Help itinerary Ireland/Scotland

Have you booked flights already or can you fly into one country and home from another? Called open jaw not one way tickets. To save time if you could do that fly into Dublin for a few days then train to Belfast then fly to Edinburgh then home from there. Just an idea.

Called open jaw not one way tickets.

When booking flights click on the multi-city button.

What city are you flying into?

I’m flying from Manchester to Dublin, then was planning on taking the train to Belfast and then take the ferry train to Edinburgh. I only have six nights so I’m just trying to figure out how many nights to stay in Dublin, Belfast, and Edinburgh.

You need a minimum of three nights in Dublin if you include a day trip to Brú na Bóinne. In my opinion Belfast is not worth visiting. If I went back to Northern Ireland I would visit the Antrim Coast.

It seems like you have already bought a RT ticket from Canada to Manchester. Do you have specific lists of things you want to see in Dublin, Belfast and Edinburgh? Do you have any bus or tour excursions you plan to do from any of these 3 cities? If the answer is yes to multi sites you want to see in each of these cities, you might try a 6 night itinerary but it will leave you with very little time in any of the 3 cities. You could try an afternoon flight on your day of arrival from Manchester to either Dublin or Belfast, easy to connect by train, and stay in each of those cities for 2 nights each. Then fly to Edinburgh from Dublin or Belfast and stay there 2 nights. Take the train to Manchester from Edinburgh the night before for your flight home. Now you are up to 7 nights!

I think this looks impossible to do with only 6 nights, especially if you have specific things you want to see in each of these cities. I hope you can narrow this down, after looking at your lists to just 2 locations and if they are on different islands, plan to fly between the two. Book everything else with some flexibility to cancel, lodging, etc.

While I will always promote the surface route from Dublin to Edinburgh as opposed to flying, in this case with so little time it makes very little sense.

There are 2 routes- via Belfast (bus/train to Belfast, bus from central Belfast to Belfast port, ferry, bus for the over 1 hour ride Cairnryan Port to Ayr, train to Glasgow Central, change to Queen Street, train to Edinburgh)- leave Dublin about 0730, arrive Edinburgh 1759
(there are two through buses Belfast to Glasgow via the ferry to make it easier, but they save no time)
or
Bus or taxi Central Dublin to Dublin port at about 0630, ferry to Holyhead, train all the way from Holyhead to Edinburgh with 1 or 2 changes- arrive 1821.

Essentially the same journey time.

(so either way a full day 12 hour or so journey)

I have been to all three cities, and they are all worth visiting, but I would never attempt it with only seven days. I spent four days in each of Dublin and Belfast, and six in Edinburgh. The amount of time you will spend getting from one city to another will seriously limit the time you have to see sights. If I had to pick just one it would be Edinburgh. If I had to choose two I would add Dublin. I wouldn’t attempt all three. I would highly recommend spending all your time in Edinburgh, there is so much to see and do that you won’t tire of it, and you won’t have to worry about catching trains and planes.