Northern Ireland

This story finds some of its most vivid chapter headings in Northern Ireland—a corner of the island that has undergone one of the most remarkable transformations of any destination in Europe, and which carries the IrelandAmerica connection with particular depth and pride. The landscape alone would be enough. The Causeway Coastal Route, widely regarded as one of the world's great road journeys, winds along a coastline of extraordinary drama—past the Giant's Causeway, one of the world's most iconic natural wonders, where forty thousand interlocking basalt columns meet the Atlantic in a scene so improbable it spawned its own mythology. The Dark Hedges, the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, the glacial splendor of the Mourne Mountains—Northern Ireland wears its natural beauty with an ease that leaves visitors entirely unprepared for how affecting it is.