My family and I are planning to spend about eight days in Ireland and eight days in Scotland next summer. What are your recommendations for getting between the two? Budget is a big consideration and it looks like the cheapest travel option is to do a round trip flight from lax to Dublin with a round trip to Scotland at some point. The other option we’re looking at is one way to Dublin, one way to Edinburgh, then a flight back to lax.
Would the convenience of not having fly back to Dublin make one ways worth it? Right now it’s about 200 more per person to take the one way route.
Any suggestions, including other departure/arrival cities, are greatly appreciated! Thank you!
O
Posted by
Washington DC
28066 posts
No--don't look at two one-way transatlantic tickets. Look at a multi-city ticket into Dublin and back from Edinburgh. You might also try checking a return from Glasgow, because I believe there's good and frequent transportation from Edinburgh to the Glasgow airport. Your origin matters a lot. I believe there are a few places in the US from which you can get non-stop flights to Dublin. I'm not sure there are any non-stops to Scotland from the US. That might or might not make flying back from Scotland rather than from Ireland more expensive. Check out your options on a website like Google Flights.
Honestly, with just 16 days, I wouldn't split my time between those 2 countries. I haven't been to Ireland, but going to Scotland for only 8 days is going to be severely limiting. There's so much to see, and transportation in the Highlands and to the islands is not very fast.
Posted by
Delanson, NY
79 posts
Aer Lingus flies direct from LAX to DUB. They are usually pretty competitive doing multi city flights. For instance you could book outbound LAX to DUB, then book homebound Edinburgh/Glasgow to DUB to LAX. Dublin is their hub on most if not all flights so you'd connect via there, maybe a few hour layover. I've used Aer Lingus for such situations coming home from such places as Lisbon, Munich and Milan.
Then you'd still need to get from Ireland to Scotland. A discount flight on Ryanair from Dublin or Belfast to a Scottish city would be efficient . Aer Lingus would also run such one-ways but probably not as reasonable. Or if you prefer to stay on land/sea and plan on ending up in Northern Ireland, there are ferries over to Scotland from there.
Posted by
San Diego, California
5604 posts
Note that The Fringe runs most of August in Edinburg. Plan either to attend or avoid , but note that it happens and is wonderful!
Posted by
1258 posts
I would recommend spending all your time in either Scotland or Ireland and forget about all the flying headaches. Both countries have more than enough to see and do in that time. I love Scotland so recommend that, but haven't been to Ireland for a comparison.