Ireland, England, Scotland

When you say you want to explore outside the cities, do you mean base there and do day trips, or do you not want to visit the cities at all? Outside the 'main/popular' cities in Scotland it will be much more difficult without a car. While we have never rented a car and driven in the UK (we use trains and the occassional bus), we do tend to stick to the main cities. In Scotland we have enjoyed Edinburgh, Aviemore, Inverness and Glasgow. We have done lots of excellent day trips from Aviemore and Inverness via train or with local tour companies that do day trips. ScotRail serves a large part of the country, but the smaller villages of the the highlands will be more difficult. We've only been to Ireland one time. We used a tour company then because rail service is even more limited in Ireland. England has good rail service to most, but not all of the country. Again, the smaller towns/villages and more remote areas will have limited or no service.
If you tell us the areas you are interested in we might could give you more specifics.

Toni has hit the nail on the head. I'm not completely sure I really understand your question - it seems a little broad. What else have your see? What sort of places have you dreampt of seeing? What are your interests? Are you intending that September would be the time this year? I don't think anybody knows what the longer term impact of the Games will be. By September many folk who were here will have left, but who knows how many will have delayed their trips a month or so later than usual? Certainly not me, I don't know. If you can give us just a little more help framing your question we can help you more. ((BTW - Scotland only has one "t".))

One thing to realize is that in Scotland there are not a lot of cities. ; ) Glasgow and Edinburgh are real cities, and maybe Aberdeen, but I really don't think so. ; ) So, Toni, recommended Aviemore. There are a couple of other places to consider. One is, of course Inverness. From Inverness you can takes day trips to various places. You can do this with tour companies and you can do some on your own. You can take the train to Kyle of Lochalsh and see Skye, or stop and see Plockton. You can take the train to Aviemore or Aberdeen. You may be able to take it to Elgin, but if not there is a bus. You might think about staying in Dunkeld or Birnam for a couple of nights. If you like walks there are wonderful ones in the area covering a wide range of difficulty. Also, there are day trips you can take from there on the train to Blair Castle or down to Perth or back down to Stirling. Stirling itself might make an interesting base. Pitlochrey, between Dunkeld and Inverness is also a good place to stay. There is a nice distillery. a festival theater, nice local walks and you can get to Aviemore from there pretty easily. It's hard to see the far north or the borders without a car. Pam

You seem to be getting more comments about Scotland so I'll be more general. You should also probably ask a more specific question. Ireland without a car is very difficult outside of the larger cities. Train and bus service is there but not necessarily where you want to go. There are some good spots accessible by public transportation but you need to plan in more detail. I would strongly recommend not to try to tour Ireland using public transportation. Scotland is similar to Ireland. You can get many places but touring will require careful planning and you may find where you can get to limited. England has better public transportation but you still need to be more specific where you will want to go. I doubt there will be many lingering effects of the Olympics by September and I also doubt that there will be any problems outside the London area during the Olympics.