Most of this list sits in the north of the county, along the Foyle and the coast either side of it. Derry-Londonderry is the obvious base: the 17th-century walls make a mile-long rampart walk, free and open day and night, with the Bogside murals and the Museum of Free Derry below them. Ebrington Square is that same walk continued, over the Peace Bridge to the east bank, where a former military parade ground is now open space with a brewery in the old barracks.
East of the city the road runs along Lough Foyle. Ballykelly, between Derry and Limavady, has the flat 8 km Lough Foyle Trail on the sea wall and the looped paths of Ballykelly Forest, with the cantilever hangar of the wartime RAF airfield standing above the fields. Bellarena, 341 people under the basalt scarp of Binevenagh, is more about the setting than the village: an 18th-century demesne garden on the River Roe, and a rail halt on the Derry to Belfast line. Coleraine sits at the lowest bridging point of the Bann, with Mountsandel on its southern edge, dated to around 7,600 BC.
The other two need a drive. Claudy is in the Faughan Valley, a few miles from the wooded glen and waterfall at Ness Country Park; Magherafelt, south in Mid-Ulster, is the way into Heaney country.
Sits at the lowest bridging point of the Bann, with Mountsandel on its southern edge, dated to around 7,600 BC and the oldest known settlement in Ireland.
The walled city on the Foyle, where a free mile-long rampart walk runs above the Bogside murals and the Museum of Free Derry.
A former military parade ground on the east bank of the Foyle, reached over the Peace Bridge, now open space with a brewery in the old barracks.
7 of 7 shown — tap a pin for the place.
londonderry
Claudy sits where the River Glenrandal meets the Faughan, its Main Street marked by a memorial to the nine people killed in the 1972 car bombing. The real draw is a few miles out: the wooded glen and waterfall at Ness Country Park, and the walking and cycling of the Faughan Valley.
londonderry
Coleraine has modest sights of its own but a strong reason to stop: Mountsandel, on its southern edge, is the oldest known human settlement in Ireland, dated to around 7,600 BC. The town sits at the lowest bridging point of the River Bann, home to Ulster University since 1968, and puts the Causeway Coast within easy reach.
Northern Ireland, londonderry
Derry’s 17th-century walls have never been breached – a free, mile-long rampart walk open day and night above the River Foyle. Below them, the twelve Bogside murals and the Museum of Free Derry cover the civil-rights years, while the Peace Bridge curves across to Ebrington Square. Come for the walls; stay for the May jazz festival or the Halloween carnival.
Derry, londonderry
Set on the east bank of the River Foyle, Ebrington Square turns a former military parade ground into open public space, reached from the city centre across the Peace Bridge. Come for a festival or a walk over the river, the salvaged star-fort walls, and a pint at the brewery in the old barracks.
Northern Ireland, londonderry
Magherafelt is the administrative capital of Mid-Ulster and, for most visitors, the way into Heaney country. Come for the Blue-Badge poetry tours out of Laurel Villa, the Seamus Heaney HomePlace a few miles off in Bellaghy, and the walk up Slieve Gallion, rather than the town-centre shops.
Limavady, londonderry
Bellarena, londonderry
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