before we head off to visit the wild north.

Accommodations include The Europa Hotel in Belfast, The Causeway Hotel overlooking the Giants’ Causeway in Ballycastle, and the Armagh City Hotel. You’ll start each day with an Irish breakfast before heading out on adventures.

The tour culminates with full 5-day participation in the John Hewitt Summer International Summer School Festival of Literature, Arts and Politics in Armagh, the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland for both Catholics and Protestants. Participants will take writing workshops in memoir, poetry, fiction, novel, as you choose and attend all performances and events, including meals. You’ll also have time to visit Jonathan Swift’s Library, and the two St. Patrick’s Cathedral facing each other across the town. See below for the complete itinerary and links to the John Hewitt Society.

Reserve your space by making a deposit below!
$4,000 (per person in a double)
$5,100 (single occupancy)
View the Detailed Itinerary and click each day to see everything that is included!

Detailed Itinerary

    • Arrive in Dublin Airport

    • Meet your Coach and Driver-Guide (1 person):  Dublin Airport

    • Travel to Belfast

    • Dinner and overnight at Europa Hotel, Belfast City Centre

    • Breakfast at the hotel

    • Coach and Driver-Guide (1 person)

    • Local Step-On Guide Belfast for a full day tour

      • This Panoramic City Tour of Belfast covers breathtaking architecture and feats of engineering, including the renowned Queen's University, the giant H&W cranes, Titanic's birthplace and Cathedral Quarter and Queen's Quarter. The tour takes in the dark Crumlin Road Gaol and the world famous Belfast murals on the republican Falls road and the loyalist Shankill road.

    • Early Dinner at the hotel

    • Possibility to attend the Theatre this evening

    • Overnight in Belfast

    • Dinner and overnight at Europa Hotel, Belfast City Centre

    • Breakfast at the hotel

    • Coach and Driver-Guide (1 person)

    • Check out of hotel and depart for Queens University

    • Attend a morning writing workshop with Belfast writer Malachi O’Doherty

    • Travel along the Antrim coast

    • Entrance - Carrickfergus Castle

    • Dinner and overnight at The Causeway Hotel

      • The Causeway Hotel enjoys an idyllic location with stunning scenery all around, the perfect place to stay for a short break whilst discovering the beautiful North Coast of Northern Ireland.//w

    • Breakfast at the hotel

    • Coach and Driver-Guide (1 person)

    • Visit - Giants Causeway

      • Renowned for its hexagonal columns of layered basalt, the Giant’s Causeway is the only World Heritage site in Northern Ireland. Resulting from a volcanic eruption 60 million years ago, this is the focal point of a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and has attracted visitors for centuries.
        www.nationaltrust.org.uk/giants-causeway

    • Continue along the coast to Carrick-a-rede rope bridge

    • Entrance - Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge  (weather permitting)

    • Afternoon Tea - The Causeway Hotel

    • Dinner and overnight at The Causeway Hotel

    • Breakfast at the hotel

    • Coach and Driver-Guide end service:  Armagh

    • Depart for the Glens of Antrim

    • Stop for a hike at Glenariff Waterfalls

    • Overnight at Armagh City Hotel

    • NO DRIVER SERVICES FOR THE NEXT 5 DAYS

    • Breakfast at the hotel

    • Overnight at Armagh City Hotel

      • NO DRIVER SERVICES FOR THE NEXT 5 DAYS

      • Breakfast at the hotel

      • Overnight at Armagh City Hotel

      • Breakfast at the hotel

      • Overnight at Armagh City Hotel

      • Breakfast at the hotel

      • Overnight at Armagh City Hotel

      • Breakfast at the hotel

      • Overnight at Armagh City Hotel

    • Breakfast at the hotel

    • Coach and Driver-Guide end service:  Armagh

    • Depart for the Glens of Antrim

    • Stop for a hike at Glenariff Waterfalls

    • Overnight at Armagh City Hotel

    • Breakfast at the hotel

    • Coach and Driver-Guide end service:  Dublin Airport

    • Transfer to Dublin Airport for your flight home.

What’s Included

  • Tour Includes the Following:

    Accommodation

    • 2 nights at Europa Hotel, Belfast City Centre

    • 2 nights at The Causeway Hotel, Bushmills

    • 6 nights at Armagh City Hotel

    • 1 night at Clayton Hotel Burlington Road, Dublin

    Included ground transport

    • Coach and Driver-Guide throughout Tour

    Other services

    • Breakfast every day at hotel

    • 5 x Dinner at hotel

    • Afternoon Tea - The Causeway Hotel

    • Local Step-On Guide Belfast for a full day tour

    • Writing Workshop with writer Malachi O’Doherty in Belfast

    • Entrance - Carrickfergus Castle

    • Visit - Giants Causeway

    • Entrance - Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge (weather permitting)

  • Full participation at the John Hewitt International Summer School (July 28th - August 2nd - details to follow - https://johnhewittsociety.org/)

  • Not included: flight, transportation to/from Dublin

  • Founder and Tour Guide

    From childhood, Joan has dreamt of being a tour guide, especially around literature and literary figures. She earned her masters in Literature from Middlebury College Bread Loaf School of English and has spent most of the past 10 summers traveling in England and Ireland as a teacher and an administrator. Her favorite thing has been to visit the places where writers lived and wrote like London, Chawton, Stratford, Haworth, Dublin. It’s not like she’s looking for ghosts, not really.

    Joan became a humanities and literature teacher in an independent school in Howard County Maryland after spending a decade as a theater artist and educator in Baltimore City.

    She is a nerd, a hardcore, to-her-soul nerd. Let’s tour.

Physical Requirements

There will be walking every day of the tour, not generally more than 1 mile at a time over a period of 30-40 minutes. The North of Ireland is known for its hilly terrain. We cannot avoid walking some of the hills.

Please let us know if you will need support and we will do our best to help.

Costings

$4,000 per person in a shared room; $5,100 for a single.