A friend and I are looking to take roughly 2 weeks and visit Ireland, Scotland and England. We have a pretty good idea of what we want to do in Ireland but when it comes to Scotland and England we're struggling to narrow the list down into something doable in the amount of time we're allotting in each place. We are planning to go mid September 2018. Here is what we have so far but would really love any advice on what to see to make the most of our trip.

Ireland: we plan to rent a car
Arrive in Dublin mid/late morning and plan to spend 2 nights
Drive to Waterford/Cork for night 3
Drive to Killarney/Dingle Peninsula for night 4
Drive to Galway for night 5
Back to Dublin for night 6

Scotland- debating whether it's worth renting a car or if it would be better to do a train pass
Looking to fly from Dublin to Glasgow and arrive late morning for night 7 (is this a good call or should we spend more time in Edinburgh?)
Inner Hebrides is definitely a place we want to go but want know which are the best places to see or if we can stay in one place and utilize bus or train to see most places without renting a car. Definitely want to see Skye and Fingal's Cave but also thought Mull, Iona, Jura and Calgary sounded amazing. Probably looking to spend 2-3 nights here
Then back to Edinburgh for 1 night.

England- again debating whether to rent a car or buy a train pass
London for 2 nights for sure and we want to see Stonehenge
Other areas of interest are Cambridge, Durham Castle, Cardiff, Bristol, Bath, Salisbury, Windsor, Brighton, Dover and Oxford.
Lots we want to see but know we can't do it all in 4-5 days.

Any help/advice is appreciated!

Best advice for now: Get some good maps ( Ireland, Scotland, England ) Check out a journey planner such as aaroadwatch for actual travel times. to which you will need to add another 30% or so for real time. Then after this reality check, revise itinerary.

When we've planned UK travel, we have DOUBLED the times suggested by map apps for driving; in reality, those trips have averaged taking about 1.5 times as long as map app said, but wiggle room is good.

For public transport, see what website says, but you have to add plenty of time for packing, moving to whatever station, waiting, transfers, disembarking times, moving to new digs, etc., etc.

You could end up with a trip that is purely just moving around; you probably actually want time to visit places, right? So...

So yes, use a map and see; you could spend 3 weeks just in London, so....

I've only had a half day in Glasgow, but I'd say Edinburgh needs a lot more time than Glasgow. I don't see you've allowed any actual time there? It makes good base for day trips; we spent 7 nights there; we took a train to Stirling and 2 Timberbush day trips by bus for 3 days and filled up the rest of the week in Edinburgh. Didn't make it to any of the isles.

Then the simplest thing is to go to London for the other week; there are tons of day trips you can take from there, or spend whole time there. Salisbury/Stonehenge is a doable day trip; so is Oxford; so is Bath. Windsor is half day trip. I've actually done Cardiff from London as a long day trip but not until my 7th visit. Dover is wonderful. I'm not a Brighton fan, especially for first trip and with only a week. In a week, I think 2 day trips are enough as there's SO much in London. So you have some map work to do and some priorities to set.

Thanks to you both! Yes we definitely still have some planning and setting of priorities to do. I appreciate the direction!!

"Looking to fly from Dublin to Glasgow and arrive late morning for night 7 (is this a good call or should we spend more time in Edinburgh?)
Inner Hebrides is definitely a place we want to go but want know which are the best places to see or if we can stay in one place and utilize bus or train to see most places without renting a car. Definitely want to see Skye and Fingal's Cave but also thought Mull, Iona, Jura and Calgary sounded amazing. Probably looking to spend 2-3 nights here."

Have no clue how you can do this without teleportation technology. You need to really dig into the logistics. You can probably get to Skye for 2 nights (given the distance from Glasgow and Edinburgh, it's not a day trip, and a one-nighter means a lot of time in the car for not much time on the Isle), and back to Edinburgh for one. And that's not a whole lot of time nor much that you'd be covering in Scotland.

There are Staffa Island (Fingal's Cave), Iona and Mull three-island tours, but they're going to leave from the coast, not Glasgow, and they're going to be subject to weather conditions - which means you can book something and have no chance to go because the seas are too high.

Edinburgh is quintessentially Scottish; Glasgow is more modern, far less character.

"London for 2 nights for sure."

HA. You're underestimating the sheer size of London and the tremendous volume of attractions.

There's no bloody way you should have a car in London.

Look: there's really no way to tell you what to see or do. You and your companion have interests so gear your trip to those. You really can't go running all over Southern England and Wales in 5 days.

Two nights gets you one full day. One night gets you bits of two days. I don't see where your Irish itinerary gives you time to see anything except the road, and one day for London is nuts. It's the largest city in Europe and could keep you occupied for weeks.

Have you consulted any guidebooks?

Back to the drawing board . . . Start over completely!

You have 2 weeks -- that is not long enough for three countries. Just the bare list of places you mention is about 6 weeks worth - at a dead run.

Dublin
Waterford
Cork
Killarney
Dingle Peninsula
Galway
Back to Dublin for night 6
Glasgow
Edinburgh
Skye and Fingal's Cave (Fingal's Cave is on Staffa - which is off Mull BTW)
Mull
Iona
Jura and Calgary (Calgary Bay is ON Mull)
Then back to Edinburgh for 1 night.
London
Stonehenge
Cambridge
Durham Castle (assuming you also mean Durham Cathedral?? )
Cardiff
Bristol
Bath
Salisbury
Windsor,
Brighton
Dover
Oxford


JUST the southern England bits (London, Windsor, Stonehenge, Salisbury, Bath, Oxford, Dover and Brighton) would more than fill your two weeks.

Or JUST the Scotland locations would take at about 2.5 or 3 weeks

Only train pass you would vaguely consider is the London Plus Railpass that gives you X unlimited travel days throught SE England in an overall longer period (though also to Bath and Bristol and Stratford) and a return trip on airport express trains. But I think no to any Scottish Pass or any BritRailpass - for lots on British trains check www.nationalrail.co.uk; www.seat61.com; BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com.

Thanks all! Appreciate all the insights

I won’t even mention England as I don’t see where you have time.
We spent a couple days in Glasgow and thought it had beautiful architecture. We took a one day Rabbies tour to loch Lomond and the highlands to get a taste of the countryside. Edinburgh is also worth several days. If you decide to leave out England a train trip to Stirling Castle is worth it.
Be careful not to over extend yourself by trying to do too much. Enjoy the present wherever you are and don’t spend your time worrying about getting everything in.

St Andrews is also a wonderful easy day trip by train and or bus from Edinburgh - Stirling is a sterling sight too.