1st trip Ireland
 

We are 2 retired adults, first trip to Ireland, and Scotland. We will fly from JFK. Should we fly to Dublin or Shannon? We will rent a car. Which is a better time of year spring or fall? We no longer need to travel at high tourist season.

We prefer B&B or small inn. We are interested in seeing small towns and beautiful landscape but will stop in a bigger city. We have no interest in spending time in Dublin. We would like to sit in a pub, listen to music, talk to locals, see coastline, kayak, etc. We prefer to spend time outdoors rather than museums but will visit "famous" sites. Our sightseeing does not have to be planned rigidly. We prefer to stay a few nights ( a home base) in a couple of areas and do day trips but do not want to spend all day in the car. The two areas we would like to explore are County Galway and County Kerry? Which towns are the quaintest, historical or picturesque? My husband's family is from Sligo? Is this too far of a trip? How many days should we allow?

After Ireland we would like to spend 3-4 days in Scotland. Suggestions for must see/do in Scotland. What is the best way to get to Scotland, ferry or air? From Scotland we will be visiting friends in London. What is the best way to get to London? We are thinking of taking the train. We will fly home from London.

Any and all feedback welcome including websites and books.

So....weather will be not the bes all year around! But spring better than summer i d say. Inireland visit Galway 100%.
Scotland Edimburgh is worth everything and if u have time try to reach the Highlands, like Oban and around there,,,,great Whiskey too!
Edimburgh to London is about 5-6 hrs by train and definitely convenient. might be a bit expensive dou

We have been in the spring and fall. We have had some perfect weather and some rain in both seasons.

Since you have no desire to see Dublin, then fly into Shannon. Galway makes a great base for visiting the Burren and Connemara. (We like to stay in Salthill; you can take a bus into Galway, and Salthill has its own promenade and some good restaurants.)

Killarney makes a great base for visiting Kerry. (Or you could stay in Kenmare, which is our preference.) From here you can visit the Beara Peninsula, Ring of Kerry, Dingle, all popular areas.

You would want at least 3 nights in each of these areas, or even 4 if you have the time.

Sligo is probably a good three hour drive from Galway if you don’t make any stops. So I think too far for a day trip. Donegal and its coastlines are beautiful. If you have another few nights, it’s a great area to explore. Be sure you get to Slieve League.
We used Ardara for a base once but there are nice B&Bs in Donegal town and Sligo.

We visited Scotland as its own trip one year, so I can’t really help to much other than to say a couple of days in Edinburgh would be fun but you wouldn’t have too much time to see other areas. Maybe others with more Scotland experience will chime in.

>>After Ireland we would like to spend 3-4 days in Scotland. Suggestions for must see/do in Scotland. What is the best way to get to Scotland, ferry or air? From Scotland we will be visiting friends in London. What is the best way to get to London?<<

Scotland is a whole country -- no way to advise what to see/do there since you could spend several months and not see it all. Just Edinburgh could totally fill your short time. Would that satisfy your 'we want to see Scotland' criteria? Just Like London is not 'seeing England, Edinburgh is not 'seeing' Scotland . . . but BOTH are amazing cities and well worth visiting.

The best way to get to Scotland entirely depends on where you decide to visit. The ferry leaves from Belfast and only goes to far SW Scotland -- so isn't likely an practical option for you (though both NI and SW Scotland are worth visiting -- you don't have the time).

You can fly to Edinburgh or Glasgow or Inverness or Aberdeen - but again where depends on what you want to see/do. Id start with a guidebook and/or https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk and start reading up/deciding what interests you.

As for getting to London . . . depends are where you end up AND where exactly your friends live. There are fast trains city center to city center but that is best if they are in more or less central London. If they live sat in the far western Suburbs -- then flying to LHR makes much more sense. South of the City -- flying to LGE, and so on.

So you have some research ahead of you before we can give much in the way of advice.

Oh jeeze . . . >>South of the City -- flying to <B>LGW</B>, and so on.<<

Ireland Highlights
 

We stayed at a B & B in Ardmore, it was a working farm and we adored Ardmore, day trips from there and the 5k walk on the cliffs in Ardmore was gorgeous (and not crowded even in June!). My favorite place of all to stay is Abbeyglen Castle in Clifden on the western coast. It is like a house party waiting for you to arrive. Piano sing along, day trip to lovely Kylemore Abbey. Not far drive from there to Westport (beautiful little town) and then on to Sligo. If you aren't planning on Dublin at all, then Shannon is a good option. If you could drive from Sligo to Northern Ireland and take in the Giant's Causeway it is so worth it. Then from Causeway, go to Belfast and take the ferry to Cairnryan in Scotland. We loved a day trip to Arran - Scotland in miniature island - ancient stones, creamery, distillery, beautiful castle with lots to explore.

Fall trip
 

Ps - we went to Scotland (with Northern Ireland overnight trip) in late September/ early October and the weather was gorgeous. Tour of the Balvenie distillery gave me a new found appreciation of whiskey!! Highly, highly recommend.

>>Tour of the Balvenie distillery gave me a new found appreciation of whiskey!!<<

Hope not - cuz you didn't have whiskey at Balvenie. You had Whisky

Exactly Janis:
What is the difference between whisky and whiskey? - whiskyforeveryone.com

We stayed in Kenmare this past May and enjoyed it. We had a private taxi tour around the Ring of Kerry that was superb. It was booked through Viator:

https://www.viator.com/tours/Kenmare.../d22432-7555P4

Our driver/guide was named Peter, and he was very intelligent and knowledgeable. He took us all the places we wanted to go and some really cool spots that he recommended. I think the trip lasted about 8 hours. It cost us $240 total for the two of us, but the website is showing a much higher price, unfortunately.

ssander