Travelling in Ireland, Scotland and Wales

Buy the following two books: Rick Steves Ireland, Rick Steves' Great Britain (2009 versions).

Both of these books will answer most of your questions and are geared towards the type of trip you want to take.

Also look at this website..not just the Traveler's Helpline but everything under the "Plan Your Trip" tab at the top of the page.

Only you know what really interests you and what type of things you want to see.

Then come back with more specific questions and we'll be glad to help.

With 3 weeks, I'd suggest you consider dropping Ireland. You can do a wonderful trip covering Scotland, Wales and parts of England by train. Something along this line- Fly into London- 3 days with 1 day trip to any of these: Stratford-upon-Avon, Bath, Canterbury, Dover, Oxford, Cambridge. Train to York- 1 or 2 days. Train to Edinburgh- 1 or 2 days. Train to Aviemore,2- 3 days- with trips to microbrewery, distilleries, steam train ride, ride up Caringorm Mt. hiking, etc. Train to Inverness 4 to 7 days with day trips: Loch Ness cruise with Urquart castle stop, Isle of Skye with Eliean Donnan castle, Great Glen or Glen Coe, possible trip to Orkneys, distillery tours. Train to Glasgow- 2 days. Train to Snowdonia area (we like Betws-y-Coed) 1 or 2 days. Train to Cardiff- 3 days. As you can see- you are already out of time!!!! And there is still LOTS to see! You could fly out of Cardiff or train back to London for 1 night before flying home from there. Feel free to private message me- we've been to the UK more than 40 times in more than 20 years.

I agree with Toni on dropping Ireland. Seeing the countryside of Ireland while avoiding hotels and staying in quaint places like abbeys is almost impossible there without a car.

Oh dear I would strongly disagree with the above! I just spent seven weeks in Ireland (and a week in Scotland) without a car and had very few transportation issues. I also loved Ireland and would hate for you to skip it entirely! I would go with a week in each - Ireland, Scotland and wales which would give you a decent sense of each country.

As far as transportation between the two, there are very cheap flights with Ryan Air. Of course you have to very carefully read the fine print (VERY carefully) or you will get charged random fees. I took the ferry from Belfast to Stranraer and it ended up being a full day of travel by the time I got a train to Edinburgh (or Glasgow on the way back) as well, plus it was more expensive than a flight would have been, but now i know!

You've bumped into the Great Car or No Car Debate for the UK. In England and parts of Scotland you can get around pretty well with public transportation. I cant speak for Ireland as I have relatives there who drive me places so I've never even tried an alternative. ; ) In Scotland, I come down on the rent-a-car-for-part-of-the-time side of the argument. But, I love to drive Scotland's wee roads, with the BBC or Scotland Radio telling me interesting things and beautiful scenery that I often stop and photograph.

I'm curious as to why you want to avoid hotels? I can see avoiding bigger hotels or chains, but I have to say that staying in small family run hotels is terrific. These small hotels can range from 10 to 25 rooms and are charming and friendly, and often have a little pub where you can have a nightcap and reminisce with your host about your day.

Also, in order to get some ideas on places to visit, check out undiscovered scotland on the web. Also, I find that the Footprint Guides are quite good if you can find one. Rick's info on Scotland is very selective as most of his guidebooks are.

Tell us more about your interests and we all can probably do a better job of helping.

Pam