Travel itinerary recommendations for England, Scotland and Ireland vacation

There's no shortage of castles, beautiful scenery, and all the other things you list that you'd like to focus on. However, to visit all the "touristy" places in England, Scotland, and Ireland would take a lifetime. Three weeks is a good amount of time to see a selection of highlights in all three countries, but you'll need to map out an efficient itinerary and decide on what's most important to you.

Will you be renting a car or using public transportation? (To visit Hadrian's Wall and Culloden Battlefield, a car is much more convenient than public transport, but not absolutely essential.)

To make the most of your time, I suggest flying open jaw and multi-city: arriving in, say, Dublin or Shannon, then flying from Ireland to, say, London or Glasgow, then flying home from whichever Great Britain city you didn't land in from Ireland. (Remember that Great Britain is the island that includes England, Scotland, and Wales. The island of Ireland includes the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, part of the UK. I apologize if I'm telling you things you already knew.) In other words, don't backtrack.

If you rent a car, be aware that not all rental companies allow a one-way rental between Ireland and Great Britain, and those that do charge a hefty fee. Because the ferry takes considerably more time than flying, you'd be better off turning in your car at the airport and flying between Ireland and either Scotland or England.

There are castle hotels in Scotland and Ireland; the question is how much you want to spend. You can have a high-end luxury experience or a more modest stay.

The Rick Steves guidebooks have some suggested itineraries that you can adjust for the number of nights you want to spend. There is a "Best of" book for each: England, Ireland, and Scotland. These or some other brand of guidebook that emphasizes the most popular tourist destinations would be your best starting point. (IOW, a brand like Lonely Planet that's very comprehensive and covers less popular destinations would probably just overwhelm you.) Then you could come back to these forums, country by country, and get more specific advice.

We have visited the British Isles several times and there is always more to see that we haven't seen.

First, I suggest that you reduce the scope of your plans. For a three week trip, you will be doing a lot of traveling between places to see England, Scotland and Ireland.

We planned a trip to the UK and wanted to visit S. Wales (had done N. Wales on another trip), England (nothing in London or east of London, also done on other trips) and Scotland. The more that I worked on planning (lodging, tours and driving our rental car), the more that I decided that our four week drive tour would skip Scotland, since we had been to Scotland before.

We covered a lot of ground and loved it all. We only had 4 days were we drove more than two hours out of the 28 days.

Here is my detailed review of our trip, with lodging and more.

28 days in Britain and Celebrity Eclipse home

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=599139

Thank you, this is very helpful.

Three weeks just for Scotland would require you to omit a lot of very nice destinations. One thing to keep in mind about Scotland--and I imagine also Ireland, but I haven't been there--is that the weather is changeable and often rainy. This means if you develop a rush-rush itinerary, you may find yourself missing some of your high-priority outdoor activities because of the weather. Allow yourself more time at the key stops where you expect to be outdoors a lot (Skye, Oban, etc.) and your car will give you the flexibility to drive in a maybe-less-wet direction each day.

I haven't spent enough time in western England (or Wales) to be sure, but I believe that area is also rainier than the east.

What time of year do you plan to make this trip?

Edited to add:

The Wikipedia entry for Oban shows the average number of days per month with precipitation ranges from 23 to 28:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oban

Those figures do not indicate days with all-day rain or all-snow, of course, but dodging significant precipitation (given that most travelers aren't kitted out for heavy weather) sometimes requires on-the-ground adjustments.

My time in Edinburgh and Glasgow wasn't much affected by rain (though Glasgow is rainier), but most people do not travel to Scotland just to see the cities.

I heard that Autumn has milder weather and is less crowded than summer. I’m thinking August or September.

Autumn will probably be cooler and wetter than summer, but still a good time to go because fewer people will be visiting "all the touristy places." I agree with others that three weeks isn't enough time for a satisfying visit to England, Scotland, and Ireland. I suggest you stick with one island or the other -- either Ireland or Britain (=England+Wales+Scotland). Fly "open jaw" into one city and home from another so you don't have to backtrack. On the ground, you don't want to spend too many of your days moving from city to city because it takes time to pack, check out, transport (whether by car, rail, or air), check in, etc. Look for a few bases to explore and take day trips from. Our host has good advice under "Explore Europe" on this website, and his and other guidebooks will give you good ideas. For rural settings like Hadrian's Wall and Culloden a car would be very helpful, but be sure you can manage driving on the left side. (An automatic shift, which you need to specifically request, will reduce the stress somewhat.)

If this trip will be next fall, you have plenty of time to plan it well. People on this forum can be most helpful with specific questions as your plans get more concrete.

August and the first week of September are school holidays and therefore peak season. Early September is popular for those not tied to school holidays, so places will still be busy.

To simplify the trip, you could focus on England and Scotland, as there is plenty there to keep you occupied. Start in London for 5-6 nights then take the train to York for 3 nights. Hire a car and visit Beamish Museum in County Durham and have a few days for Hadrian’s Wall and the stunning Northumberland hills, coast and Holy Island. Head to Edinburgh for a few nights before heading to Inverness for Culloden, Clava Cairns and walking in the Cairngorms. Visit St Andrews and the pretty East Neuk before flying home from Edinburgh.

Early to mid September would work well. I'd also second Jennifer's suggestion of only England and Scotland and even so you will have to be very selective as to what you can achieve.

I'm assuming you will be driving. Don't underestimate time taken to drive between places. They may not look far apart but driving times will be longer than you might expect. If using google maps allow at least 25% extra driving time AND then add on time for comfort breaks etc.

Picking up acraven's comment about rain. The west side of the country is wetter thsan the east. The rain comes from the west and drops over the mountains befoire reaching the east side of the country.

Jennifer's itinerary would work well. York is an attractive walled town with a wonderful Minster. You can walk along the walls. there is a castle and plenty of museums.

After York, potter up through the North York Moors. They tend not to feature on the itinerary of foreign visitors but have some lovely scenery. Whitby with its ruined Abbey and Dracula connections is a good day out. There is also the preserved steam railway that runs from Pickering (nice town with a ruined castle) to Whitby. There is also the ruined Rievaulx Abbey and Mount Grace Priory.

Beamish deserves a full day. Don't miss Durham with is Norman cathedral and castle and walks along the river banks. Allow a full day for Hadrian's Wall - there is good walking along the wall either from Cawfields Crags just north of Haltwhistle, of from Steel Rigg or Housteads Roman Fort. Make sure you go to find the latrines (toilets) at Housesteads.

Northumberland is also neglected by the tourists who rush through on their way to Scotland. Base yourself somewhere like Alnwick with its castle (still the home of the Dukes of Northumberland) and the award winning modern gardens. There is the ruined Warkworth Castle also owned by the Dukes. Visit Bamburgh Castle ( this is the castle that features on nearly all the publicity for Northumnberland.) Visit Cragside, home of wealthy Victorian industrialist and often descxribed as the house where modern living began with its use of electricity. No expense was spared here. Make sure you do a trip to the tidal island of Lindisfarne, reached by causeway. Check tide times when planning a visit. The tide comes in very quickly and cars regularly get caught by the tide. Sea water doesn't do the car much good... Do a boat trip to the Farne Islands.

Have a short stop in Berwick upon Tweed on the way to Edinburgh with its Elizabethan Walls. Stop off at one of the great ruined Border Abbeys of Jedburgh, Melrose or Dryburgh.

There is loads to do in Edinburgh - castle (make sure you are there for the firing of the 1o'clock gun) , Holyrood House lots of museums... Go for a walk up Arthur's Seat. Think about a visit to Rosslyn Chapel made famous by the Da Vinci code. Do a day trip to Glasgow on the train (very different to Edinburgh). Do a day trip to St Andrews, a university town with ruined castle and abbey.

The Undiscovered Scotland website is a wonderful resource for ideas about Scotland and also Northumberland. Start with the relevant map page and click on the names for ther text pages with lots of information and pictures.

https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/

I disagree with those who advise you to choose either Ireland or Great Britain. The choice is up to you. In three weeks you can get a reasonable taste of Ireland, Scotland, and England -- just accept the fact that there's a vast amount you will not have time to see. Following is a very basic sample sketched itinerary.

Arrive Shannon. 3 nights Dingle peninsula or Ring of Kerry region. 3 nights Galway region. 7th night Dublin, fly to Glasgow.

Arrive Glasgow. 2 nights Inveraray or Glencoe or Fort William region. 2 nights Inverness -- see Culloden. 3 nights Edinburgh, take train or drive to Durham.

Arrive Durham. 2 nights to see Hadrian's Wall near Haltwhistle. (If you prefer the western end, fly from Ireland to Edinburgh and reverse the order so you end up in Glasgow - Carlisle.) 2 nights York or Cambridge. 3 nights London, fly home.

Of course, your preferences may be different. My point is that you can see some of all three without running yourselves ragged.