Hello!
My husband and I are looking to do Ireland & Scotland (and maybe some England) for two weeks this spring. I'm wondering what you'd all recommend for an itinerary? We don't have any additional time other than the two weeks, and would like to cram as much in. I know some areas would obviously be worth more time than others, but we'll have to ration, so to speak.
Any advice would be appreciated! We're thinking April travel and flying into Dublin and out of Scotland, somewhere.
Thank you!
I guess I would need to know more about what kinds of sightseeing you are interested in, but I wouldn't recommend doing 2 countries let alone 3 with only 2 weeks. If you were to do 2 I would do Scotland and England together because at least they are on the same island. You could do Yorkshire, Northumberland, Lake District area of England and then do more of the border region of Scotland with a trip out to the western isles, particularly Skye. What are you most interested in seeing and we can give you better direction.
Thank you for your replies!
We're hoping to do an open-jaw flight situation for sure. In terms of flying, we fly out of Toronto for direct flights (we just drive to Toronto, it's 4 hours but saves time and a lot of money). I'm beginning to think that England and Scotland make the most sense.
In terms of our interest - we like to have a mix of cities and more rural areas. We're into food, drinks, local history and we aren't really museum types. We like to wander and see smaller towns that are a little off the beaten path. Whiskey would be awesome to learn about and do some tastings.
I agree with SteveB about using logical geography for your itinerary, but if you chose Ireland & Scotland I would fly, not spend time on a ferry. Personally Northern Ireland would not be high on my list either.
The RS guidebooks to Ireland and to Great Britain will give you ideas of reasonable itineraries. Would you be renting cars or using public transportation? Do you like cities or prefer spending time in the great outdoors walking (hiking)? Do you enjoy museums? Castles and stately homes? Lots of unknowns here. April is a good time to travel as the days are reasonably long and popular destinations not overrun with tourists, but you'll need layers of warm clothing & waterproof gear.
We're interested in splitting the time between scenic/outdoorsy stuff and cities. We're very into castles, and historical stuff. Not really museum types, but it kind of depends on the museums.
We're open to renting a car and/or trains/busses. We just went to Spain last April where we did trains, busses and rented a car during the two weeks we were there.
If you like castles you should really think about Wales. You might be able to fly into Manchester from Toronto and then easily see Northern Wales, The English Midland: Chester, Liverpool, the Lake District, Hadrian Wall, Then Scotland: Dumphries, the Borders, Glasgow, Edinburgh, then turn south to Durham, York and then London. This can be done by car in two weeks...we did it.
Please be aware that the first 2-3 weeks of April will be Easter school holidays here, so places will be busier and more expensive. It's good that you are planning relatively early.
