Has anybody visited both Ireland and Scotland on same trip?
 

I thought it might be possible to fly into one country and then take a ferry or possibly fly to the other one and then home from here. But I'm having trouble figuring out how to do this. We'd like a week or 10 days in each country.

We're flying out of DFW - any ideas?

Yes, it's very easy to do. http://www.whichbudget.com/ lists low-cost airlines, with loads of routes between the two, and also check British Airways and Aer Lingus.

Ferries are a better option if you want to do it last-minute, flexibly, or with a car. Stena Line and P&O Irish Sea operate from Belfast or Larne to Scotland.

Oh, forgot to add, it's not necessary to plan an open-jaw route, because it's probably less hassle booking-wise to just travel back again before your trip home.

Ferries rarely make sense.

Scotland's ferry ports are where few people want to visit, getting round Ireland by car is always slow and not everyone wants to include the Belfast area in their itinerary. Putting a car on an Irish Sea ferry usually costs about as a transtalantic fare - and it's usually difficult (=costly) to take hired cars from the two islands.

It's almost always cheaper and easier to hire separate cars in the two islands and use the huge plane nework to connect.

Incidentally, remember that there are airports in Belfast and Derry, but for some bizarre reaon whichbudget - while aware that Belfast is in the UK - thinks Derry isn't. And the Prestwick, Glasgow and Edinburgh airport websites often keep up better with the bewildering speed of route changes than whichbudget does.

Easy as pie. Don't cut either country too short though. If it ends up being a week in each place - you're probably better off just doing 2 weeks in one. If you can manage 20 days then 10 days each would make a good "taste".

Flying between the two is usually the better option - you don't want to pay for transporting a rental car when you can just rent a different one in the next country. And some rental agencies won't let you do it anyway.

There is no ferry between Ireland and Scotland. Northern Ireland to Scotland, yes - and Ireland to Wales or England yes. But Ireland to Scotland - nope.

I have to disagree w/ owain - an open jaw would be much more efficient and probably cheaper than having to backtrack. Into Shannon and home from Glasgow or Edinburgh makes more sense and is less hassle than going back to Ireland to fly home.

But again - if you only have 14-15 days, you will be better off just picking one country.

I'm not sure if this is the type of info you are looking for but here is my suggestion.
Got to expedia or orbits or something like it and to a multi-city flight from DFW to your first city for your leaving from/departing date and then put your last city for your return date. My suggestion from that point would be to use easyjet or ryanair to get around in England/Scotland/Ireland. I did this two years ago. I flew from DC to London, spent some time there, flew up to Scotland spent some time there and then flew to Ireland. All wonderful contries. Have a nice trip!

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions.

One thing I have to factor in is that we have to fly to LGW and then take another plane to Ireland! So even if we fly back from Shannon, we have to go back to LGW to get home. It's weird, because we fly right over where we want to be both going and coming.

You're right about cutting it too short. I'd really like the extra time in Ireland. With the dollar taking another dive, we'll have to budget carefully.

Our pension is fixed and we've been told (8 years ago), not to expect ANY cost of living raises. We had this governor who "cut taxes" several years and Texas has been broke every since. Of course it didn't help that the Retired Teachers' Money was invested in Enron either!

Ah well, back to day-dreaming about Ireland!

We went on our first trip to England/Scotland/Ireland last June, and it was very easy getting around on the lower cost airlines. We had more time than you (25 days total) but we saw all three countries and never felt rushed. FYI, we did:
Day 1 - American Airlines - New York JFK to London Heathrow
Toured London
Day 4 - Easy Jet - London Stansted to Edinburgh
Toured Edinburgh, Fife, Northern England
Day 12 - Ryanair - Liverpool to Shannon
Toured Ireland
Day 19 - Flybe - Dublin to Southampton
Toured Southern England, back to London
Day 25 - American Airlines - 2nd leg of round trip, Heathrow to JFK

Use Ryanair; thear cheap as chips, fly all teh places you want to go, and you only have to buy one way tickets.

We did both on our first trip together, but over 3 weeks. We flew into Edinburgh and out of Dublin. Took the bus (coach) in between on a S shaped tour around the southwest of Scotland and the northern coast of NI. Stayed in Donegal and then across to Dublin. It was grand!

< Day 4 - Easy Jet - London Stansted to Edinburgh >

Out of interest how long did it take (hotel to hotel), how much did it cost (hotel to hotel) & how far ahead did you book the flight