Should I skip Edinburgh?

London, Dublin, and Edinburgh are not just three different cities, they are three different countries. I love Edinburgh and so I truly can't recommend that you skip it. It's also particularly interesting right now as they discuss possible independence from the United Kingdom. Think about carving one day off of Paris and London and giving yourself three days each in Edinburgh and Dublin. One other thing to think about. It's very likely that having been once, you'll go back to any of these places. Pam

I would say skip Dublin if you have to skip something. Although you could easily shave a day or two off of London and Paris to make room for it. As Rick says, assume you will return. The cost of your flight on a three week trip, a few hundred dollars either way, is not going to have the greatest influence on the total cost. These are all very expensive cities, so saving a few hundred on the flight should not determine your itinerary. Dublin is a nice place to visit, but Edinburgh is even better and logistically easier. You have easy train connections between the others. That said, check Aer Lingus flights between cities for Dublin to Edinburgh or London. Also, take the train from London to Paris, so much easier than flying. I would not dream of taking a ferry between any of these cities, these days it's just not practical compared to the alternatives. Train travel is excellent between big cities, if that's your itinerary it's no contest. Consider York on the way to Edinburgh.

Yeah I'd definitely only take a ferry to Dublin because it seems cheaper.

hi, skipping Edinburgh would depend on how bad or not you want to see/do things there. Since you say you have planned to go to London & Paris and spend 5 days in each, have you thought about cutting 1 day off each and adding those days to Dublin and Edinburgh? Again, it would depend on what you want to see/do in each city. Early last year i took the route you want to take w/o any issues. And i spent more or less the same amount of time as you have planned. But again, it will depend on what you want to do/see. Personally i could spend more time in Paris and London but thats okay since i will be back! and i have at least to london. Paris will be another year. getting from Dublin to Edi is easy. look at skyscanner.com and Kayak. com for flights. I had a aer Lingus flight from Dublin to EDi. They only allow 1 carry on fyi. when you look at flights, look at fling in/out of different citys and use different days of the week too. also, look at different combos. It maybe cheaper to book a separate round trip (r/t) flight into BOI/dublin and then a separate flight from Dublin (DUB) to Edinburgh (EDI)l. then look at a multi-city flight ticket adding EDI to your R/T ticket from BOI/DUB. and so forth. you need to do your own homework on this since ONLY YOU know your schedule when you will fly in/out of each city. just a note, trains kick butt overthere. Not like here where you need a car for getting to places. So, if you decide to go to Edinburhg, there is a train to London that takes about 4 hours. The one i took had 1 stop. For London to Paris take the Eruostar TGV train. Its really sweet and takes about 2 h20m to get from center of London to Center of Paris. This you will want to book early as possible. Also, they dont book more than 3 or 4 months out.
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.... YOu should get RS book on Europe thru the Back door and the books on London and Paris. His books cover transportation both INTERcountry and INTRAcountry and within the cities. also, when you look at the travel using train and plane, look at the travel times. ALso, as RS books point out, using the plane, you have to get transportation back into the city ($$$ and time). i see that you want to take the ferry since it inexpensive. you may want to look at how long youre gong to be on the water for that inexpensive trip. in my opinion (imo) wasted time to get from A to B. happy trails.

Thank's Elle! That's kind of what I've been planning, but hearing it out of someone else's mouth (fingers?) feels pretty great - a bit more like I know what I'm doing, haha. Also, thank's for the left window seat tip, it's little things like that that I love :-).

Will, Elle provided a great solution for fitting in all the cities on your list. Be sure to visit the Temple Bar district in Dublin (a lot of fun in the evenings, especially after a few pints of Guinness). Be VERY CAREFUL when using RyanAir. They're merciless when it comes to tacking on extra fees for the slightest deviation from their rules. As this is your first European adventure, I would highly recommend reading Europe Through The Back Door prior to your trip. The country-specific Guidebooks will have lots of good information on hotels, transportation, restaurants, etc. Happy travels!

"Also, what's the best way to get from Dublin to Edinburgh or from Dublin to London? Is there a website that's easy and will give me cheapish rates to to a rail/sail kind of thing from Ireland?" If you want rail/sail information (or any other kind of train information), start with The Man In Seat 61. Here's his page on connections between Britain and Ireland: http://tinyurl.com/dyqa89c However, for these routes, I would look into flying, using SkyScanner to find flights: http://www.skyscanner.com/. If you must fly Ryanair, heed this musical warning about the perils of Cheap Flights (not safe for work - contains profanity): http://tinyurl.com/2vxmaod "There must be extra charges when the flights are 50p"