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Ireland/UK/Portugal Planning in the Works for Sept/Oct ‘26

Posted by (California) on

Any suggestions for my 6-week itinerary for Ireland/Scotland/England/Portugal vacation. It’ll be my last European trip and the first for my sister & her husband. We are seniors with some mobility issues but we’re all active and get around well.

We’ll be flying out of LAX and we plan to visit some friends in Dublin, Bristol & Portugal (Porto/Lisbon/Tavira areas) & family roots in Galway, Donegal & Glasgow. Some day trip, tours & driving to take in all the sites depending on the practicality of all modes of transportation. I have all the travel books & maps but nothing hits all the places we’re hoping to see, so I could use some help. Any suggestions will be welcomed & appreciated.

So far this is what I’ve come up with. 15 days in Ireland so LAX to Dublin with 2-4 day stays in Dublin, Kilkenny, Dingle, Galway, Donegal & Ballycastle to see the sites on our list & one night in Belfast and flying to Glasgow then taking a train to Inverness for 2-3 days. After train to Edinburgh for 2-3 days. Short drive to Glasgow and catching a train down to Liverpool for an overnight stay & a Beatles tour (yes we’re of that age and huge fans). Train to Bristol for 3 days (have friends there) and easy to catch Stonehenge & other sites while there. Train to London for 2-3 days. Fly to Portugal for 10 days. Should we fly into Porto then head down the coast in a car so we can visit all the various areas or do we fly into Lisbon…find a place there as a home base and do a north trip and a south trip? Direct flight home from Portugal although most seem to be daytime flights so wondering if we do a connecting flight so we can travel at night.

Does this itinerary sound ok and wondering if while in Dublin we rent a car for getting around the island, which is what I’ve done in the past.

Posted by
9760 posts

Your plan for Ireland looks good. We have been to Ireland 3 times, the last time doing a tour that included Dublin, Kilkenny, Dingle, Galway and the Cliffs of Moher. We did it in 10 days.

Not sure about flying from Belfast to Glasgow, aren't there ferries?

Loved Inverness and Loch Ness. Also, the area north of Edinburgh and Edinburgh.

On flying into Porto, not sure about what the flight connections are available. Perhaps you can fly into Porto and out of Lisbon.

Don't miss going up the Douro River Valley, it is amazing. Take a cruise or the train (rails run along the north side of the river). Go to Pinhao and Regua.
Also, in Porto is the best B&B EVER, it is The InPatio Guesthouse. It is wonderful. It only has five rooms, so book early.
Don't miss Obidos with its ancient walls and Sintra.

Posted by
9760 posts

If you would consider a group tour, we loved Rabbies Tours. They have tours of Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales.
They are not expensive and usually have small groups.

Posted by
1601 posts

If you rent the car at the Dublin airport (which seems to be the most popular and least expensive), then you should return it there, too. You likely will be charged a massive fee to drop it in Belfast since it's in a different country. And it's a pretty short drive.

Posted by
4 posts

Many thanks for information/suggestions, especially about the car hire being in different countries. So will make more sense to return the car in Dublin, alter things a bit and maybe just flying into Edinburgh, head up to Inverness and go in reverse to see everything on our list. Still figuring out routes to drive or train. Also thanks for the suggestion for Porto's guesthouse, sadly all booked up both ways, at the beginning or end of our trip.

The reason we decided to fly from Belfast to Glasgow instead of taking a ferry was because I didn't think I could do a 2-3 hr ferry, I suffer from motion sickness at times and wouldn't want to spoil a whole day with my head in a toilet. Ha ha.

Any other useful information anybody wants to toss out there...feel free. I'm always open to pros and cons.

Thanks again!

Posted by
1082 posts

Sounds like a lovely trip. What are your plans for Ballycastle? If you have time I would take the ferry to Rathlin Island. Donegal is very big, do you know where you want to go specifically?

I agree you should probably drop the car in the same country you collected it or it will be quite expensive. Regarding the ferry from Belfast, for info, it doesn't go to any major Scottish cities, it goes to Cairnryan in Dumfries and Galloway and it's a bit of a pain getting to Glasgow from there. The flight is much faster even considering being at the airport an hour early (it's something like 30-45 minutes in the air).

I think the rest all sounds good... of course I would tell you to spend more time in London (there's so much to do here) but looks like you have a pretty good agenda already. Good luck with your planning!

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