Ards Peninsula – Cloghy Rocks

Raindrop Wreck (SS Empire Tern)

Newcastle (Mourne Coast)

Portaferry – Wreck of the Glennoe

Strangford Lough – The Ringhaddy Wall

Strangford Lough Narrows (The Dorn)

The Ards and Mourne area is celebrated for shellfish from Strangford Lough, including scallops and oysters, plus Mourne lamb. Try seafood chowder, smoked fish, soda bread and the local crab. Portaferry and Newcastle have welcoming harbourside cafés and pubs. Local ingredients and simple preparation let the pure Irish flavours shine through in every meal. Local ingredients and simple preparation let the pure Irish flavours shine through in every meal.

Culloden Estate & Spa

Portaferry Hotel

The Bucks Head

Slieve Donard Hotel

Strangford Lough is a massive sea lough on the Ards Peninsula, famous for one of the world’s strongest tidal races at its narrows. The Dorn and the Narrows offer slack-water dives in deep channels where walls are covered in dead-men’s fingers, plumose anemones, massive spider crabs and scallops. The Ringhaddy Wall is a more sheltered drop-off with sponges and conger eels, and the Raindrop (SS Empire Tern) and Glennoe wrecks add history. Cloghy Rocks and Newcastle on the Mourne Coast bring boulder fields, kelp and the scattered SS Connemara. Sheltered, biodiverse and technically interesting, this region is a favourite for photographers and those who love tidal-flow diving.

Northern Ireland – Strangford Lough & Ards Peninsula