My wife and I are touring Scotland and Ireland for 2 weeks. We wanted to know what would be the best way to get from Edinburgh to Dublin (transportation/cost/etc.). We plan on driving when in Ireland and departing from Dublin at end of trip.

I would fly. www.easyjet.com has affordable flights. Just beware of their weight limits on bags.

Sorry, it should be aer lingus or ryanair...easyjet doesnt do that route!

http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/

http://www.aerlingus.com/cgi-bin/obe...line/index.jsp

Ryanair initially offer the lower prices but are a nightmare with heavy bags / excess luggage plus everything seems to be an additional charge so this continually raises the price.

It's either Ryanair or Aer Lingus - otherwise it's a train to Glasgow, another train to Troon or Stranraer, ferry to Belfast and train to Dublin.

Fly with Aer Linus and hire a car when you get there, definitely. It would take a lot longer and be more expensive to go by train/car and ferry. I would not use Ryanair.

Are you very sure you want to fly to Dublin?

Unless you are set on Dublin for some reason, more of the scenic bits are on the other side of the country. You can fly from Edinburgh to Galway, Shannon or Cork and be closer to the scenic west/southwest.

Thanks for the suggestions. I now will plan on flying aer linus to Dublin and then renting a car to tour the southwest. I believe now this is the most efficient option. after a bit of research, taking a train/ferry is just too much time.

"<i> I now will plan on flying aer linus to Dublin and then renting a car to tour the southwest</i>"

Flying into Dublin to tour the southwest makes no sense -- honestly. You can fly from Edinburgh to Cork or Shannon and save having to drive all the way across the country . . . .

I will be in ireland 6 full days and wanted to see Dublin for 2 days. With the remaining 4 days left and a car (not in Dublin), I felt driving to Cork and the surrounding area was not really that far and much time consuming.

If you are departing from Dublin, why dont you fly into the SW (Cork or Shannon) and then drive back to Dublin, drop the car and spend your last two days there? Saves you the backtracking...

"<i>I felt driving to Cork and the surrounding area was not really that far and much time consuming</i>"

4 days is simply not long enough to go from Dublin to the SW, see anything much and drive back. You are seriously miscalculating how long things take. Figure you'll average about 35mph -- less in some places.

If it was me I'd either spend all six days in the SW/W - or 5 days there and one full day in Dublin. There is much more to see on the west coast than there is in Dublin, and it takes longer to see it . . .

Thanks for the suggestion janisj. I agree with you and now will plan on flying into Cork and touring th SW/W 5 days and spending 1 full day in Dublin before departing back home.

Is it easy to rent a car in Cork and drop it off later in Dublin?

If you are renting from a national rental place or a big one like say Avis or Budget there should be no problem picking a car up in Cork and dropping it in Dublin. Check www.autoeurope.com

Be sure to pre-book your car. Walk up rates can be nearly double.

Our cousins had no extra charges from Dan Dooley when dropping off the car in a different location. Someone else we checked (was it Autoeurope?) wanted to charge a $50 drop off fee to leave it at Kerry airport -- but maybe that wouldn't be the case if the drop off point was a (high-demand) location like Dublin?

Sorry for the previous typo - it's Aer Lingus (as others said) not Aer Linus who fly Edinburgh-Dublin. But Edinburgh-Cork (and Galway) is Aer Arran.