I will be in the UK for about 8 or 9 days. Starting in Liverpool, then thinking London, Wales and Dublin. Any great ideas? I have never been.

You have a very ambitious itinerary for 8 or 9 days. There is so much to see and do in the UK and Ireland. London alone could take up your entire trip.

It all depends on what you like to do. Can't help with Liverpool but London (one of my favorite cities) has everything: museums (British Museum is one of the world's best), theater, music, history, gardens and parks, great dining, shopping, and just great people watching. You'll want to do the Tower of London, Changing of the Guards, walking along the Thames, taking a sightseeing bus ride around, having a pint and a meal in a pub, walking around Trafalgar Square or Hyde Park. And this is just a small list of things to do in London.
You can use the half-price ticket booth (official one) to see a great play or musicial. If you are going in the late spring or summer, you may want to try to see a play at the Globe reproduction. I never could time my visits right. It is supposed to be wonderful, seeing the plays as they were done during Shakespeare's time. National museums are now free. You could easily spend your whole holiday time in London and still have lots left to do.

For Wales, I like the North. Lots of castles and the Snowdonia National Park with lots of really nice hiking trails. It is gorgeous in Northern Wales.
Welsh food is quite good. And lots of B&Bs/self-catering. Harlech is a nice town/castle to visit. But you should consider a car for Wales. I think northern Wales deserves at at least 2-3 days.

Can't help with Dublin either (will get there someday; only been to Connemara). But Dublin has nice music. And lots of pubs. You should spend some time in a pub. The Irish really do like to talk and tell stories. And they are very, very friendly. Don't know how much time you should spend in Dublin but most great cities deserve at least 2-3 days.

I go back to England (esp the North and London) and Wales frequently. So much to do, I never tire of them. You'll have a great time no matter what you finally decide.

There are suggestions on what to see / do in Dublin in the following thread.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34486515

Oh, forgot. You'll need to account for travel time for all the places you want to see too. Dublin will entail a plane ride or at the very least a ferry ride over to Ireland from Great Britain. All the travel will eat into the time you can spend at the various places.

Re: travel time--we flew from London Stansted to Dublin in under 2 hours (1 hr 40 minutes if memory serves me correctly).

Hi treebw,
I agree with nibblette that your itinary is ambitious, but I applaud your decision to begin somewhere other than London. You are perfectly placed for both North Wales and Dublin and I think you should really capitalise on the location. North Wales is beautiful, its a shame you probably won't have time to come to south wales and Cardiff, which has great castles museums and a fabulous capital city but that can be for another trip.
I don't know your interests but of course there is plenty of Beatles stuff in Liverpool.
But you should have a day in Liverpool 3 days in N Wales and Anglesey, 2 days at least in Dublin (especially as its a smoke free zone ;-) )
That leaves you 2-3 days in London, which probably won't be enough.
You don't say if you will hire a car or rely on tours, the latter will eat into your time, especially in North Wales.

Give us some further info about your interests and when you plan to arrive and perhaps we can be more specific.
meanwhile have fun planning
Muck

Thanks so much you guys, im going to visit a friend in southport merseyside but he wants me to pick what i want to do. I like to eat, drink and be merry but i want to see the sites that i cant miss. I appreciate anything you have to say. Im sure i will go again.