Wales v Edinburgh
 

A friend and I (25-year-old women) are going to Ireland and the UK for about two weeks next June, and I'm thinking about a (very) preliminary itinerary. We're planning on a few days in London (we've both been before), a few days in the Lake District, several days in southwest Ireland, and probably either Edinburgh or somewhere in Wales - but I'm not sure which! It doesn't seem like there's time to do both.

We've both been to Edinburgh, but very briefly (although we really liked it). Neither of us have been to Wales and really know nothing about it, except we've heard it's beautiful. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

&quot;<i>It doesn't seem like there's time to do both.</i>&quot;

IMHO, there isn't time to do <b>either</b>, let alone both.

14 days, -2 days travel to/from the British Isles, -4 days London, -3 days Lake District, -5 days Ireland, = your full two weeks.

And even that is a fairly fractured Itinerary.

Need to chose between Cardiff, Swansea or the Hills/small towns. The latter can be very lovely and include the alternative technology centre (my favorite site in the pricipality).

Edniburgh is a wonderful city and much as my Welsh friends would argue is a step above the senior cities in Wales. Don't forget Glasgow which really did deserve its city ofculture label a few years back and now has wonderful restaurants, museums etc.

So it does depend on flights and your wants but I would chose Glasgo over Wales or the Lake district

Hi jent,

I would definitely choose Edinburgh because you'll have seen plenty of countryside in the lake district and ireland. As you know Edinburgh is a fantastic city to visit in terms of spectacular location, lots to do and see and great shopping, food and nightlife.

As you'll be travelling fair distances, are you aware of ryanair, easyjet and bmi for cheap flights?

Take a Ryanair flight to Prestwick airport (Glasgow), pick up a car and spend a week or so driving around Scotland, staying at B&amp;B. I did it a few years ago. Excellent. You can also go south and drive along Hadrian's Wall (built by the Romans to seperate England and Scotland).

Not really that much to see in Wales or the Lake District. Countryside that you can see almost anywhere in the first world.

Crikey jent103, you pushing it a bit aren't you !
I presume you are flying into Heathrow?
You don't mention car hire.

I would suggest a couple of days in London, train from London to Cardiff, after a few days in Cardiff which is a fantastic city and a perfect base for the surrounding South Wales area, where you will find castles and history in abundance.

From there you could move by train to Swansea and take a ferry to Ireland. After that perhaps a flight to Edinburgh??
I suspect you won't have a great deal of time left after that before flying back to London??
Can you fly out from Edinburgh??

Muck

Thanks for your input, everyone! Right now I'm looking at flying into London and home out of Shannon, with the lakes by train between London and Edinburgh and a Ryanair flight between Edinburgh and Shannon. We won't really want more than a couple of full days in London, probably - we both lived there for a semester in college. I think the point about the Lakes and western Ireland being plenty of countryside is very valid, so this will give us two cities and two more &quot;scenic&quot; places. Thoughts?

(As far as car hire, we're planning to hire an automatic in Ireland, but nowhere else. Between the tube, walking and busses in the Lakes and Edinburgh, I didn't really see a need.)

As always - keep the advice coming!
- jennifer

You are still really pushing it.

2 nights in London (w/ the jet lag it will really only be about 1 day for any sites/activities)

train to the Lake District -- then getting around the Lakes by bus. If you are doing it by public transport 2.5 days/2 nights is about a minimum .

Then train to Edinburgh and at least 2 full days/3 nights in Edinburgh

Fly to Shannon and pick up your car. And then you'll have 4+ days to tour a bit of western Ireland before getting back to Shannon to fly out.

so a few suggestions -- try to add a couple of days. If You had 6 days in Ireland it would be a lot easier.

- OR, if that isn't possible consider dropping the Lake District. They are terrific of course - but you really don't have a lot of time.

- OR, if London really isn't that important to you -- you could drop it entirely. Fly into Manchester and out of Shannon. MAN &gt; Lakes &gt; Edinbrugh. Then EDI &gt; SNN &gt; driving tour of W/SW Ireland &gt;SNN

janisj - thanks for the advice! I'm going to keep looking at different flight dates to see what the prices are like. If we can swing a couple extra days I'd love to, but two full weeks of work is all I can miss. If we stick with the above itinerary I know it'll be full, but I'm really trying to figure out what we would like vs. what is popular (maybe skip the whole Ring of Kerry for Dingle, for instance).

As far as London... my friend would be quite upset if we skipped it altogether! She hasn't been back since college, although I was there a few weeks ago. I know she wants to see the Lakes, but I'm not sure whether she'd want more time in London and Edinburgh over that, so we'll have to chat. (I'm definitely more the planner of the two of us!) The Lakes were one of my favorite places before, but my memory may be making more out of them than it should!

janisj's suggested itinerary is a good one. The Lakes District is grand but trying to do it by public transportation in just a few days is probably less so. I realize it's hard to give something up that you particularily wanted to see,so plan well.

New itinerary...thoughts?

Fly from US to Manchester

Train to Windermere

Lakes - 2.5 days (planning on Windermere, Ambleside, maybe a lake cruise?). I'm hoping starting in the Lakes will be making recovering from jet lag easier than London!

Train to Edinburgh - 2.5 days there. We've both seen the Castle and Holyrood.

Train to London - almost 3-3.5 days

Flight to Kerry, hire car

4 full days in western Ireland (Kerry - stay in Kenmare a couple nights, Killarney lakes, some of the ROK, Dingle? - and probably Cliffs of Moher/Ennis)

Fly home from Shannon - total 15 days

I wouldn't take a train from Edinburgh to London, I would fly Easyjet. I'm fairly sure that it's usually less expensive.

amelie - I thought about that, but since the train ride is 4.5-5 hours, I thought it would take just as much time to get to and from airports and fly as to take the train (plus the extra cost of airport to central London - don't know about Edinburgh - might cancel out any savings). Plus I've not seen the northeast part of England and heard the train ride is beautiful. Is any of that wrong?

jent,

I agree with your plan to take the train from Edinburgh to London. You just get on the train and relax and in 41/2 hours you're at Kings Cross Station and a short tube/taxi ride to your hotel. No check-in, no security to get through and no airport to city centre hassle.

And, it's not necessarily more expensive. Just depends on how/when you purchase your ticket.

I would take the train from / to Edinburgh / London. By the time you've dealt with checking in etc. there won't be much difference in the time involved. The train journey should be a pleasant experience and you will pass through some beautiful countryside.

Carolena

I third the recommendatio to take the train over flying. You <i>might</i> save a little money flying. But after you add in the cost/hassle of getting out to whichever London airport you used, and the coasch into Edinburgh from the airport it will be about a wash.

Plus the train goes city center to city centre so is probably a bit faster door to door.

I did both this summer - I would recommend Edinburgh.

I'm coming late to this discussion, but I'd eliminate Edinburgh, since you have both been, in favor of doing justice to Ireland, which I assume neither of you has visited. Save your return visit to Edinburgh for another trip when you have time to explore more of Scotland.