We booked the 14 day Ireland and 13 day Scotland tours for 2026 back to back. I've seen back-to-back topics have been covered before, so I apologize for the replay, but didn't see much in the way of comments regarding back to back on 2 week tours. We have done RS tours before so we know the pace. We have 3 days break in between. Anyone done these tours back to back or something similar? Thanks.
Posted by
Winter Park, Florida
328 posts
We have taken both of these tours, but not back to back. We have taken several other RS tours back to back with no problems. Your 3 day break between tours should be perfect. Enjoy!
Posted by
the great P-NW
446 posts
You know yourselves and your ideal pace best. Make sure that three day break is a true "doing nothing whatsoever" time - sleep in, read a book, sit and watch the world go by. Last year we did two different tours back to back with London in between, so no real days off. I hit the wall midway through the second tour and had to take an unplanned day of rest.
Posted by
Lynnwood WA
141 posts
The only back-to-back I've done was doing the South England right after the Scandinavian tour. It was wonderful to start a tour without any jet lag! The big plus for me was not having to do two flights from the west coast - which I always find exhausting. Having three days between tours seems like a nice buffer. Maybe, besides touring, you can take a day to find a laundromat. The South England tour has ranked up at the top of my favorites (15 tours) partly because I fully enjoyed the first few days of the tour since I was acclimated to the time zone. In fact, I liked it so much I convinced my daughter and cousin to join me on a repeat (the only time I've repeated a tour). I always look for back to back possibilities because it worked so well the one time I've done it.
Enjoy your trip.
Posted by
OP
Orange County, California
17 posts
Responses have been great as usual. Thanks all for sharing your experiences!
Posted by
1528 posts
We've never done back to back but on all 3 of our Rick Steves tours, someone has. They always suggest multiple days between to rest and do laundry, but have otherwise been positive.
We are considering in the future. The flights from the west coast take the wind out of our sails the older we get.
By the way, one of our tours was the 14 day Ireland. It's wonderful.
Posted by
Reno, NV, USA
2598 posts
We have done two back to back tours a few years ago - Sicily and Southern Italy and Scotland and Ireland. We had one day between the Scotland and Ireland tours (both tours 13 and 14 days) and a few days between the two Italy tours. It was nice to have those few days in Italy between tours to get a little rest, tour around on our own and do some laundry at the laundromat around the corner. We did just fine on both back to back tours. Only you know your energy level to do this.
Posted by
Atlanta, GA
120 posts
We did the Best of South Italy and Sicily tours back-to-back in 2019 with three days in between. It was a good pairing of tours. You will be tired by the end of the second tour, but so worth it!