ralsgrandma

My husband and I are planning a trip in August with our son, his wife and our 2 grandchildren ages 4 and 7. We are considering flying to Dublin for a week, renting a car and driving to Northern Ireland to take a ferry to Scotland and do some touring there - some castles for the children, Edinburgh and loch Ness. Then either return to Dublin for the trip back home or try to return from Edinburgh.
If anyone has suggestions as to the best way to do a trip like this and any 'child friendly' activities and lodging ideas, I would greatly appreciate it. I have learned a lot from reading some of the other blogs on Scotland but I haven't seen anything about traveling over there from Ireland, I do see the suggestions about taking the train instead of renting a car but don't think we can do it from Ireland and flying has become such a hassle, especially with young children. We do have experience driving in England.

alanRow

<<< We are considering flying to Dublin for a week, renting a car and driving to Northern Ireland to take a ferry to Scotland and do some touring there >>>

Bad idea - you'll have out of country charges, one way hire charges and will pay for a VERY expensive ferry crossing.

I'd drive to Belfast then fly to Inverness with FlyBe and hire another car. This will save you most of a day's travel. Then you drive towards Edinburgh for your flight home.

And don't fly home from Dublin unless you get a very good price. Book an open-jaw ticket to fly home from Edinburgh.

If you do get a good deal then don't, as many people do, think you can get from Edinburgh to Dublin the same day as your flight on a separate flight. Whilst this will work most of the time the risks and costs of missing your homeward flight are high. Stay one less day in Dublin on your arrival and ensure you are in Dublin the day before your flight home

janisj

You will have massive drop off chargers -- even if you find a rental company that will let you pick up in Ireland and drop in Scotland. And driving back to Ireland makes no sense time/money wise.

So rent a car and use it to tour around Ireland, drop it somewhere in the Republic (so you don't have drop off issues in N.Ireland.) Then fly to Edinburgh and rent a different car and head somewhere north for a few days. Your choices are unlimited - read some of the other threads/trip reports for ideas. Then return to Edinburgh, drop the car and spend a couple of days in the city before flying home.

"<i>flying to Dublin for a week</i>"

Did you mean you'd spend a full week in Dublin, or just that you'd arrive in Dublin and then drive to explore some other parts of Ireland? A week is a long time to spend IN Dublin.

janisj

I was posting the same time as alanRow. His idea of flying to Inverness is a good one. Fly to I'ness, pick up a car, tour southwards and eventually drop the car at Edinburgh. Then visit the city car-less and fly home.

sheila

If the only reason you are going to Northern Ireland is to get the ferry, then fly direct from Dublin. Ryanair come into Aberdeen Prestwick or Edinburgh. I did a child friendly document a while ago and if you email me I'll send it on to you

ralsgrandma

Thank you all very much for the very good information. I had no idea about drop off charges and your suggestions about flying to Inverness from Ireland make lots of sense. We did plan to stay a week in the Dublin area, with a car, doing some sightseeing. However, if we are not taking the ferry, we might decide to stay in the Shannon vicinity instead.