AnnPA

Hello,

My husband and I will arrive in Glascow and depart from Dublin for the duration of 17 days in August. This is our first time to Scotland/ Ireland and I only have two months to plan. We plan to use public transportation.. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!

janisj

You can't go there unless you spell it right Glas<B>g</B>ow.

OK -- having cleared that up --you will have a MAJOR problem if you plan on visiting Edinburgh. There are several festivals and the Tattoo running concurrently and the city swells to double its normal size. Every hotel room w/i 20 miles or more will be booked up and at twice the normal rates. You need more than 2 months to plan for Edinburgh in August.

But there is a lot to Scotland besides Edinburgh. Why did you pick those two countries and what places are you already planning on visiting? Do you have any guide books? Some other popular places (like Skye for instance) it will be very difficult to find accommodations at this late date

We can't devise an itinerary for you -- Well, we <i>could</i> but then it would be our trip, not yours. But if you give us a framework of a plan we can help you refine/improve it.

AnnPA

Oops...sorry about the typo We just booked the flights today so I really haven't done much research yet. I know Edinburgh will be crazy is Aug. That's why we picked Glasgow as arrival city and maybe a day trip to Edinburgh from there?

janisj

Sure -- easy day trip by train from Glasgow to Edinburgh. But it is an easy day trip from other places too -- like from Stirling, or Perth or St Andrews.

So tell us more about the sorts of places you want to see/do and are there any <u>specific</u> places in either Scotland or Ireland you want to visit.

giro

As a starter, we were in Glasgow for the first time last year. Thought the architecture was beautiful. We stayed near the Queen St. Station.
We took a bus to Kelvingrove museum which was terrific.
It was pouring the day we visited, but I believe Rick Steves sets out a nice walking route from the museum thru parks and the University area.
We took a train to Stirling castle from Glasgow. Stirling was about one hour away.
We also took a full day Rabbies tour. They offer several different tours. We took one that went to Glencoe, Oban, Loch Lomand etc.

historytraveler

giro has some good suggestions for Glasgow. There's plenty of other possibilities to mention just a few ...Pollock House a 17th century Georgian house with a fine art collection,Tenement House is interesting for its collection of all sorts of objects imaginable, Queen's Cross Curch if intetested in Charles Rennie Mackintosh and, personally, I like St. Mungo's Museum of Religious Life and Art. I love the Burrell Collection, but it's been undergoing renovations and not sure it's reopened.

I would also recommend a day trip with Rabbies. In fact you might have time for a bit longer tour. www.rabbies.com

Man_in_seat_61

Just check www.nationalrail.co.uk for train times Glasgow-Edinburgh

You can also go by train & ferry from Glasgow to Dublin, via Holyhead for an amazing £41 or £46 (one price or other always applies, even if you wanted to go today, train & ferry on one ticket for one inclusive price) - book at www.virgintrains.co.uk selecting Dublin Port Stena or Dublin Port Irish Ferries as destination.

It's an experience in itself, not just transportation. Here are some photos and info about the journey along the North Wales coast and across the Irish Sea with Stena Line or Irish Ferries: https://www.seat61.com/Ireland.htm#W...e_journey_like

You could also go train + ferry Glasgow to Belfast, a city WELL worth visiting, this costs £31, again book at www.virgintrains.co.uk or at the station the day before.

Then take the Enterprise train to Dublin, http://www.translink.co.uk/Services/NI-Railways/

Tony2phones

Sorry but the sensible way by ferry from Scotland is via Belfast and by bus which will take you Via Belfast to Dublin if you plan on Dublin but it would be a shame not to see a bit of Northern Ireland? https://eurolines.buseireann.ie/ still €45 but no swapping about.

You could also fly Scotland to the Island of Ireland. Typically I write itineraries which start by flying into Cork if the final destination is Dublin. That way its a simple arc up from Cork via Kerry and Clare to Galway and across to Dublin. Flying makes more practical sense than the ferry if heading directly to any location in the Republic.

A lot depends on how you plan to split the 17 days you have.

AnnPA

Thank you all for your quick responses! So for the total of 15 days actually in the UK, I'm thinking maybe to base in Glasgow, Liverpool, Dublin (each around 5 days) and having day trips around each city. Do you think it's doable?

Tony2phones

Dublin is NOT a touring base for Ireland, I even say there is Dublin and there is Ireland because you might be hard pressed to know if you woke up in Dublin or Liverpool looking through some bedroom windows.

It depends what you want to do and see using these bases. I know them all fairly well.

I would agree with Glasgow over Edinburgh in August as the latter is silly season with festivals and high prices smothering the city that time of year. Rabbies Tours are a good option from there.

Liverpool, much changed over the past years, hardly recognisable from the last century city it was. But what and where are your interests. If you head up to Southport between the 22nd and 26th we could have a pint.

Ireland. There are a whole range of tours from Dublin. There are 2 I recommend. Newgrange with the Boyne Valley and Glendalough with Powerscourt and the Wicklow Mountains. I don't recommend you take a tour to the west coast and back in a long day, I certainly don't recommend 18 hours down round the ring of Kerry and back. Nor do I recommend a whole day for the Giants causeway. But there are people who like to sleep on coaches that do those sorts of things.

My recommendation for Ireland, fly into Cork see/stay in Killarney possibly head to Moher and Galway before aiming for a couple of days in Dublin prior to Departure home.

AnnPA

Thanks Tony2phones. I guess we want to explore the cities and see the landscape. Just prefer not to move from housing to housing too much and public transportation is easy from the major cities. Flying to west coast of Ireland is surely possible. Anywhere in North Wales is worth visiting?

Tony2phones

Lots of N Wales is worth a look, lots of the coast was fortified by the Normans so no shortage of Castles, great scenery, Snowdonia is well worth some time if you have the time.

Chester is also worth a look from Liverpool. You can get a Bus and Train Saveaway (on a Walrus card (Liverpool's travel plastic)) that covers from Chester to Southport and a little way inland.