England and Ireland 2025 Trip

Guidance on?

You have 14 days. This is not enough to do justice to both countries in my opinion. I'd recommend you pick one.

If you pick England you will likely wish to spend 3-5 days in London, but there is much more in England than London.
York is amazing, do the National Rail Museum near the rail station. Walk the ancient walls and do the Minster (Cathedral).

Windsor Castle is a must see, also Stonehenge. Other great places in the Southern England are Bath, Salisbury, Winchester, Oxford, Cambridge and Canterbury.

Your kids would love Warwick Castle. The Castle is historic, but the facility is a huge draw for kids.
Stratford Upon Avon is amazing if you have any interest in Shakespeare.

There is an Explore Europe section on the website, with a suggested itinerary for each country. That might be a good place to start your research, focusing on things that interest your group.
Happy planning!
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/england

THANK YOU to those who have responded so far. Your experience and insights are invaluable. Yes, I am seeking an itinerary for the two countries over 14 days and I understand that may not be "enough" and I know Rick's typical tours don't allow young children. But, I am very flexible, it's a significant anniversary. So, keep it coming. I am also reading other sources that will supplement what I learn here.

The link I provided is not for tours, it suggests itineraries for independent travel.

I assume you are aware that transporting 6 adults, 3 children, and their luggage is going to be a (probably THE) major challenge.

Hi, frankmonachello,

Seeing England and Ireland in two weeks is a bit daunting but certainly doable. Are you looking mostly to stay in London? That would definitely be easiest. You could stay in London for 5-6 days, and do some day trips to places like Hampton Court Palace and Windsor Castle, etc. There are tours that are available, but public transportation is very good and makes it easy to get to all those places. If you wanted to visit the Cotswolds and/or Stonehenge, a tour might be easiest. Lots of folks here like Mad Max Tours, which provide tours starting in London. https://www.madmaxtours.co.uk/

The quickest way to get to Ireland from England is by flying. There are fairly cheap flights there. Ryan Air makes frequent flights between London and Dublin, that are around £30-35. So you could spend the first half of your trip in London seeing sights and making day trips there, then fly to Ireland for the second half. https://www.ryanair.com/us/en/

It would be easiest and probably cheaper if you book a multi-city flight (also called open-jaw). This is where you fly into one city (i.e., London) and then fly home from another (i.e., Dublin). This makes it a lot easier as you do not have to return to your originating city. I usually start looking for flights on Google. https://www.google.com/travel/flights?gl=US&hl=en-US Make sure that you change "Round Trip" to "Multi-City".

I would strongly suggest that you start reading some guidebooks to get an idea of where you want to go. Rick Steves' books are good but there are others like Lonely Planet and Rough Guides that work well, too. You can find most of them at your public library, either in paper form or digital. Once you get a better idea of where you would like to go, then come back here with more details and ask more questions. You will love England. It is one of my very favorite countries. I have not been to Ireland yet, but everyone I know who has loves it as well.

A couple of other things to think about are accommodations. For 6 adults and 3 children, are you looking for one place or will you be getting multiple hotel rooms? London is very expensive, accommodation wise, but you can find bargains.

Premier Inns is a chain that comes highly recommended on this forum. I have stayed there on multiple occasions. They have locations all over London, and also have family rooms that can sleep 3-4 people. The rooms are consistently clean and comfortable, and service is always good. https://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/home.html

Welcome to the forum frankmonachello.
When in 2025 are you planning to travel? I ask because I am starting to plan a trip to Southern England and Ireland for second half of June and first half of July 2025.

How old are the children? What is everyone’s main interest? Get everyone involved with the planning. Have you read guide books for both areas? Refined your search on the internet? The more information you can give us, the more information we can provide.

Although my trip is in the early planning stage, I can share some of my research. But I visited Ireland years ago and over the years been to England three times. Some “major” spots I have no interest in visiting again so my research is skewed to tours and smaller venues.

This is a current thread about Arundel which may be of interest to you because it is kid friendly. I’m planning to visit because I love castles. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/3-perfect-days-in-arundel-england

A starting point for your planning could be fly into London LHR and home from Dublin DUB. With two weeks to travel, plan on one week in each country. Maybe base in two towns each and do day trips. It takes time to move from town to town.

With two weeks for England and Ireland, I might suggest sticking with only London and Dublin, with day trips to nearby attractions like Windsor and perhaps Belfast. It will give you the flavor of both countries and ideas for where to go when you return.

Again, you folks are the best. Just beginning to plan the trip. FYI, digging into a number of written resources, but your personal insights are vital. Taking notes on all of it and hoping to run my draft itinerary past my whole family in a month. Regards, Frank

The idea to spend 5-6 nights in London and take day trips would probably be the easiest logistically. With what I assume to be a multi-generational group you can split up as needed and allow just about everyone to get in a “must do”.

For the Ireland part you could look into flying from London Stanstead to Kerry Airport in western Ireland. That would give you access to the the Ring of Kerry and Dingle Peninsulas, which are generally on the top of everyone’s list. Then head to either Shannon Airport or Dublin Airport to fly home.

Gate 1 Travel has a great looking tour of Ireland and Scotland that might work four you.

Gate 1 requires children to be at least 8.