Considering 2 weeks in Ireland and Scotland next year…anyone do a similar trip?

[Frwinkley]

We would be traveling from the Eastern US. Trip would probably be early Sept. We’d like to spend 12-14 days divided between the 2 counties. Originally we thought 10 days in just Ireland but would really like to see Scotland as well. We’d like to rent a car in both places for traveling outside of the major cities.

 

[Rogue1677x]

I did a trip starting in Northumberland, England and across to Isle of Skye in Scotland with my husband and daughter back in 2013. It was an amazing trip.

Some of my favorite highlights from Scotland are: Culloden Battlefield, Jacobite Steam Train over the Glenfinnan Viaduct (my daughter impressed her classmates when they saw the pictures and recognized it from Harry Potteer), and Fairie Glen on Isle of Skye. Otherworldly is the best way to describe that one.

 

[Scootin'By]

Years ago I did a similar trip. One of my favorite things was taking the ferry from Ireland to Scotland. I just thought it was more ... genuine, maybe. Loved everything about the trip!

I would definitely suggest taking a guided tour out of Dublin to see some of the surrounding sites. It was a lot of fun going with a local guide who could tell us the stories.

 

[Frwinkley]

Years ago I did a similar trip. One of my favorite things was taking the ferry from Ireland to Scotland. I just thought it was more ... genuine, maybe. Loved everything about the trip!

I would definitely suggest taking a guided tour out of Dublin to see some of the surrounding sites. It was a lot of fun going with a local guide who could tell us the stories.

My plan was definitely to ferry from Ireland to Scotland!

Did you prefer one country over the other?

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

Waving hi from Dublin, Ireland. I am Irish and I have lived in multiple places around Ireland and travelled extensively all over the island.

September is a great time to visit. Its the end of the tourist season and during term time. The weather is still great for sightseeing, sometimes in September we get whats known as an Indian Summer a week or 10 days of heatwave, dry sunny days with temperatures around 20 c.

If you have any specific questions I am here to help

 

[badiggio]

We spent 10 days in ireland in 2012 and 10 days in Scotland in 2018,Ireland was done with a coach tour{CIE,and highly recommended}and Scotland we hired a driver and had a personalized tour arranged to do a mixed Outlander and my wifes family history tour{stewarts /Douglas}.Both were great though Scotland stood out for us.Unless you know your way around,can drive on the opposite side of the road,and have unlimited time,I wouldn't recommend driving yourself .

 

[Frwinkley]

Thanks very much for your kindness.

Realizing we are not going to see everything (or even a small fraction of everything), is it possible to base ourselves out of one or two locations and take day trips? We ultimately like to end up to Northern Ireland so that we can take the ferry from Ireland to Scotland.

 

[Frwinkley]

We spent 10 days in ireland in 2012 and 10 days in Scotland in 2018,Ireland was done with a coach tour{CIE,and highly recommended}and Scotland we hired a driver and had a personalized tour arranged to do a mixed Outlander and my wifes family history tour{stewarts /Douglas}.Both were great though Scotland stood out for us.Unless you know your way around,can drive on the opposite side of the road,and have unlimited time,I wouldn't recommend driving yourself .

Although the driving does intimate me a bit (not so much my husband), we are more do it yourselfers when it comes to traveling. I might however, consider a mix of each.

 

[Moliphino]

We haven't made it to Scotland yet, but did an 8 day trip to Ireland in 2016. We started in Dublin for a few days (had to hit the Stag's Head on Saturday night for the live music), then drove to Cashel. We stopped there for one night and did the Rock of Cashel, which is amazing. Then on to Dingle to tour that area (my grandmother's family is from Dunquin and the Blasket Island). We wanted to get out to the Great Blasket Island, but the weather didn't cooperate. Then flew home from Shannon.

I had previously been to Dublin and Cork/Blarney Castle on a long weekend in college and my sister had been to the Dingle peninsula and Cork/Blarney Castle on a previous bus tour trip with our grandmother and lots of that side of the family so on our trip together we skipped Cork and showed each other what we had missed on our separate trips.

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

Thanks very much for your kindness.

Realizing we are not going to see everything (or even a small fraction of everything), is it possible to base ourselves out of one or two locations and take day trips? We ultimately like to end up to Northern Ireland so that we can take the ferry from Ireland to Scotland.

Yes,
Working backwards, if you want to end in Northern Ireland, then have Belfast as a base for the north of the country

Then for the start, either base in Dublin for the East and West OR base in Cork or Kerry for the South.

Paddy Wagon Tours are one of the most well recommended tour companies. They do day trips and overnight trips, depending on what you want to see.

CIE Tours are the tour company run by the national transport company, similar to Greyhound. Again well recommended.

Aer Lingus do direct flights from New York, Boston, Chicago and a few other cities. Dublin is the main international airport but Shannon in the south is also an option if you want to use Cork, Kerry, Galway as a base.

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

Although the driving does intimate me a bit (not so much my husband), we are more do it yourselfers when it comes to traveling. I might however, consider a mix of each.

While hiring a car and driving is the ideal way, and will give you total freedom and bigger choice of places to visit, another option is basing in Dublin or Cork or Galway and using the national bus network and the trains to visit places.
Bus Eireann is the national bus company, similar to Greyhound
Irish Rail is the national rail company similar to Amtrak

 

[lovesmurfs]

We did a week in Scotland. DH wanted the Highlands, so we got a Groupon from Great Value Vacations (included flight, hotels we picked ourselves, and rental car). Saw Edinburgh Castle the first day. Stayed overnight south in Peebles (part of the deal), then went up to the middle of the country, for day trips (I think we were there 3 nights), about 45 minutes south of Inverness (Steadings at the Grouse and Trout in Flitchety by Farr -- since been sold, so I can't say how it is now). Took a full day trip to the Isle of Skye, a day trip to Loch Ness (YES, we know it's a tourist trap, but we HAD to go). Then drove and stayed over in Morar/Mallaig to see the west coast. Drove to Glenfinnan, got tea at the foot of Ben Nevis (fog, so we didn't bother going up), Stirling Castle. Doune Castle was being renovated, so we did miss that. We did stop and saw the Kelpies as we drove back to Edinburgh.

Yes, we didn't see everything. But we got a great taste. The day trip to Skye (it was a Viator tour) was great and we didn't have to drive.

Something similar to this package: https://www.greatvaluevacations.com/vacations/scottish-castle-with-b-and-b-vacation. Was only $999 in 2017.

I'm taking DD to Ireland as a college graduation gift, so beginning our planning.

One suggestion if you're going to drive. Watch some YouTube videos on "roundabouts." They're traffic circles, but are clockwise there instead of the US's counter-clockwise.

 

[NotUrsula]

Although the driving does intimate me a bit (not so much my husband), we are more do it yourselfers when it comes to traveling. I might however, consider a mix of each.

One thing to be aware of, availability of automatic transmission cars is usually fairly limited in Ireland except at the major airports, and they always cost quite a bit extra. If you can't (or prefer not to) drive a stick, factor that into your plans/budget. There are small car rental companies scattered throughout the country that are quite reliable and often more affordable than the major international companies if you only want to rent part of the time, but most of them have very few automatics available. Also, gasoline (petrol) is immensely more expensive than in the US, so unless you have money to burn, don't accept an upgrade to a larger vehicle (and they are also much trickier to drive in rural areas than a smaller vehicle. Stacked stone walls with no shoulder are not forgiving in that respect.)

Also, if you're not frequent int'l travellers, be aware that different countries and even airports within countries sometimes have vastly different tax rates when it comes to international air travel. When planning your trip, be sure to price out the airfare with some different airports, and be aware that sometimes you can save quite a bit by arriving/leaving at one airport over another. We've always found it much cheaper to both arrive and depart from Ireland, and take internal flights to/from the UK; it would seem counterintuitive to add an extra flight, but the tax difference can be substantial for a family, especially if your UK airport is LHR. (Also be aware that the luggage limits for intra-European flights are generally more restrictive than in the US.)

 

[Moliphino]

One thing to be aware of, availability of automatic transmission cars is usually fairly limited in Ireland except at the major airports, and they always cost quite a bit extra. If you can't (or prefer not to) drive a stick, factor that into your plans/budget. There are small car rental companies scattered throughout the country that are quite reliable and often more affordable than the major international companies if you only want to rent part of the time, but most of them have very few automatics available. Also, gasoline (petrol) is immensely more expensive than in the US, so unless you have money to burn, don't accept an upgrade to a larger vehicle (and they are also much trickier to drive in rural areas than a smaller vehicle. Stacked stone walls with no shoulder are not forgiving in that respect.)

Also, if you're not frequent int'l travellers, be aware that different countries and even airports within countries sometimes have vastly different tax rates when it comes to international air travel. When planning your trip, be sure to price out the airfare with some different airports, and be aware that sometimes you can save quite a bit by arriving/leaving at one airport over another. We've always found it much cheaper to both arrive and depart from Ireland, and take internal flights to/from the UK; it would seem counterintuitive to add an extra flight, but the tax difference can be substantial for a family, especially if your UK airport is LHR. (Also be aware that the luggage limits for intra-European flights are generally more restrictive than in the US.)

Related, if you fly back out of or through Dublin you get to go through US customs in Dublin. I've found it to be much faster and more pleasant than customs at US airports.

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

I agree about the car. Manual is standard in cars heres, in fact its just assumed that all cars are that so we dont even use the word manual and we defiantly dont call it stick shift. When you look at a any hire car websites in Ireland, all cars will be manual unless specified automatic.

I also agree about our roads. Our cars are smaller because of our roads. Our towns and cities and and the road infrastructure were all created before cars, so everything is smaller and narrower. You may get frustrated looking at car hire websites for Ireland that the cars are far smaller than what you are used to in America.

Shannon airport also has Pre Clearance, its a special arrangement that Ireland has with US Homeland Security.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

I agree about the car.

We spent a few days in Scotland as part of our Europe trip this May. My plan was to rent a car and drive through the highlands but after we visited Doune castle the car wouldn’t shift out of reverse. We lost an afternoon getting the car towed and decided to skip the highlands for later and just see Glasgow and head back to London earlier.

When we go back we’ll stay in Edinburgh and do a highland day trip by coach. Or a two day it we can make it work.

 

[Frwinkley]

Without question, we will rent an automatic even if the price is significantly greater.

Regarding organized tours: how do you go about figuring where to base yourself out of or do you find one that includes accommodations? Admittedly, I have not even begun to look at such tours.

 

[unrequited23]

My parents spent over two weeks in Ireland. They flew into Shannon and departed from Dublin. They rented a car and took their time sightseeing. They regretted renting such a large car and wished they had gone with a more compact size. They had no trouble securing an automatic transmission. Both found riding in the passenger seat frightening.

They had been before on an organized bus tour and found this trip much more enjoyable, since they had more control over their own time and schedule. The only snag they ran into was not double checking the days some museums/attractions were open.

 

[Frwinkley]

My parents spent over two weeks in Ireland. They flew into Shannon and departed from Dublin. They rented a car and took their time sightseeing. They regretted renting such a large car and wished they had gone with a more compact size. They had no trouble securing an automatic transmission. Both found riding in the passenger seat frightening.

They had been before on an organized bus tour and found this trip much more enjoyable, since they had more control over their own time and schedule. The only snag they ran into was not double checking the days some museums/attractions were open.

Thank you so much for this. We really enjoy seeing things at our own pace. It’s part of the fun for us. Yes, everything I’ve read says renting a smaller car is the way to go. Since I will be in the passenger seat, I imagine I might be closing my eyes a lot!

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

Without question, we will rent an automatic even if the price is significantly greater.

Regarding organized tours: how do you go about figuring where to base yourself out of or do you find one that includes accommodations? Admittedly, I have not even begun to look at such tours.

Just be aware though, that having the budget to pay extra for an automatic is not enough. Depending on when and which company and the location of the car hire company there may not be an automatic available. The demand for automatic cars in Ireland is very low, so places may not have a big selection and have limited availability.

For the organised tours. Have a look at Paddywagon website. See whats available, see which tours go to places you are interested in. Then you see where the tours start and end.

Someplace I would highly recommend going to is Newgrange in Co Meath, about 2 hours north of Dublin. Its a 5000 year passage tomb built by Stone Age people.