Was curious if anyone had any suggestions of lesser travelled "towns" to visit while in Scotland and Ireland. We are planning a week long trip to split up between Edinburgh and Dublin, but was hoping to get out of the bigger cities some. When we went to London, we took 2 days of our trip to go to York, and it was my favorite part of the trip, so hoping to do that type of thing again. I know we will be rushed, but that is how it always turns out for us.

And the 6 days does not include travel time.

Well - presumably the 6 days does include the travel time <i>between</i> the two. Count on the best part of a day hotel to hotel.

That is VERY short to see anything but Dublin (not my Favorite) and Edinburgh (one of my very favorites)

What is set in stone? If you are already locked into Dublin/Edinburgh then I'd spend 2 days in Dublin and the rest in Edinburgh w/ a day trip or an overnight to St Andrews or a 2 day driving tour of the Trossachs (Callander/Lake of Menteith/Loch Lomond/Stirling)

If you are not locked in . . Then spend the whole 6 days in Scotland or the whole 6 days in Ireland.

We are not locked in yet as we aren't planning to go until 2015. My husband really wants to see Amsterdam as well so we are just weighing where we want to go most. But you are correct. The 6 to 7 days will include travel between the locations, just not travel from the US and back.

But I will definitely check out the places you mentioned. Thanks!

Well I like Glasgow for a day out, Mrs Bilbo did her second degree there. You can catch a train.

Thank you bilboburlger!

If you have 3 days in each you are not going to see either country.
Rabies do good trips from Edinburgh and you can always do Glenadlough and Newgrange from Dublin.. hopefully come back to either country when you have at least the 10 days required for each.

Glasgow is hardly an untraveled/undiscovered town - it is a HUGE city.

I somehow thought you were asking about smaller places . ..

Yes @Janisj, I would love such suggestions.

Since you say you're locked into both Scotland and Ireland, I won't try to persuade you to just see one country. Where to spend a few days in Ireland is strictly subjective. There are no right or wrong answers. I spent 2 weeks in Ireland, and spent time in Dublin, Cork, Dingle, Killarney, Doolin, and Tralee. If I could just spend three days in one area, I'd choose Galway. You would use it as a base to see Connemara, which I found to be the most beautiful part of Ireland. Galway has enough pubs and restaurants to satisfy you, if that is what you like. You could even take a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher. I know that others will have other opinions, and you should welcome them. The more the merrier, as long as you remember there isn't any right or wrong opinions!!

I think she said she wasn't yet locked....

If you haven't already, head to your local library or bookstore and start reading. What strikes you as appealing or interesting? What do you want to see and do? Our suggestions are based on our own experiences, but you have more than enough time to figure out what will appeal to you.

Depending on what you discover, you might end up choosing one country over the other. I think there is some benefit to not splitting your time up between both, but again, I'd urge you to dig deeper into each country to figure out what appeals to you.

>>Yes @Janisj, I would love such suggestions.<<

See up thread - I gave you two doable options.. .

Thank you @garyincary that will help me out with Ireland. @Indyhiker, I have read quite a bit of Scottish History, so it will be easier for me to decide than Ireland.

You definitely don't have enough time to visit both Dublin and Edinburgh, so you need to decide which one appeals most, otherwise you'll be dashing around like the proverbial blue ar**d fly!.

Although Dublin appeals more to me, Edinburgh will allow you to fill the time better, with lots to see and do in and out of the city. As Tony2phones suggests, check out Rabbies (not Rabies-that's a different tour!)

Thank you for the information @Rubicund.

I looked at the Rabbies tours.. Definitely seems the way to go if we decide on Scotland. Thanks again for the information!

There are early flights out of Dublin into Edinburgh both ways so do those. You could also try doing an open jaw ticket, flying into one and flying out of the other. It was much cheaper for us to do Dublin both ways and take a cheapo flight between the two cities. Just be aware of the baggage on those flights as it will eat up any savings. They are very strict about size and weight.

I love Dublin but am always in the minority. It was my deja vu city. There is a lot to see and do in both cities and don't pick any tour where you will be on a bus 75% of the day.

Thank you so much @flpab for the information. I definitely want to see Dublin as well, just not sure if it will be this trip or further down the road