Portstewart Strand

Where it sits. Portstewart Strand is a two-mile sweep of pale sand on the County Londonderry coast, running west from the Victorian resort of Portstewart to the mouth of the River Bann, the estuary locals call the Barmouth. Behind it lies one of the largest dune systems in Northern Ireland, a wall of marram-covered hills that separates the beach from the golf links and farmland inland. It is consistently among the ten most visited attractions in the region, and it is unusual in that you can drive onto it: the sand is firm enough to carry cars, and when the National Trust bought the beach in 1980 it chose to let a long-standing local habit continue.

On screen. Portstewart Strand is Dorne. In the fifth season of Game of Thrones, Jaime Lannister and Bronn are put ashore on the Dornish coast at the start of their unofficial mission to retrieve Myrcella Baratheon from the Water Gardens; their small boat runs aground, they wade in through the surf, and in the episode "Sons of the Harpy" they are intercepted on the sand and in the dunes by a mounted Dornish patrol. The fight that follows — Bronn's blunt efficiency against Jaime's golden hand catching a blade — was filmed on this beach and in the dune slacks immediately behind it. The production's Dorne was assembled from several countries: the Water Gardens and the palace of Sunspear were shot at the Alcázar of Seville in Spain, while the coastline where the Kingslayer arrives is here in the north of Ireland, several hundred miles further from any desert than the script implies.

What you actually see today. Vehicle access runs from the town end past a National Trust visitor building opened in 2008 after a £450,000 investment, with toilets, changing space, a shop and information about the dunes. Cars park in a line on the hard sand, well back from the water, which makes this one of the easiest beaches in Ireland for families with young children, wheelchair users or anyone carrying gear. Lifeguards patrol a zoned bathing area in the summer months, and other activities — surf schools, kite buggies, horse riding — are separated into their own zones. The beach holds Blue Flag status for water quality and management, and attracts something like 180,000 visitors a year. Harry's Shack, a timber café on the sand near the entrance, has become an institution in its own right.

The dunes. Behind the beach the dune system was added to the Bann Estuary Area of Special Scientific Interest in 2000, and it is much more than scenery. Waymarked trails climb from the car park into the slacks, where lime-rich sand supports orchids — including the bee orchid, which flowers in June — along with dozens of butterfly species and a large population of ground-nesting birds. The dunes are fragile, and the paths exist to keep boots off the marram that holds the whole system together. From the ridge the view runs east over Portstewart to Portrush and the Skerries, and west across the Bann to Castlerock, Downhill and the escarpment of Binevenagh. At the Barmouth itself, where the Bann pushes out between training walls built to keep the channel open, a small reserve and hide overlook one of the better spots on the north coast for terns in summer and divers and grebes in winter.

The town at the other end. Portstewart itself is a compact seaside town built around a curving promenade and a stone-walled harbour, with a Gothic Revival house of 1834 above the sea now serving as a Dominican college and giving the skyline its castle-like profile. A cliff path links the promenade to the strand in about twenty-five minutes on foot, passing above rock ledges and small coves. The town is minutes from Portrush and Royal Portrush Golf Club, and about ten minutes from Coleraine, which gives it a share of the north coast's summer traffic without the amusement-arcade edge of its neighbour.

Getting there and timing. Coleraine railway station is five miles away with frequent buses and taxis onward; by car the beach is an hour from Derry and an hour and three-quarters from Belfast. There is a charge for vehicles onto the beach, waived for National Trust members, and the entrance can queue on hot weekends in July and August. Tides matter: the parking area shrinks at high water, and the Barmouth end has strong currents where the Bann meets the sea, so swimming belongs between the flags. Late spring and early autumn are the sweet spot — the dunes are at their best in June, and September often brings the calmest, clearest days of the year on this coast.