BillJ

For my wife’s 70th birthday, July 1, (how’d it get to be that many) she wants to be somewhere in Great Britain/Ireland. We have allocated up to a month for this trip. It will be our first to the British Isles. We came close on previous occasions, but for various reasons had to cancel.

The Summer Olympics start in London on July 26, so I think we need to be clear of London well before that. My thought is to start in London, work our way north to Edinburgh, then over to Ireland, and thence home from Dublin. We live on the west coast, USA.

Interests: history, scenery, old architecture (as in: old town centers), nature, some hiking if short and level, gardens. Good eating. Favor B&B’s over chain hotels. Also like boutique hotels. Want to see lots, but not rush, rush. Realize we can’t “see it all.” Days don’t start very early for us. After all, it’s supposed to be a vacation.

I have just started researching and planning, and I thought I’d put this up for the British and Irish experts to kibitz on and critique at this time.

Starting in London, we want to see the usual big attractions. Probably start with a tour of the highlights, then spend the rest of the time going to things and places. I also want to spend some time at Kews garden and palace area. So I’m figuring 5 nights. Enough?

Rent a car in London and drive to Bath and the Cotswolds. Not sure how many days here. Maybe 2 nights in Bath and 3 nights in some village (Chipping Campden, Moreton). Probably can’t take in the Lake District. Can daytrip to Warwick Castle?

Drive to York stay there 2 nights. Google maps says about 3 hours if no stops. Not likely. Of course we will make stops.

Drive north to Edinburgh, spending one night somewhere on the road getting there. I am interested in Hadrian’s wall, if just to take a picture and look at it.

3 nights in Edinburgh. Not sure about dumping the car upon arrival. May want it for a day trip. 3 nights enough? Probably can’t consider the Highlands.

That adds up to 16 nights.

Drive / ferry to Ireland is apparently most of a day. So maybe fly from Edinburgh to either Belfast or Dublin. Not sure I should spend time in Belfast. I’ve looked at a few tour books, and none rave about Belfast. Maybe just go direct to Dublin.

Couple of days in Dublin, then rent a car and get out into the countryside. The Dingle Peninsula peeked my interest. The Michelin Green Guide has several suggested drive tours. Looks very easy to fill up 10 days or so. Eventually back to Dublin, then home.

So, this is the outline I’m working with as of now. Any thoughts, comments, suggestions on itinerary or what “has” to be seen, or not, or how much time to allow, will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

china_cat

If you are headed as far as Dingle, look into flying home from Shannon. It shouldn't be necessary to drive all the way back to Dublin, since you are doing an openjaw trip anyways.

daveesl

You'll find it will be easier and less expensive to drop the car in England/Scotland/Wales, fly to Ireland and rent another car there. Reason is the one way cost.

dave

daveesl

Since you are planning on doing a drive through Ireland and want to drop down to the Dingle/Shannon area (agree completely with China on flying back from Shannon), check out this great cottage rental. We stayed there a couple of years ago and believe me the pictures do not do it justice. What made it really nice is that you could star out to see lots of places by driving...

http://www.hazelcottageireland.com/

dave

nspotz

Dingle was amazing! Do not miss it! If you do decide to start in Belfast, you can drive up to the Giant's Causeway and see the Antrim Coast. However, with 10 days you wouldn't be able to do both the North and South, so you would need to pick one.

ron

You don't want or need a car in Bath. You don't want or need a car in York. You don't want or need a car in Edinburgh. You probably don't need a car to do a day trip from Edinburgh, unless there is some place that is a must see for you that is not on public transport.

So, that is 7 of your 11 days outside London where a car is an expensive hindrance. You should think about that in your planning.

You really only need a car for the three days in the Cotswolds and the two day drive from York to Edinburgh, where you might want to visit Durham cathedral, the border abbeys and/or the Northumberland coast (castles, Holy Island) as well as the Roman wall.

The drive from the Cotswolds to York doesn't excite me, so I would look at train to Bath, renting a car in Bristol (a very short train ride from Bath)after visiting Bath, returning car to Bristol, train to York, then 2 day car rental to Edinburgh.

BillJ

You guys are great. Exactly the kind of stuff I was hoping for. Ron, good tip about the car and what to see on the York-Edinburgh leg.
Yes, I kind of figured out that I'd have to do either north or south Ireland. South seems more interesting to me at this point (subject to change).
Hope there's more advice out there.
Thanks.

bilboburgler

I would have a deeper look at Northern Ireland, the troubles kept a lot of visitors away but the place is still fascinating. You just go to see the Giant's causeway.

http://www.discovernorthernireland.com

janisj

We can give you more details about the UK portion - but an idea about the Ireland bits: Check out the open jaw options to see which is cheaper/better schedules, flying home from Shannon or from Dublin. If Dublin is a better fit, then you can fly from Scotland to Shannon or to Cork, collect a car there, tour the W/SW, drive across to Dublin, drop the car, spend a couple of days in the city and fly home from there.

BillJ

Thanks janisj. What a great suggestion! i did check that out, and most homebound departures from Shannon didn't really fit that well and were generally more $$$. Some even backtracked to London. I may have come up with your solution sooner or later. Or not. thank you.

jaja

Bill, if your wife is turning 70, perhaps you are somewhat older and there might be issues renting a car. Check the sites carefully; some may not rent at all and some will charge a premium.

My husband is 9 years older than I so of course he is always old and I am approaching it.

The upside is that you will be eligible for the OAP discounts at many attractions.

janisj

No problem renting in the UK, but there could be limitations in Ireland., depending . . .

BigRuss

How important is Hadrian's Wall? The drive from York to Edinburgh is four hours. Leave in the morning and you can make it to Edinburgh by late afternoon, even with the stop. By train, it's probably 2.5 hours because the fast trains from London will connect the two cities.

meath1

In the past some rental car companies in Ireland (not the UK) would not rent to drivers over 70, due to a law suit a few years ago brought by an Irish Christian Brother returning home to Ireland from Australia, this was abolished. However, rental car companies can charge a premium to drivers over 70 and those under 25. Also, keep in mind that the rental car coverage offered by most US credit card companies does not include the Republic of Ireland so you will need to purchase additional coverage. (Some carryover from when their were troubles in the North - and which the rental car companies continue to exploit to their profit.)

BillJ

This senor stuff is over-rated. OK, well, the discounts to attractions may equal the premium for old geezers to drive. B'gora.

BigRuss. Don't know how important Hadrian's wall is. You bring up a good alternative. Will have to research what the 2 day road trip (with a night somewhere on the road) would contribute vs. an extra day somewhere else. Interesting point you make. Thanks.

trintraveler

Hi BillJ, Bath will provide your Roman fix, trust me! I visited last May, spent over 3 hours touring the Roman baths, they were fascinating....

janisj

The Roman Baths are wonderful --but definitely not a substitute for Hadrian's Wall. If you are interested, it an amazing experiences. (And Hadrian's Wall is not a substitute for the Baths)

texasbookworm

As usual, I agree with janisj above. In 2010 DH and I drove from London to the west end of Hadrian's Wall (not all at once but our stops don't coincide with your proposed stops exactly, so I won't go into details. But we did go quickly through the Cotswolds a bit and through the Lake District) and stayed in Carlisle. The next day we spent driving east, stopping at 3 "major" sites along the wall and ended up in Durham with time to go into town to see the cathedral, which is open late. The next day we drove early to York. (And from there we continued south ending up in London--again, our agenda doesn't match yours. If you get interested in our logistics and routes, you can click on my name and scroll down on my profiles page to the Trip Report from 2010.)

I've been to Bath twice and it's amazing. But Hadrian's Wall is so, too, in an almost totally different way--the contrast of what Rome was doing in its settled towns and what it did on the not-so-settled frontiers.

I've been to Warwick Castle, too (but DH hasn't), and it's fun. But the Roman sites were more significant to us, so that's how we used our time in 2010.

BillJ

Wow! Thanks Texasbookworm. What a wealth of info. Still digesting and sorting. thanks a bunch. I kinda thought I'd like the wall.

I wonder if three nights in Cotswold is a bit long???? We can't do much of those walking trails, as much as I'd like to, unless it's relatively short and level. We would have to drive around through the area. Uhmm. Will think some more about that.

This is really helping me with the plan. Thanks everybody.

bilboburgler

Some of the tourist offices rent out electric scouters, now I know you may be offended but moving around say York centre on a little thing will be better than struggling around. It's worth searching city Tourist offices and see what is available