Cave Hill rises steeply behind Belfast's northern suburbs, a basalt escarpment with views over the entire city, Belfast Lough, and — on clear days — Scotland. The hill's distinctive profile, with Napoleon's Nose at the summit, is claimed to have inspired Jonathan Swift's description of the Brobdingnagian landscape in Gulliver's Travels, which Swift wrote while living in Ireland.
The walk to the top is accessible from several points. The most popular start is from Belfast Castle at the foot of the hill, and the path to McArt's Fort at the summit takes about 40 minutes. The views from the top are outstanding. The cave system on the hill's face — artificial caves whose origin is unclear but may date to the Iron Age — is worth investigating on the way up.