caroline_edinburgh

BTW you might get into trouble if you refer to Ireland as part of the UK.

Ihearttravel

Thanks for the advice! I did get a chance to look at the links that you all provided and they are very helpful - thank you all very much. One thing that I didn't realize was that flights were so inexpensive between the major cities. That being said, What about the following itinerary:

1. Fly into Gatwick, spend several days in London and the surrounding area.

2. Fly to Dublin, spend 3-4 days.

3. Fly to Edinburgh, spend 3 days. Fly back to Gatwick.

Can you recommend any B&B's in those areas? There will be 3 of us - is it possible to all share a room, or will we have to get a double and a single?

Since this trip will be a brief overview, I'm sure that I will have to plan another trip back to England, Ireland and Scotland. I'm looking for great things to see and experience in Dublin and Edinburgh. Any ideas? Thanks!

caroline_edinburgh

What dates will you be in Edinburgh ? I can check the theatres for you.

When you arrive it will be worth getting 'The List' which is the fortnightly listings magazine (theatre, music, art & much more) covering Edinburgh & Glasgow. It is very easy to go to Glasgow on the train.

travelbunny

..much better plan though I would still drop Dublin (don't get me wrong I live there for 3 month and love it). I would do ed and York. Remember, you loose at least half a day and likely more when flying the cheaper airlines. They are often at weird times and out of inconv. airports so factor this in. Both London and Dublin $$$$- York and Edinborough are a bit cheaper. What is your nightly budget fro a hotel (per room or person- please be spec.)?

Odin

There are ferries from Scotland to Ireland:

Stranraer to Belfast
Cairnryan to Larne
Troon to Larne

bellini

I'd echo much of the advice already given but I'd also scratch out Dublin. Stay in London- 5 days with perhaps two side trips i) to Windsor Castle and ii) to Oxford (cheap & frequent coach travel from Victoria bus station on Oxford Tube). Loads of museums, theatres,shops,galleries in London.
Then take a cheap flight to Edinburgh for 3-4 days. You could take in the whisky distilleries, the Ghost Tour (with plenty of history), the Castle and eat in Valvona and Crolla, my favourite Italian deli.
Hotels I can recommend Jury's Inn in Chelsea (London). We had three beds to a room there for a very reasonable nightly rate. You're near to trendy Kings Rd and the buses are frequent to get into central London. Definitely don't bother with a car for the whole 12 days. it'll be a complete waste of money.

annhig

Dearly as i love cornwall [and I live here] i would not second Halfapair's suggestion of cornwall in January. Yes it can be lovely, but it can also be vile, and that is more likely at that time of year. Furthermore, very few of the fabulous camelias, magnolias, and rhododendrons will be in flower, and with the exception of Trebah, the gardens where you could see them are generally shut. And if teh weather is bad, your other options are very restricted!
I think that you could spend a great time in London and doing a few day trips - and then you won't have to worry about it if it does snow, as you can stay put and go to yet another museum, or matinee! bliss!

Have a great time and leave cornwall to the spring.

Ihearttravel

Again thank you for the direction! I guess ideally we would like to keep our lodging on the less expensive side. If we could find a place for under $40-$50 per person, that would be wonderful. We are not opposed to all sharing a room as this might be a way to keep things in our budget. I know that the cost and amenities vary greatly from place to place. While we are in London we will have a place to stay, so I'm really looking for suggestions for Dublin(I'm still holding out hopes for this) and Edinburgh. We are not opposed to staying outside of the city centre. Any suggestions? Also, in January how much advanced notice do you think that we need to book the rooms?

ukgal

$40-50 per person per night. So that's about $150 per night, or £80-90 per night. That will be tough in a hotel. Check http://www.bedandbreakfast-directory.co.uk/ for bed and breakfast. For London you want to check under Surrey (which the county that London is located in). You will likely be outside of London about 30-60 min away by train. Add in the cost of train of about £5-10 per person per day to travel into London.

caroline_edinburgh

Apart from searching this board for Edinburgh B&B suggestions, have a look at www.edinburgh.org/accom.

Some roads which are on good bus routes to the city centre & have lots of guesthouses are West Coates/Roseburn Terrace/Corstorphine Road/St John's Road/Glasgow Road (one road with many names, listed in ascending order of distance from centre), Clerk Street/South Clerk Street/Newington Road/Minto Street/Mayfield Gardens/Craigmillar Park (ditto) and Dalkeith Road. Two other nicer areas to stay which are fairly close to the centre (1-1.5 miles), on a good bus route & have a few B&Bs are Morningside & Bruntsfield.

Two in Morningside which are owned by nice people I know are Pringle's Ingle and One Albert Terrace (note - not the one in Musselburgh !).

Also owned by nice people I know slightly is Maison de Bruce which is in a Georgian townhouse in the New Town.

noe847

Luckily, Ihearttravel has a place to stay in London, so doesn't need to consider finding accommodations in London at that budget.

12 days, lots of desired destinations, and January weather don't work in favor of finding those out-of-the-way non-tourist spots, but you can still have a great trip. My $.02 is to do London (5 or 6 days) York (1-2 days) and Edinburgh (4 days), with train travel one direction and plane the other. If you buy the train ticket early enough, the fare is not nearly as high.

York is really lovely, and you will get great history and nice art. I've not been in January, but I'd wager that you'll get a less touristed view. There are lots of things to do in the surrounding area if the weather ends up workable. You could hire a car for a day or use a driver/taxi (not so bad split 3 ways).

JoeTro

I'd echo the London, York (though I haven't been there) and Edinburgh suggestion. Maybe 3 full days Edinburgh, 2 York, and the rest in London. Edinburgh is very walkable with lots of great museums. Obviously London is less walkable, but also many great museums. I went to Dublin in January and wasn't crazy about it, so I'd skip that on this trip and go again when you have more time.

JoeTro

For Edinburgh, I stayed in and can recommend AmarAgua Guest House. Though it's a bit out of the center, it is on a bus route.

Ihearttravel

Hello everyone,

Thanks again for all of your input! We have decided fly to most of the locations outside of London. We were able to find a series of flights for $110/per person, we couldn't resist. Here is the itinerary so far:

1. Fly from Gatwick to Dublin, spend 2 days. Looking for nice accommodations that are fairly inexpensive

2. Fly from Dublin to Edinburgh, spend 2 days. We are also looking for accommodation recommendations.

3. Fly back to Gatwick to begin our England/Wales tour.

Has anyone ever stayed at the Clifden house in Dublin? Any reviews?

Also in Edinburgh, anyone ever stayed at the Corstorphine Guest House? Any other suggestions in Edinburgh?


What would you focus on in each city giving that we love history, arts, food, drink and music.

I'm looking forward to your posts!

caroline_edinburgh

Ihearttravel, I gave a number of Edinburgh B&B suggestions above, and another poster gave one. The Corstorphine Guest House is on St John's Road which is on one of the main bus routes into the centre which I mentioned.

As I said before, if you tell me what dates you'll be here I can tell you what will be on at the theatres, although January is a bit of a quiet time apart from the Xmas pantos.

Also as I said before, when you arrive it will be worth getting 'The List' which is the fortnightly listings magazine (theatre, music, art & much more) covering Edinburgh & Glasgow. It is very easy to go to Glasgow on the train.

Food & drink - what sort of food do you like ? Here are some of my favourites places to eat in Edinburgh, roughly in descending order of price.

If you want gourmet, there are two restaurants with one Michelin star. Martin Wishart's in Leith is fantastic, especially if you have the six course tasting menu (which will all be cooked by the man himself). £60pp for food, £40pp for a wine to match each course. It's very high class but friendly and unstuffy. Book 2-3 months in advance for dinner; probably less for lunch but I've not tried. Tipped to get a 2nd star next months.

The other starred restaurant is Number One in the Balmoral : food nothing special IMO, ambience is more formal & traditional.

If you want 'modern Scottish', Stac Polly on Grindlay Street used to be good, but I recently read a poor review of it by a writer I respect.

La Garrigue on Jeffrey Street is a small French restaurant specialising in cooking of the Languedoc where the chef-proprietor is from, as are all the wines. The food & the chef are both lovely and the ambience is correct but relaxed. If you sit near the window there is a view of Calton Hill & its monuments.

For Italian, La Partenope on Dalry Road is wonderful. The chef-proprietor & his food are Neapolitan & it's the best Italian food (especially seafood) I've had outside southern Italy. Unusually for an Italian restaurant, in the UK at any rate, even the desserts are home made & very good. They also have a very interesting list of southern Italian wines largely based on little known grape varieties. The ambience is very relaxed.

Centotre on George Street is a busy, buzzy Italian caffe-bar offering everything from a coffee & cannolo to cocktails to to a full slap-up 4 course meal. Can be expensive for the full works but v. reasonable for just a pizza or a bowl of pasta, both of which are very good (best pizza in town IMO).

When we have vistors we've always taken them for Sunday lunch in Leith (the old docks area - which I've just moved to !). There are lots of nice waterfront places, notably the Shore, where you can eat in the restaurant or in the pub; the Waterfront (more upmarket) and Skipper's. All of these are particularly good for fish but do other things too - the Waterfront does vg steak from the Duke of Buccleuch's estates. I used to think Fisher's in Leith was the best for fish but had a very disappointing experience there last year. I haven't tried Fisher's in the City for some time so won't judge it, but other posters here have praised it recently.

Both Black Bo's and David Bann's do very interesting & innovative vegetarian cusine. BB's is very casual, studenty even, & DB's is smart casual & v. modern . Both v. reasonably priced.

I've never had good fish & chips in Edinburgh.

If you want recommendations for any other specific types of cuisine, please ask.

nona1

www.smoothhound.co.uk is a great site for finding UK and Ireland B&Bs.

By the way, I think your plan of brief trips to Dublin and Edinburgh followed by London sounds fine. It may not be some other posters personal choice but so what? It's what you want to do and it is certainly 'doable'. It'll be fun to get a taste of three different cities like that.

Ihearttravel

Thank you to all who commented on my questions. I've recently returned from our whirlwind tour and I'm pleased to say that we had a wonderful time! We did 3 days in Dublin(during the 100 mile/hour winds!), 3 days in Edinburgh and 6 days on a small driving tour of London, Brighton, Stonehenge, Bath, Stratford upon Avon and Warrick. Needless to say, this was just a brief overview and I'm so excited to go back someday and explore more of the countryside of Ireland England and Scotland. Thanks Again!

britfan

Glad y'all had a nice holiday! Will you post the details so we can read all about it? It's nice to live vicariously through other traveller's and reports usually offer valuable info to prospective travellers.

Cheers!