Best combination of Ireland England & France

Fly to Shannon. Rent a car and tour Ireland's west side, a loop north including Donegal, Connemara, Aran Islands, County Clare. Then head south, visiting Dingle, Ring of Kerry, the Beara Peninsula.....ferry to Brittany, rent new car, visit Quimper, Pont-Aven, Carnac, St. Malo and Dinan, Mont St. Michel, Bayeux, Honfleur, Rouen, Le Petit Andeleys, Giverny. Drop car near Paris, three full days in Paris (more would be nice)....Eurostar to London, train to York for one full day. New rental car. Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire Dales, Oxford, Stratford, Kenilworth Castle, Warwick Castle, Wells, Glastonbury. If you still have time, a few days in Cornwall. Drive back to Salisbury, Stonehenge, Avebury, Winchester. Turn in car at Heathrow. Into London for a few days. Fly home. Lucky you! We have visited all of the above, but not on the same trip.

Cynthia- you left out the Cotswolds. at least two days wandering through the Cotswolds and seeing what we all imagine England is really like. Stay in one of the villages. I could easily spend the whole thirty days in either of those three countries. Oh yes- the Loire chateaux, at least two days, and Chartres cathedral. Both of those will fit in Cynthia's itinerary (which I think is great).

Kathleen-I would LOVE to have 30 days to travel! I spent a college summer in London in the 90s. Here are my thoughts: I will only speak to England/Ireland. I don't know if I would mess around w/ a car (you have to deal with parking and driving on the wrong side). The Rail system is great. I would look at getting a Brit Rail Pass that would include England/Scotland/Ireland. Check out this site:www.britrail.com I would look to fly into London Heathrow. You can get a tube (subway) pass for your time in London. You can catch a train to the coast (Scotland or Wales) and catch a boat ferry to Dublin or Belfast or Cork. Look at http://www.ireland.ferries.org/ The ferry has a sleeper option. You can also sleep on a train to Edinburgh from London. I would spend a week in London. You can take a few daytrips from the city (Oxford, Bath, and Dover. I would look to go North to Stratford upon Avon then York. I would go to Scotland (Edinburgh and St Andrew's). I hope this helps!

Thanks for the suggestions. Not counting transportation costs...can a couple do this on $200 a day for room, eats and sites? Does the French Museum and Monuments pass work as well as British Heritage Pass?

Everyone has a different travel style. It's easier to plan if you think in terms of the local currency; no telling what the exact exchange rate will be when you visit. So,outside London and Paris, think 200 euros or pounds per day. The style would be a very nice B&B, usually picnic lunch, pub dinners.. In the cities, just a convenient room in the center is about 200 euros in Paris, 225 pounds in London. Plus meals. Our June twenty-two nights trip to Scotland and Paris cost $12,000 for everything, plus airfare and dog-sitter....Many of the posters here are reluctant to state exact costs because they then get lectured by others for their "extravagant" travel styles. ;1

Thanks Cynthia for your realistic take on prices. We'll just cash out those IRA's before they go down again and enjoy life! Seriously it is a big help to think that way. I'd say our travel style is petit bourgeois...meaning comfortable, not shabby nor extravagant. We like nice B & Bs. We prefer picnics during the day to not slow down our traveling. Pub grub is just fine. This time I'd like to do some Geneology. Just found out some of my ancesters were from the Moselle/Saar region. My husband is half Irish/half Scotish...Not going to Scotland this time...because we had to visit every Campbell Castle last time.