British Isle trip
 

Hi,

We are thinking of going to the British Isles for 10 days. Our thought was doing 4 days in London (possibly day tripping to Paris), 3 in Edinburgh and 3 in Dublin. While we know these trips will be rushed, college and work are our driving factors on the time. We have looked and saw tripmasters has great airfare\hotel combos. We don't want to do one of the their full tours, we want to plan our own so we are not at the will of their timing. Any thoughts\ideas on this?

Thanks.

In your count of the "days" are you allowing one between each city for travel? Instead of 10 days it could work out something like 3/2/2 days of useful sightseeing time instead. If so, you might consider 2 cities instead of 3.

When you factor in travel time (and traveling by air between London and Edinburgh rather than by train), you really are probably only talking about 3 days in London, and 2 each in Edinburgh and Dublin. Personally, I think you'd be better off just doing two cities. And, for that short of a stay in London, doing a daytrip to Paris would not be a good idea for most folks--there is way too much to see in London to end up wasting half a day sitting on a train between London and Paris.

<<Any thoughts\ideas on this?>>

Too bloody rushed.

Cities are not equal just because they're cities. You could blow the whole lot in London and barely scratch the surface. Dublin is not representative of Ireland.

>>Any thoughts\ideas on this?<<

YES -- cut back to London and Edinburgh or London and Paris (or London and Dublin if you must)

Is your full trip 10 days? If so you will only have 7.5 days on the ground. Barely enough time for London -- but squeezing in two cities would be OK (because Paris/Dublin/Edinburgh are each much smaller than London)

4 days in London requires 5 nights - are you accounting for 5 nights? Plus 4 days in London is time for maybe 6 or 7 major sites (out of scores) and you want to take away a full (expensive) day to get a teensy peek at Paris.

If your full trip is 12 or 13 days (netting you 10 days on the ground) then you could possibly fit in London, Edinburgh and Dublin -- but ONLY if you fly open jaw in to one and home from another.

remember -- the more destinations you cram in only increases the % of time devoted to airports/train stations/packing/unpacking . . . and results in LESS time seeing/doing.

Way too rushed. You haven't accounted for travel time between places. Pull out a spread sheet and write down every move you'll make and you'll see this will not work.

Great input, we did not factor in whole days lost for travel time. If we went to 2 cities out of the 4, we would either do London\Paris or Edinburgh\Dublin (which would not be 4 night in Dublin, but using it as a hub to travel around Ireland). Any thoughts on this change? Thanks again for your input.

Go to whichever two most interest you but your changed options aren't necessarily the best combos IMO. Dublin and Edinburgh each have a fraction of the sites of Paris or London (and Edinburgh is one of my favorite places on earth).

It does seem as if you are just making a list. Sit down and decide which sites interest you most and then decide. FYI Dublin isn't really a 'hub to travel around Ireland' -- it is on the east coast and many of the scenic bits are all the way over on the west coast. If you want to see the RoK or Dingle or cliffs of Moher, etc - it would be better to fly into Shannon than DUB.

When is the trip? Time of year could make a difference. But if it was my trip (which it isn't :) ) I'd do either London + Edinburgh, London + Paris, or London (<u>just London</u> with maybe a day trip into the countryside or Oxford or somewhere)

As Janis noted, Dublin's not necessarily a good hub for the best parts of Ireland (Dingle/Galway, Ring of Kerry) because it's on the east coast and the other attractions are across the country to the west or south.

The Irish also don't have a real hi-speed rail network in contrast to the UK (whose own network pales next to that of the French, Germans, Italians, Spaniards and the Japanese). That means you're not rocketing from one part of Eire to the other so using Dublin as a "hub" means you're going to spend a lot of time on the train.

YOu don't lose a whole day in travel time going between those places. I never have, they aren't that far apart. I flew from Dublin to Edinburgh in a little over an hour and was completely checked into my hotel by noon. That doesn't lose half the day unless your day is over by noon. Flights from EDI to London take 1:30 but of course, that takes more time getting from the airport into the city. You still don't lose an entire day. You can get from London to Paris by Eurostar in a couple hours, also.

take Caledonian Sleeper trains London-Scotland to save daytime time though you miss nice scenery last part of trip - check www.seat61.com for lots on trains; general info on night trains also www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com. Book Eurostar trains ASAP for discounted day-return tickets: www.eurostar.com.

Christina: By the time one packs, checks out, travels to the airport, goes through security, flies, collects bags, gets to the next hotel and checks in it will be at LEAST 4 hours . . . which is essentially <u>half of a sightseeing day</u>. So sure you could be at your hotel by noon -- if you took an early flight.

And between DUB and say LHR it takes longer because it basically takes an hour to get from the airport to anywhere in central London.


>>You can get from London to Paris by Eurostar in a couple hours, also.<<

Sure you can . . . IF you teleport to St Pancras and from Gare du Nord. Mere mortals do need to get TO/FROM the stations . . . With the taxi or tube ride, 45 minute advance check in, 2+ hours train ride, taxi or Metro to the Paris hotel that '2 hours to Paris becomes 4 to 5 hours.

<< that '2 hours to Paris becomes 4 to 5 hours.>>

Going London to Paris also LOSES an hour due to the time change - it's like going from Chicago to NYC. Going from Paris to London gives you an extra hour.

We are independent travelers but chose to do a British Isles cruise a couple of summers ago (it was stressful for us driving on the opposite side of the road when we visited Ireland previously)
Here are 2 suggestions:
http://vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=21981 (no Edinburgh)

with Dublin and Edinburgh
http://vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=34440

>>it was stressful for us driving on the opposite side of the road when we visited Ireland previously<<

I personally think for a first time driving on the left -- Ireland can be a real problem. IMO/IME the driving is generally easier in most parts of rural England and Scotland.

Small town & village Ireland and England have always been the easiest driving experiences for me. Cities can be a nightmare because of the speed that decisions need to be made and big busy roundabouts/traffic circles. So the idea of getting in & out of cities by train and getting cars in towns with agencies is a good one, I've found.

The down side of rural areas are the 1 lane roads with pull-outs for passing and hedges can scratch the side of the car trying to maneuver in these tight quarters, unnerving when concerned about damage.

The one place I invariably end up on the wrong side is pulling out of parking lots. I always find myself on the right of the exit onto the street. Though I get some puzzled looks occasionally, people have humored me and it is the least dangerous place to be on the wrong side.

Translation: parking lot = car park.

re the car parks -- I seldom have problems pulling out . . . but while driving around WITHIN the car parks can be pretty confusing and I sometimes (not often thankfully) end up on the wrong side of aisles, especially when backing out of a space.

And then there's the added puzzle of which side once I'm home. A left turn from a stop sign is where I most often have to think about it, but luckily I'm stopped while I figure it out.

>>And then there's the added puzzle of which side once I'm home.<<

Ain't that the truth :)

One time I had to drive up to a rural area to consult w/ someone not far from where you live two days after returning from a three week driving trip in Scotland . . . and was coming back through Alta Sierra and came around a curve smack into the path of a pickup truck! =-O The truck wasn't in the wrong lane - I was. Luckily I have a couple of seconds to react and get back where I belonged. I do find the driving back home to be harder for a few days than I ever do in the UK.

Wow, thanks so much for the input. Based on what you've said, we think we're going to go and make it smaller, we think we're going to do Edinburgh, Dublin, and Shannon to do the west coast of Ireland. Not stuck on those 3, but are thinking it will make it more doable.

Ah the West Coast of Ireland - great decision to concentrate of Scotland and Ireland. I'd may start in Cork - Blarney for bussing stone - Killarney - then Connemarra and up coast to Galway then Shannon - fly to Edinburgh and do Scotland maybe withn help of some small guided tours.

So we decided to go with Edinburgh and then Dublin\Shannon. We plan on 4 nights in Scotland, 6 in Ireland. We are excited because it looks like we will be in Scotland during the Military Tattoo @ Edinburgh Castle. Looks pretty cool, any thoughts on that or anything else? Thanks for all the input, much appreciated.

If you want to attend the Tattoo you will want to book tickets far (FAR) in advance. Edinburgh will be absolutely chockablock so your general (non-Tattoo/non-Festivals) sightseeing will be very crowded.

Thanks, we actually purchased them today. I was surprised how many seats were already gone so I am happy we did.

Yes -- every night will be a sell out. You will love it. Do dress warmly and umbrellas are not allowed.

We are trying to set up things to and day trips using Edinburgh as our home base. We were looking to see if we could do a day trip to the Jacobite Steam train, but can only find day trips from Glasgow, not Edinburgh. Does anyone know if we could do it from there?

Well Edinburgh to Glasgow is just a short train ride to connect with tours from Glasgow. It will be a long long day trip and with limited time in Edinburgh...

The Jacobite doesn't really make sense from either Glasgow or Edinburgh. From Glasgow it would be a very long day, from Edinburgh it would be an insanely long day.

I think a lot of first time travellers underestimate the size of European countries and how long travel takes. You have chosen your bases so instead of looking at things that interest you in Scotland, look at what is available around and from your bases.

spend all three days in Edinburgh or do an easy nearby day trip like to Stirling or St Andrews or yes take o day tour to Highlands - many good ones available.

So, while in Edinburgh we're going to take a day tour to Glen Coe and Loch Ness to see the scenery, along with the Military Tattoo, but the rest of it will be figured out when we get there. We also plan to do the Edinburgh Castle – Royal Mile – Holyrood Palace path. We were told that would probably take the better part of a day, do you agree? We were thinking of using the Hop on Hop off buses to get around the town. Would that be worth while? Next we need to start figuring out the days we have in Ireland. We plan on a day trip to the Cliffs of Mohr's and attractions in that area, but are wondering f there is anything that is can'r miss in the Dublin area. I am also curious if a trip to Belfast is worth the trip? It's not far from Dublin, so it looks doable as there are tours the go there from Dublin. Again, thanks all for your input, we have put a lot of it to use.

Regarding the HOHO bus, if it's for the 3 places you mention, I walked to all 3. Don't bother with the bus, central Edinburgh isn't very big.

The only time I've taken the H-o-H-o in Edinburgh was several years ago when we were staying quite a bit north in New town and used the tour bus to get us to Princes Street then up the hill to the Castle in the morning and hear a bit of commentary along the way . . . and late in the afternoon caught it again at the bottom near Holyrood to ride the end of the route. So basically just expensive transport that got us up that gawdawful hill :) We didn't do a full loop and you could do the same thing with local city buses or even taxis for less ££

Good to know. Thanks for the input on the H-O-H buses. Now we're working on Dublin. We do plan a day trip to the Cliffs of Mohr and that side of Ireland. We're also trying to figure out if a day trip to Belfast would be worthwhile, given our time in Dublin. Any thoughts?

Sorry -- but a day trip to the Cliffs of Mohr is totally unrealistic. From central Dublin it is nearly a 4 hour drive each way. I think it was mentioned up thread that Dublin is not a good base for things on the west coast.

If you are thinking of doing Glen Coe and Loch Ness then back to Edinburgh in a single day that's a hell of a long time in a car or coach. Just stick to Glen Coe - which is stunning btw - so you can have a decent few hours there.

if you're planning on being in Edinburgh around Fringe time there will be a ton to see and do so you may not wish to venture much beyond the city most of your time.

>>If you are thinking of doing Glen Coe and Loch Ness then back to Edinburgh in a single day that's a hell of a long time in a car or coach. Just stick to Glen Coe - which is stunning btw - so you can have a decent few hours there.<<

Not optimal of course -- but Rabbies actually does a decent day tour . . . https://www.rabbies.com/en/scotland-...lands-day-tour

Yes, to janisj's mention of Rabbies. Though I haven't done that specific tour, I can say that it's much easier doing a long trip like that when someone else is in charge, doing the driving and knowing exactly what they're doing rather than trying to do it oneself, especially if it's your first time driving in Scotland. Rabbies also make frequent enough stops so that one isn't seat stuck for hours.

The trip we booked was through Rabbies, so glad to hear they're known. It was rated pretty good too. Thanks.