England or Ireland

If you want to take trains, go to England. The train system is extensive and will take you to lots of great places. The train system in Ireland is pretty limited.

As stated, England is very Public Transit friendly. I strongly encourage you to go for London, with day trips to several places and maybe one or two other destinations- maybe Cardiff for a couple of days, or go north and stay in York then visit Edinburgh, or Inverness. Here is a link to an article I wrote about day trips from London for AAA Carolinas' "Go" magaizne last year : http://www.aaacarolinas.com/Magazine/2008/Jan-Feb/britain.htm?zip=28201&stateprov=nc&city=charlotte if it asks for your zipcode, use 28208. Let me know if it is helpful. We have been to the UK more than 40 times, so feel free to private message me. By the way we started taking our kids when they were the age of your daughter....

I love Ireland, but if you want to use public transit then England is definitely the better bet for this trip. T

wo weeks is enough time to see much of England and even take the Chunnel train to Paris for a few days if you want.

We just drove a week in southern England, and it was fun but it was also fairly strenuous. You're on the left, roads are narrow and hedgerowed, and though distances may be short it takes a long time to weave in and out of villages. It got to be fairly nervewracking by the end of the week. You may have a much better time and time better spent with your daughter were you to travel by train. The trains are efficient and extensive, and they have a good coach/bus system too. Have fun .

Trains are expensive in England. In Either UK or Ireland take buses from pt to pt. You can spend downtime with your daughter and it's cheap.

I'd kind of disagree with Brad here, I think he's being a bit too general saying "use buses instead of trains." Buses and coaches are an option, and the better in some cases, but there's no absolute right answer.

"Expensive" is quite relative and very much in the eye of the beholder anyway but train prices in the UK are very variable. Full price, standard tickets certainly are expensive, especially compared to some other European national railways (Italy for instance.) On the other hand the various discounted tickets can be very competitive if you book in advance and are not concerned with flexibility.

Not to dismiss coach travel, as a rule it is cheaper than the train (although your saving depends on route and time) but they can also take a lot longer to get where they're going.

To answer the OP's question the trains are much more comprehensive in the UK than Ireland. Like the old saying "All roads lead to Rome", in Ireland "all trains go to Dublin." The trains run on a hub-and-spoke manner from Dublin.

I don't disagree with Peter. Tickets that are booked in advance (sometimes 48 hours but generally weeks to months) can be significantly cheaper.

Flexibility is a big part of my travel style. I prefer traveling shoulder season with a minimum of advance reservations. Catching a train without advance booking is expensive but busses are not.

I also keep my travel legs short so my days aren't consumed with travel. For short legs (London to Oxford), a bus works great. For long legs (London to Edinburgh), trains will get there much quicker.

If you like mapping out the entire trip ahead of time, you can get some decent bargains on train fares.