2-3 Weeks in England, Scotland, and Ireland?
 

My husband and I are planning a 2-week vacation in June.
We want to spend time in Scotland and England, and we're thinking of adding another week so we can spend time in Ireland.
Problem: We're totally overwhelmed by all of the options!

O Great Fodors Minds: where would you go and what would you do?!

Some key factors:
1) We will rely only on public transportation- no car rentals
2) We travel light- one backpack and one personal item per person. No suitcases if we can avoid it.
3) I love shopping, photography, and people watching. He loves hiking and museums. We both love good food!
4) We're middle-aged with a moderate budget. We don't mind the occasional splurge or luxury, but managing costs IS important.


Thanks in advance for your ideas! We always appreciate the advice we get here!

Honestly - no one can possibly give useful advice on such an open ended question. You are talking about three amazing countries - 3 weeks in any one of which would barely scratch the surface.

Three countries - three weeks - where should we go??

I'd suggest you hit a few guidebooks and sites like Undiscovered Scotland, etc. and work out a framework / basic itinerary. Then we can help you massage it into something wonderful.

https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk

June is a good time.
Scotland with public transport will limit you a bit, you might prefer to do a small amount of organised tours outside the cities
Keeping a control on prices have a look at https://www.yha.org.uk/ which is a very nice organisation and especially in London offers great prices in the best sites, look also at University rooms if you decide to stay in say Oxford or Cambridge or indeed other University towns. https://www.universityrooms.com/

The benefit of saving on accom is it gives you more money you can spend on stuff when you are awake and actually out and about.

I'd not try and do all three in three weeks in the same way as I not try and do the original 13 US states in 13 days, just too much to see and do.

Thanks for the tips. Those are very helpful!
I think you may be right about not doing all 3. That could get intense.