Hi everyone! I am planning a trip to Ireland for five days with a possible side trip to Edinburgh for a day or two. Then on to our love - Paris for five days. We have been to Germany, England and Italy and we wanted something different so we thought maybe Ireland and Scotland. Paris is something my family and I have been to once and want to go back again to also do a little touring of the outskirts - maybe Normandy etc.. But is Edinburgh worth spending two days in? We would like to see the probably tourist ridden Roslyn Chapel, but other then that is there anything there really interesting to see? Or should we maybe change and take a side trip to Austria or Switzerland (Jungfrau)from Paris? We don't mind train travel. We planned to just fly from Ireland or Scotland to Paris via Ryan Air. We don't get to go to Europe that often, maybe once every couple of years. So when we go, we like to see lots of places and make it count!

Ryan Air - OK if you must = but beware that they have cheap fares but add up the extras before you book.

Baggage in the hold

Max weight on hand baggage may force you to use the hold

Cost of getting to the city

Also check how far the cities are from the airport eg, Bussels is 75 km from the city. I would certainly look at BA Connect and Air Lingus.

thanks for the tip flybob. I never thought of the underlying cost. Do you have any suggestions as far as making the trip to include Ireland, Austria or Switzerland?

"But is Edinburgh worth spending two days in?"

Edinburgh is certainly worth *at least* two days of anybody's time - and that's not including side trips to Rosslyn chapel.

From your post it sounds as though you think Rosslyn Chapel is in Edinburgh. In fact it is well outside the city, and it would probably require at least a half day to visit. Personally if I only had two days in Edinburgh I wouldn't bother with Rosslyn, as there's so much to see in the city itself.

But actually, I'm not sure whether it would be wise to try and fit Edinburgh/Rosslyn into your itinerary at all if you only have two days to spare. Especially if you are planning on flying with Ryanair, as transfers from Prestwick airport to Edinburgh are time consuming (around 3 hours by train, if not more, including a station change - not worth it for such a short stay, IMO).

You might be better sticking with Ireland and Paris + Normandy for this trip. I think it would make more sense.

<<< Especially if you are planning on flying with Ryanair, as transfers from Prestwick airport to Edinburgh are time consuming >>>

Why go to Prestwick if you are going to Edinburgh, plenty of flights to Edinburgh from Ireland

www.whichbudget.com/en/cheapflights.php?to=EDI

You can fly Dublin - Salzburg with Ryan air - but this may be just in the winter.

You can also fly Paris Salzburg now with Sky Europe
http://www1.skyeurope.com/en/

AlanRow, the OP said they planned to fly Ryanair, which is why I gave the answer I did. Also, as far as I know, the only cheap flights from Scotland to Paris are with Ryanair from Prestwick.

Thanks for all the good input. I wonder if it would be better to fly to Paris from Ireland. I've heard its a pretty cheap, short flight? Maybe I should cut out Scotland, unless anyone thinks I should go to Scotland instead of Ireland this time. We love cities, and some people say that outside of Dublin, the Irish countryside while beautiful, isn't full of a lot of things to do aside from seeing a lot of churches which really doesn't interest us. Paris and Salzburg are definites though. I am so confused. Any suggestions - Scotland or Ireland?