Ireland England itinerary feedback

Why fly to Windsor from London unless you are referring to Windsor, Connecticut, USA.

Your plan sounds fine except I'd take one Dublin night and make it a Belfast night (stay at a Premiere Inn, there are 3 to choose from) so you can tour the Giants Causeway AND see Belfast. Titanic Museum is wonderful. Train or Bus from Dublin to Belfast. 2 hours on either mode of transport. Remember NI is NOT Ireland. So when you say 10 nights in Ireland you are incorrect.

Lastly, those more familiar with the Cotswolds can chime in but not certain where trains can take you and how easy it is to then be transported into London. Cotswolds BEST visited with a car, which you could pick up and drop off in Oxford, then train into London.

Hi Claudia. Thanks for your input. The reason we fly from London to Windsor is that its Windsor Ontario Canada, which is where we fly out from and that is where our car will be parked. Good reason, no? LOL Good idea to stay in Belfast although one of the CIE Tours I am looking at actually includes Belfast & the Giants Causeway, with an overnight in Derry though not Belfast, then back to Dublin. So depending on which CIE Tour we book, we may or may not do the night in Belfast. If we do, I'm thinking we could fly to Liverpool from Belfast too, correct? Thanks again for your input (and the clarification on Ireland vs NI).

According to the Great Arbiter, Wikipedia, "Ireland is an island in Europe." That application of the name has been in use far longer than the 20th-century political division.

I have been to Ireland and Britain a few times, and generally find your plan to be reasonable.

While in Dublin, try to go to Trinity College (make sure to see the Book of Kells). Also, the Guinness Brewery is nice.

You will love the Giants Causeway.

You indicated that you would be taking the train from Liverpool to London, stopping in the Cotswolds for two nights, planning on visiting Stratford on Avon, Blenheim and Oxford. I have been researching for our drive tour of England and Wales next year and plan to stay in the Cotswolds for 6 nights to see those places as well as the Cotswolds and other places. Where in the Cotswolds will you stay? Using rail travel will limit what you are able to see. Also, you may be able to do Blenheim and Oxford in one day, but it will be tough and a very long day. If Stratford on Avon is your other day, then you have no time to see the Cotswolds.

According to the Great Arbiter, Wikipedia

So it must be correct, then.

Maybe 2 nights in Cotswolds (visit Bleinheim Castle, Stratford upon Avon & Oxford).

None of those are in the Cotswolds. (only 1 "i" in Blenheim, BTW).

The beauty of the Cotswolds - containing an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - is to get off the train and wander - on foot, horseback, bicycle or car, the little lanes beautiful villages, gorgeous rivers and streams and tasty and beautiful pubs and scenery.

Visit Blenheim, Oxford and Stratford upon Avon, certainly, but realise that it is like visiting Interlaken instead of the Berner Oberland or visiting Padova and calling it Venice.

What's CIE?

Nigel, apparently I have not done enough research on the Cotswolds. I shall remedy that before I travel there, if in fact, I do. I definitely want to see the three places that I mentioned. So maybe its not the Cotswolds that I want to see. Further research is needed on my part. FYI, CIE Tours is a tour company that specializes in travel to the UK & Ireland.

We visited Liverpool last year and totally loved the Beatles Experience (museum located on the Albert Dock), the Magical Mystery Tour bus, and the Hard Day's Night Hotel. Oh, and the rebuilt Cavern Club.

Stratford-upon-Avon was considered a Cotswold village when I visited there with my parents many decades ago. I guess the boundary of Cotswolds may have moved since then? Anyway we were there last year and yes, it's a must-do if you love Shakespeare, but it has seriously lost the quaint village feel. We hit a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam as soon as we left the M40 to get into town (creeping past large automobile dealerships, big-box shopping centres, etc.). The open-top bus tour schedule was similarly disrupted by traffic. To be honest, I felt that most of the people we dealt with in the hotel, tourist info office, Royal Shakespeare Theatre etc. were in a sort of tourist-fatigue state (and this was in the springtime, not mid- or late summer). It was as if they felt "OK, we know you have to come here because it's Stratford, so we don't really have to try very hard to make you enjoy your stay."

If I went again, I might stay in a place like Warwick or Moreton-in-Marsh or Chipping Campden and just visit Stratford for the day.