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Wales, Ireland, England: Thoughts on our plans?

Posted by (Anchorage, Alaska) on

We have 3 weeks planned for Wales, Ireland & London. So far this is what we have:

Day 1: fly into Bristol, England (already have tickets) & take train to Cardiff, Wales (where our daughter will be). Stay in Cardiff (any suggestions for moderate priced B & B's?)

Day 2: Cardiff & spend night in Cardiff

Day 3: train to Fishguard & ferry to Rosslare Ireland, night in Rosslare

Day 4: pick up car & drive to Cork, spend night in (or near) Cork (suggestions for place to stay for 4 adults?)

Day 5: explore area & drive to Cashel, spend night in Cashel

Day 6: See Rock of Cashel and drive to Dublin area (drop off car & use public transport to get to lodging). Spend night in Dublin area (probably Dun Laoghaire)

Day 7: explore Dublin, spend night in Dun Laoghaire (same place as previous night)

Day 8: Ferry to Holyhead, Wales, spend night in Holyhead

Day 9: pick up another car, explore castles in North Wales, night in Conwy

Day 10: more castles, drive to Chester & spend night

Day 11: not sure where to stay on drive to London (ideas?) We want to drop the car at Luton airport & take public transport to our flat near Regents Park so we'll be stopping somewhere between Chester & Luton

Day 12: drop off car at Luton, public transport (or car service) to flat.

Day 13 - 20: London. We are thinking of a day trip to Dover & Canterbury (weather permitting) and another day trip to Cambridge.

Our trip is in December and we'll spend Christmas & New Year's eve in London (yes, we know about the public transportation shut down and have planned around it)

Any suggestions, ideas, etc would be great. I'm especially trying to figure out what companies to rent a car from since both times they are one way rentals. With 4 adults it seems like a car is cheaper than bus or train and gives us a bit more flexibility with time.

Posted by
2776 posts

I can't help you with all of your questions, but my suggestion for Day 11 is Bath.

Posted by
103 posts

We had considered Bath but it's too far south and west of Luton. We'll be dropping off the car on Christmas eve day so we want to make sure we are settled early afternoon.

thanks though!

Posted by
1530 posts

Laura,

It sounds like fun, but you're going to arrive in London totally exhausted! I count 8 one nighters in a row. I think just about everyone on this board will tell you that's extremely ambitious! You'll spend a lot of time finding your accomodations, checking in and out, packing and unpacking. I honestly think you are just trying to pack too much into the 3 weeks.

Do remember when reading advice from responders here on the board that only YOU know what's really important to you.

Have fun!

Posted by
103 posts

Yes, I know it's a lot before London, the Christmas "shut down" really impacted our plans. Actually, I don't think we have 8 one-nighters in a row (although we do have a lot of them). We do 2 nights in Cardiff, then 3 one nighters, then 2 nights in Dun Laoghaire, then 4 one nighters (Holyhead, Conwy, Chester & somewhere.)

Part of the North Wales problem was arriving on a Sunday we have to spend the night in Holyhead rather than going to Conwy as we wanted, because I can't seem to get a car on Sunday in Holyhead. We might be able to take the train to Conwy and then do 2 nights there though, I'm still working on that.

I am still open to 2 nights somewhere en route to London, between North Wales & Luton Airport. Ideas?

Posted by
14 posts

Hi! Just recently came home from Wales. The Gwynfryn B&B in Conwy is very nice. One room actually has a tub which is nice after a day of touring. The breakfast is huge and Colin and Monica are great.
Driving in Ireland, England and Wales seems to always take way longer than you would think. We got the UK maps for our TOMTOM GPS before we went on our trip and it worked out very well for us.
Have a great trip.

Posted by
3428 posts

I don't know if it would be on your route (we do trains, not cars), but Cardiff is a great city- especilly for a 2 day stop. From Cardiff to Lonond is only about a 2 hour train ride, so I think the drive might be reasonable. In fact, trains serve Wales very well, so you could conisder not renting a car for that portion of your trip.

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