Travel between London, Wales and Dublin - 8-10 Nights

Posted by acamilleking on 01/03/18 07:31 PM

Looking for suggestions on the most efficient way to visit London, Wales and Dublin (possibly Belfast as well) flying to/from Seattle, WA. Trip will be about 10-12 days total, so about 8-10 nights. We want to fly in and out of London-Gatwick because fairs are so cheap through Norweigan Air. We are open to train as mode of transport if it's only a few hours, but otherwise would probably want to fly to make the most of our time. Just not sure what the best order would be, or if train/plane is better.

TRAVEL TIME - end of May 2018 (is this a good time for these places?)

Posted by Laura

Rick Steves' Europe

01/03/18 07:47 PM

16893 posts

The end of May is a great time to travel. Keep it simple for this short trip. When I saw those flight prices, I immediately thought about a week in London in March, without much need to venture further.

You can easily fly budget airlines between London and either Irish city and just skip Wales; see www.skyscanner.com. If you take a train to Wales, then ferries continue from Holyhead to Dublin (or Fishguard to Rosslare). Combined Sail/Rail ferry and train tickets are sold with advance purchase discounts at www.nationalrail.co.uk but they may not work as well if you're actually stopping to visit Wales. Irish train tickets are cheaper purchased online than in the station. See more transport info and links on our Ireland rail page.

Posted by acraven

Washington DC

01/04/18 12:39 AM

27142 posts

Eight nights seems quite short for London + Wales + Dublin with or without Belfast. I hope you can manage at least ten. You'll be doing a major relocation three times during a short time, with each of them chewing up at least half a day (probably considerably longer to and from Ireland--trekking out to airports is a real drag). And your arrival day will probably have you feeling sleep-deprived and jetlagged.

Is this your first trip to London?

Posted by James

01/04/18 08:12 AM

2422 posts

I also think you are trying to do too much given the time span. I think that Dublin is best combined with a whole Ireland trip - or at least a good bit of Ireland - flying direct from the US in & out. Being as you are flying in/out of Gatwick, it might be better to concentrate on England and Wales. Have you been to the UK before and if so where?

Posted by sbeachesq

01/09/18 07:04 PM

2 posts

London can eat up as many days as you give it. We did 3 for our first trip and I regretted not spending more time there because there is so much to do and explore.

You can do a quick and cheap flight from London to Dublin easily. We have flown both ways and found a few nights in Dublin to be an easy add on to previous UK trips. 3 days seems to be our sweet spot; two to explore the central city and one to venture out to the countryside/seaside (Glendalough/Howth). However, I agree with previous posters that Dublin and Belfast along with London and Wales in that many days is probably not doable.

For Wales, it depends on where you're going. We have taken direct trains from London to Cardiff which are a little over two hours journey time. Cardiff is a great party town with a castle which we enjoy visiting but most travelers seem to be interested in northern Wales which we haven't yet ventured out to. There are also flights between Dublin and Cardiff.