England and Ireland

You have to be more specific. Do you mean one or two places in each country? Any ideas where you want to go?

We spent 4 weeks in England and that was not enough.

Two weeks is barely enough to see just one of England or Ireland, let alone both of them.

Rick Steves' recommended itineraries give three weeks to both Ireland and England. That would mean six weeks -- without any rest days or slowing down -- to see "the best" of both Ireland and England.

I would pick one of them and leave the other for a future trip.

Two weeks is barely enough time to see Ireland--you would have to maintain a pretty strenuous pace to do it and even then you couldn't see it all. I think you'd be better served by choosing one country and spending your two weeks in a couple of different bases in that country. Alternatively, if what you really want is just a taste of each country, pick one area in each and fully explore that one area. I've not been to England but the west coast of Ireland is wonderful!

Thanks everyone! I have no clue what to see in each, I to do way more research!

As everyone said, each country is large and plenty to see. Get the RS guide books out of the library, look at RS and other free videos on YouTube, look at the RS tours for England and Ireland and London to see what there is to do every day. Look at the RS scrapbooks of Ireland and England and London to see what there is to do and where to go and what hotels to stay in. Two weeks is great in just one country and be mindful of taking trains and checking in and out of hotels and getting to and from hotels and places which eat into your day. Better to see all of one place then only bits and pieces of a place and then have to move on.

Ask more questions, once you have done more research on where ever you choose to go.

On our trips, Ireland has been much more about seeing the countryside and smaller towns out in the country, much more than cities. England has a lot of sights in both urban and rural areas. While you’re in the British isles, there’s also Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and countless islands around the mainlands, to add to the visitor’s dilemma with just 2 weeks.

You could have a week in London, with a day trip or two outside of London, then a week in Ireland, but pick one section - Dublin and day trips from there, or Galway in the west and daytrips. The Republic of Ireland’s got two international airports - Dublin in the east and Shannon in the west.

Wonderful ideas!!!

I prefer a different approach. I start by researching what I want to see, both places and sights. That drives how much time I need. I plan two must see sights a day, one in the morning another in the afternoon. That gives me an itinerary I can live with. If I want, I can add a sight in the evening, or a brief visit to a smaller sight, if I have time and energy. So a city that has six must see sights needs three days.

Because of the nature of travel, three full days means four nights. The fourth day, in this case, becomes a travel day. I might see something on a travel day, maybe a day stop between one destination and the next? I don't plan travel days, however, as a day I can see two big sights. From experience I've learned travel days are eaten up getting from one place to the next. I prefer to plan travel days for no more than four hours of actual travel (car, train, plane) because planning more makes it a hard day.

Using this approach probably forces you to cover less distance. You won't skip things you really want to see, however, to try to stay up with an impossible schedule. It might make you want to divide your plan into two trips, or more, of two weeks. I did something like this for France and decided four trips of 17 to 20 days was the best way to go. I turned it into four loops (NW, NE, SE and SW).

If it were me, I would spend both weeks in England. Maybe include the Lake District for scenery.

Thank you!