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ARNorthern Ireland · County Antrim

Chauffeur service in Ballymena and mid Antrim

The motorway ends at Ballymena, which makes the town the hinge between the fast road south to Belfast and the slower ones north and east into the glens.

20-40 minutes from a Ballymena addressNo car park phone calls at BelfastAntrim, Larne and Coleraine as wellBallymena bookings priced in advance
Edinburgh chauffeur

Written quotation, usually within the hour

Get a quote on WhatsApp+44 7775 554848

Chauffeur service in Ballymena — summary

A chauffeur service for Ballymena, working the part of a journey either side of the flight. Cars collect from addresses across Ballymena in BT42 and BT43, from Seven Towers Leisure Centre, The Braid Arts Centre and Galgorm Resort, and from Ballymena when a train is the first leg. The drive to Belfast is an indicative 20-40 minutes over about 17 miles, and A42 is the route that usually decides how long it takes. Arrivals at Belfast are met inside the terminal at the barrier, then driven into Ballymena. The fleet runs from the Mercedes-Benz E-Class to the Rolls-Royce Phantom, and the Ballymena price is confirmed in writing before you travel.

Location

Ballymena, Northern Ireland

County

County Antrim, Northern Ireland

Default airport for Ballymena

Belfast

Ballymena to Belfast

20-40 minutes

Which Ballymena postcodes

BT42 and BT43

Roads used in Ballymena

M2, A26 and A42

Stations used in Ballymena

Ballymena and Cullybackey

Coverage near Ballymena

Antrim and Larne

01Opening on Ballymena

Chauffeur service in Ballymena

Everything above Ballymena is A-road. The M2 runs out here and the A26 takes over towards Coleraine and the north coast, while the roads east climb into the Glens of Antrim. South, though, the motorway gives Belfast International in about twenty minutes and the city in around forty, which is better access than most towns this far north.

The town is a working market and manufacturing centre with a compact commercial core and a good deal of industry around the edges. Antrim Area Hospital is south down the motorway and Causeway Hospital north, so medical journeys here go in both directions depending on the department.

02The essentials

Location
Ballymena, Northern Ireland
County
County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Default airport for Ballymena
Belfast
Ballymena to Belfast
20-40 minutes
Which Ballymena postcodes
BT42 and BT43
Roads used in Ballymena
M2, A26 and A42
Stations used in Ballymena
Ballymena and Cullybackey
Coverage near Ballymena
Antrim and Larne

03The area

Reading Ballymena before the pick-up

What A42 and the roads around it do to a timetable.

Solid and businesslike, with a broad main street and a covered market at the heart of it. The centre around Wellington Street and Church Street has pedestrianised sections and a one-way arrangement, and the shopping centre car parks take most of the traffic. Beyond that the town spreads into large residential areas and industrial estates. East towards Broughshane and Slemish the country rises quickly into hill farms and narrow lanes.

04Demand

The reasons a car leaves Ballymena

What the diary looks like for Ballymena.

Manufacturing and engineering employers around the town generate corporate travel, much of it to Belfast International and on to Great Britain. The Braid and the town’s civic functions bring their own. Livestock and agricultural business is a genuine part of the local economy and puts people on the road early. And there is regular touring work, since the Glens and the Causeway coast are both within the hour.

05Road time

Traffic, timing and A42

The timing we would use if the booking out of Ballymena were our own.

The M2 southbound queues from half seven, and the section approaching Belfast rather than anything near Ballymena is where it slows. Market days fill the town centre car parks. The A26 north carries holiday traffic on summer weekends, particularly heading for Portrush. Winter puts the eastern roads towards Slemish and the glens into play, since they rise high enough to hold snow when the town has none.

06The kerb

Where the car holds around Seven Towers Leisure Centre

Loading, waiting and the handover, in Ballymena terms.

Ballymena station has a forecourt with a set-down and a car park beside it. The pedestrianised centre cannot be driven, so collections happen from the ring of streets or a shopping centre car park. Industrial estate units usually have visitor parking at the front. Out in the glens the villages have limited kerb space and we agree a meeting point rather than a house frontage, particularly in Cushendall and Waterfoot in summer.

Collection notes for Ballymena

  • 01Belfast International is seventeen miles south on the M2, generally twenty to forty minutes, which makes early departures straightforward.
  • 02Belfast City is a longer run of around thirty miles, so we confirm which airport before the day.
  • 03The pedestrianised centre cannot be driven; collections are made from the surrounding streets or a shopping centre car park.
  • 04Glens villages such as Cushendall and Waterfoot have very limited kerb space in summer, so we agree a meeting point.
  • 05Roads east towards Slemish rise high enough to hold snow when the town itself is clear.

07Included as standard

Standard on every journey out of Ballymena

  • 01

    Inside the hall at Belfast

    The board goes up before the first passengers come through the Belfast doors, and stays up until you are in front of it and pointed at Ballymena. Then the bags are taken and the drive into Ballymena begins, which is the whole of the arrangement.

  • 02

    Cases loaded at the Ballymena kerb

    Golf bags out of Ballymena are the classic miscount. Four sets of clubs and four passengers out of Ballymena does not go in a saloon, and it is a cheap thing to establish in advance.

  • 03

    The same chauffeur, Ballymena to Belfast

    Punctuality in Ballymena means being in position before the booked time rather than at it. The chauffeur is standing on the street in Ballymena with the engine off while you are still finding your passport.

  • 04

    Priced before the car sets off for Ballymena

    A price you have to ask for is only a price that moves if the answer changes with who is asking. It does not here: the same Ballymena journey is quoted the same way for everybody, and the written quotation adds the specifics of your own run.

  • 05

    Late landings at Belfast, absorbed

    On the way out of Ballymena the checking runs the other way. We confirm the Belfast terminal against your flight number the day before the car leaves Ballymena, because airlines move between buildings and a satnav is the last thing to find out.

  • 06

    The stops between Ballymena and Belfast

    The chauffeur waits wherever Ballymena allows it, which is not always within sight of the door. You get one message naming the spot in Ballymena, and the car is at the kerb by the time you reach it.

08Terminals

Airport runs from Ballymena

Indicative only, and worked from Ballymena itself. Belfast in 20-40 minutes assumes a normal A42. The written quotation names the time the car will be standing on A42.
Belfast
Indicative drive
20-40 minutes
Distance
17 miles

Met at the Belfast barrier, with the car already pointed at Ballymena.

Belfast City
Indicative drive
40-60 minutes
Distance
30 miles

Quoted door to terminal from a Ballymena address, not junction to junction.

The same runs are quoted from Antrim and Larne, adjusted for the extra distance rather than reused unchanged.

09In detail

The part of a Ballymena trip nobody plans

Finding each other on A42

LF-01Finding each other on A42

Finding each other on A42

The car arrives before the time on your confirmation and parks where it is legal to stand, which near Ecos Nature Park is not always outside the door. The chauffeur sends one short message naming where in Ballymena the car is standing, and then waits. You are not being timed, and nothing on the Ballymena booking starts running.

The route out of Ballymena is chosen for the hour rather than for the map. Sometimes that means the long way round past Glenariff Forest Park, and the chauffeur takes it without announcing how clever it was.

  • Cases carried from the door in Ballymena rather than watched
  • Chauffeur briefed on the Ballymena address before the car sets off
  • Water, a charger and a cabin set for whatever Ballymena is doing that morning
  • A written price agreed before the car is allocated to Ballymena
17 miles to the terminal

LF-0217 miles to the terminal

17 miles to the terminal

Send the airline as well as the flight number when you book from Ballymena. Terminals move, and taking the wrong spur off A42 at Belfast can cost fifteen minutes at the far end of a trolley.

Nothing about a Ballymena departure should feel rushed even when it is early. The chauffeur has the Belfast terminal, the entrance, and a fair idea of which door puts you closest to your desk before the car leaves Ballymena.

Off the aircraft at Belfast and into the car

LF-03Off the aircraft at Belfast and into the car

Off the aircraft at Belfast and into the car

The failure mode of ordinary ground transport is familiar: a text message, a Belfast car park you cannot find, a trolley that will not fit in the lift, and Ballymena still ahead of you. That is not how a return into Ballymena is meant to go.

Once the cases are in, the return into Ballymena is deliberately dull. If you want to sleep between Belfast and Ballymena, sleep. If you want the fastest way to Ecos Nature Park rather than the shortest, say so and it happens.

  • A second drop in Antrim priced into the same booking
  • Trains into Ballymena watched the same way as flights
  • Private arrivals met airside at the Belfast handling agent, then driven to Ballymena
  • No telephone call from an Belfast car park before the run to Ballymena

10The cars

Vehicles for a Ballymena booking

A line-up sized against the journeys Ballymena actually books: airport runs, hourly work and the occasional long one.

Cabin

Mercedes-Benz E-Class

Passengers
Up to 3
Large cases
2, plus cabin bags
Cabin class
Cabin
Get a quote

First Saloon

BMW i7

Passengers
Up to 3
Large cases
3, plus cabin bags
Cabin class
First Saloon
Get a quote

Cabin MPV

Mercedes-Benz V-Class

Passengers
Up to 7
Large cases
5, plus cabin bags
Cabin class
Cabin MPV
Get a quote

First Saloon

Mercedes-Benz S-Class

Passengers
Up to 3
Large cases
3, plus cabin bags
Cabin class
First Saloon
Get a quote

The figures are per vehicle sent to the BT42 district. A Ballymena booking carrying four passengers costs the same as one carrying a single passenger in the same car.

11Longer bookings

Longer days, larger cars, Ballymena addresses

As-directed driving around Ecos Nature Park

LF-04As-directed driving around Ecos Nature Park

As-directed driving around Ecos Nature Park

A half day is four hours in most classes and six in the largest, wherever in Ballymena it starts. That is usually enough for a morning of meetings around Ecos Nature Park with the car standing by, which is a different thing from four separate bookings and four separate waits.

Common shapes for this work: a morning of meetings, a day between Ecos Nature Park and Antrim, a wedding where the car is needed at both ends, or an evening that begins at Seven Towers Leisure Centre and ends somewhere nobody has decided yet.

The fleet against a Ballymena journey

LF-05The fleet against a Ballymena journey

The fleet against a Ballymena journey

Most Ballymena bookings are an E-Class or an S-Class, because most bookings are one or two people with hand luggage and a flight to catch. The choice starts mattering when the passenger count out of Ballymena rises, or the cases do.

Child seats, extra luggage, skis and golf bags all change the answer for a Ballymena booking. Tell us what is going in the boot when you enquire from Ballymena and we will name the class that takes it rather than the one that nearly does.

12Local reference

A42, Ballymena and the places between them

What goes on a Ballymena booking when an address on its own would not be enough.

Landmarks

  • Slemish Mountain
  • The Braid
  • Ecos Nature Park
  • Glenariff Forest Park
  • Galgorm
  • Broughshane

Venues and hotels

  • The Braid Arts Centre
  • Galgorm Resort
  • Ballymena Showgrounds
  • Seven Towers Leisure Centre

Stations

  • Ballymena
  • Cullybackey
  • Antrim
  • Ballymoney

Roads

  • M2
  • A26
  • A42
  • A36

BT42 · BT43

13Practicalities

Arranging a Ballymena car, from platform to price

When the train does the middle of a Ballymena journey

LF-06When the train does the middle of a Ballymena journey

When the train does the middle of a Ballymena journey

Where a service into Ballymena is replaced by a bus for part of the route, say so. The car can meet you at whichever station the train genuinely terminates at, rather than at Ballymena because the ticket said so.

For a journey into Ballymena where rail covers the distance and the car covers the ends, book both legs at once. The quotation then names the collection at Ballymena and the run into Ballymena as a single price.

Booking a car in Ballymena

LF-07Booking a car in Ballymena

Booking a car in Ballymena

A quotation needs four things: when, from where in Ballymena, to where, and how many of you. Everything else about a Ballymena booking is refinement. We come back with the price, the vehicle class and the Ballymena collection time we would recommend.

There is no running total held against a card for Ballymena work. The figure for a Ballymena journey is agreed first and settled afterwards, on the terms the quotation already set out.

14Services

Chauffeur services available in Ballymena

What the car is asked to do once it reaches Ballymena. Each page carries its own notes and its own rates for the BT42 district.

15What it costs

How a Ballymena booking is priced

Numbers you can plan around while the quotation for your Ballymena booking is being written.

Hourly, as directed

By the block

The car held for you between stops, with a minimum block named on the quotation.

Airport transfers

Quoted per journey

Priced against the drive from Ballymena, not against a zone map. Searching for a chauffeur service near me in Ballymena? This is that local service, quoted in writing before you travel.

Long distance

By the route

One car and one chauffeur from Ballymena to the far end of the run.

No standing price list. Send the journey on WhatsApp and the written quotation confirms the price, what it includes and any applicable tax. The pricing page sets out what moves a figure, and one message on WhatsApp fixes it for your journey.

16Nearby coverage

Areas next to Ballymena

Nearby areas, each written against its own streets rather than against Ballymena.

Ballymena sits in Northern Ireland. Every Northern Ireland area we cover is listed on one page, and the full coverage index runs to every town and district on the list.

17Answers

Ballymena chauffeur questions

Everything below applies to Ballymena and to the addresses immediately around it.

How long is the run from Ballymena to Belfast International?

Seventeen miles down the M2 and typically twenty to forty minutes. It is one of the more comfortable airport runs in Northern Ireland because the motorway does all of it and the airport sits just off the route. For a first departure we would collect around two hours before your check-in deadline.

Can you take passengers into the Glens of Antrim?

Yes, and it is one of the better days out from here. Glenariff is about half an hour east on the A43, and the coast road down to Cushendall and Cushendun a similar time. The roads climb steeply and narrow through the glens themselves, so we allow more than the mileage suggests and avoid committing a large car to the smallest lanes.

Is Ballymena a practical base for the Causeway coast?

It works well. Portrush is around forty minutes north on the A26, the Giant’s Causeway a little under an hour, and Ballycastle about forty-five minutes. Staying inland where rooms are easier to find and being driven out each day is a common arrangement, particularly during golf weeks when the coast fills entirely.

Do you collect from the industrial estates around the town?

Regularly, including at shift hours. Most units have visitor parking at the front, so the car waits at the door rather than at a barrier. We ask for the company name alongside the address because several premises on the same road can share a postcode, and at six in the morning that saves a good deal of driving about.

18Elsewhere on the site

Keep reading

FCReservations

Tell us the Ballymena journey. We will send the price in writing.

Message us the date, the pick-up and where you are going. You will get a fixed written quotation with the vehicle, the chauffeur’s arrival time and what the figure includes — no form to fill in, and no estimate that moves later.

Get a quote on WhatsAppCall +44 7775 554848
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Email
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