A Weekend in Derry Without the Car: Food, Cocktails, Live Music & Group Travel

There’s something about Derry/Londonderry towards the end of summer.

The evenings are still long, the city is busy, there’s plenty happening and it’s one of those times of year when a message in the group chat saying “we should do something this weekend” can very quickly turn into a proper night away.

And over the next couple of weeks, there are plenty of reasons to actually do it.

From 21–30 August 2026, Derry Cocktail Week returns to the city, while Derry By Fork has food and drink experiences taking place on 22 and 29 August. Then from 28–30 August, Live at the Square brings a major weekend of music to Ebrington Square. 

So this week we thought we’d look at Derry slightly differently.

Forget driving into town, finding somewhere to park, working out who isn’t drinking and trying to organise several taxis at the end of the night.

Why not get the group together, book your transport beforehand and actually enjoy the whole weekend?

Make the Journey Part of the Night

This is something we see regularly with groups travelling with Executive Travel NI.

When everyone travels separately, the night doesn’t really start until everybody eventually meets at the destination.

Put everyone aboard the same minibus or coach and it’s completely different.

The night starts when we pick you up.

Friends can catch up, nobody is watching the sat-nav, nobody is trying to find parking and—perhaps most importantly when cocktails are involved—nobody has to volunteer to be the designated driver.

For groups travelling into Derry from Limavady, Coleraine, Portrush, Portstewart or elsewhere across the North West, it can make organising a night away considerably easier.

Derry Cocktail Week

If food and drink are your thing, the timing couldn’t be much better.

Derry Cocktail Week runs from Friday 21 August until Sunday 30 August 2026, giving visitors another reason to explore the city’s hospitality scene. 

And rather than choosing one venue and staying there all evening, having transport arranged gives a group much more freedom.

You could book dinner, enjoy a few different venues in the city and know that your transport home—or back to your accommodation—is already organised.

That’s the important bit.

Nobody is standing outside at the end of the night wondering how eight, twelve or twenty people are getting home.

Discover Derry Through Its Food

Another thing we’ve noticed with visitors over the past few years is how much more important food has become to travel.

People don’t simply want to see somewhere anymore.

They want to taste it.

Derry By Fork is a great example, with its food and drink tours designed around discovering the city’s hospitality and food scene. Current Visit Derry listings show Fork the Walls on 22 August and Fork the Foyle on 29 August. 

For visitors staying elsewhere in our area, that’s the sort of experience that can easily become the centrepiece of a day in Derry.

We can collect your group from your hotel or accommodation, bring you into the city and collect you again afterwards.

It means the whole group gets to enjoy the experience.

Then There’s Live at the Square

The following weekend gives us another big reason to head for Derry.

Live at the Square runs from 28–30 August 2026 at Ebrington Square, with Visit Derry listing a full weekend of live music. 

Anyone who has attended a major concert or event will know that getting there is usually the easy part.

Getting everyone home afterwards can be another matter.

That’s why we’d always recommend organising group transport when you’re buying the tickets rather than leaving it until the week of the event.

With a private minibus or coach, we can agree your collection point beforehand, bring everyone to Derry together and arrange the return journey.

No parking.

No designated driver.

No splitting the group between several cars.

And no ending a brilliant night trying to work out how everyone is getting home.

Turn One Night Into a Weekend

Of course, you don’t have to come home.

If you’re travelling from further afield, why not turn an event into a weekend in the North West?

Stay in Derry on Friday night, explore the city on Saturday and then head towards the Causeway Coast.

Within a relatively short journey you’ve got Portrush, Portstewart, Dunluce Castle, Bushmills and the Giant’s Causeway.

Or head west and explore Donegal.

That’s one of the things we love about where we’re based. You don’t need to spend hours travelling between experiences.

City, coast and countryside are all within easy reach.

Group Travel Isn’t Just About Bigger Groups

There’s also a misconception that hiring private transport only makes sense when you’ve got forty or fifty people travelling.

It doesn’t.

Our fleet allows us to cater for groups of different sizes, including smaller groups looking for executive minibus travel.

Once you start adding up several taxis, parking, fuel and the inconvenience of taking multiple cars, travelling together can make much more sense—especially when the journey is part of a night out or weekend away.

It also means everyone leaves together and everyone comes home together.

Plan Autumn and Christmas Nights Out Early

Late August also marks the point where our diary starts moving towards another particularly busy period.

Autumn events.

Derry Halloween.

Christmas nights out.

Belfast Christmas Market.

Work Christmas parties.

Family get-togethers.

For groups thinking about any of these, our advice is simple: don’t leave the transport until last.

Popular Friday and Saturday nights can book surprisingly quickly, particularly when several major events fall on the same weekend.

Get the date agreed, get the group chat moving and get the transport booked.

Everything else becomes much easier afterwards.

Let Executive Travel NI Look After the Journey

At Executive Travel NI, we’re based here in the North West and provide private group transport throughout Northern Ireland and across Ireland.

Whether it’s eight friends heading into Derry for dinner, a larger group going to a concert, visitors wanting a weekend exploring our country or a company organising its Christmas night out, we can tailor the transport around the group.

Because a great night shouldn’t begin with somebody worrying about parking.

And it definitely shouldn’t finish with somebody wondering how they’re getting home.

You enjoy the night. We’ll look after the journey.