Transportation in Ireland and to Scotland

Car and fly.

The kicker will be the car for such a short rental period. Figure about $125 per day vs $30 per if you kept it for a week (both plus insurance which will be stiff). If you start the semi-loop from Dublin at dawn the first day you can make the early afternoon flight from Belfast the next.

Flybe into Edinburg will take some of the sting out of the overall cost. Read their rules.

I have made the trip in reverse a number of times (from Scotland to Northern Ireland) by Ferry. It is a longer trip than by plane. You depart from Belfast and you arrive on the west coast of Scotland, but it is a very enjoyable ride and depending on where you want to be in Scotland, a lovely drive through the countryside; and there is also a train from the Ferry Station in Stranraer, Scotland.

As for getting from Dublin to the Antrim coast, you could take a bus or train from Dublin to Belfast and rent a car in Belfast and drive up the Antrim Coast road. It will take you by Carrickfergus Castle and the Glens of Antrim before going through Ballycastle and over to the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge and Giant's Causeway. The day from Dublin up to the Antrim Coast will be a long one.

If you rented a car from Dublin and drove to the Antrim coast you could have a lovely drive up through the Mourne Mountains, possibly go through Downpatrick (St. Patrick's supposed burial and place of first conversion in Saul), on your way farther North.

If efficiency is your main goal then car and plane as the previous post has said.

I suspect that psaturnia owns the car in the response. There's a couple of problems with a rental vehicle/s:

. Hertz is the only agency I'm aware of that will let you take a car across the Irish Sea, and for the honor they stiff you about three hundred bucks a day for the entire rental period.

. The ferry docks in Cairnryan on the Scotland side. The last time I passed by I didn't notice a rental car place there. The closest might still be down at Stranraer if it hasn't shut down since the ferry deal moved up the loch.

For clarification, I have rented the vehicles and dropped them at one Ferry Station and rented at the arriving Ferry Station (of course depending on the rental company you use). There is a Hertz office at Cairnryan. Ed is correct, most rental companies don't like you taking the car across the sea.

Huh! Hertz at Cairnryan is news.

Psaturnia's knowledge puts a whole new wrinkle on the issue.