Hello everyone,
I'm trying to plan a trip to the United Kingdom and Ireland during the summer. Originally I tried to include Iceland as well, but after some research, much to my disappointment, I think that country deserves its own fair share of time. I've traveled to several countries before, such as Ukraine and Russia, and have managed solo in places like China for nearly a month flying from city to city and so forth, so I do have some travel experience and don't mind feeling rushed moving quickly. I just wanted to get some feedback from those who have been to the UK and Ireland to see if my first draft of a trip itinerary seems feasible. I know it's a lot. The trip duration below is the maximum window I can allow. I plan to stay mostly at youth hostels (good ones) and B&B's rather than hotels to minimize costs. The reason I spend so much time around Manchester/Leeds in the trip is to meet up with a friend who will likely join me for the rest of the trip into Scotland and Ireland. Also, anyone know if there is a young driver's fee for renting a car in the UK and/or Ireland? Any other suggestions? Thanks so much!
Day 1
- Fly to London, arrive late afternoon/early evening.
Day 2
- Spend the day in London.
Day 3
- Spend the day in London. Rent car.
Day 4
- Leave London early, drive to Bath, stopping at Avebury, Salisbury (Stonehenge), and Wells. Arrive at Bath and spend the late afternoon/evening there.
Day 5
- Spend the day in Bath.
Day 6
- Leave Bath early, drive to Chipping Campden, stopping at Tintern Abbey. Arrive at Chipping Campden and spend late afternoon there.
Day 7
- Leave Chipping Campden, drive to Stratford-upon-Avon. Arrive at Stratford-upon-Avon and spend rest of day there.
Day 8
- Leave Stratford-upon-Avon, drive to Conwy, stopping quickly at Ironbridge Gorge. Arrive at Conwy and spend afternoon there.
Day 9
- Spend day in/near Conwy.
Day 10
- Leave early for day trip to Snowdonia and return to Conwy.
Day 11
- Leave Conwy, drive to Manchester, stopping quickly at Liverpool. Arrive at Manchester and spend late afternoon there.
Day 12
- Leave Manchester, drive to Leeds. Arrive at Leeds and stay with host family.
Day 13
- Leave Leeds, drive to York. Arrive at York and spend afternoon there.
Day 14
- Leave York, drive to Keswick. Arrive at Keswick and spend late afternoon there.
Day 15
- Leave Keswick, drive to Durham. Arrive at Durham and spend afternoon there.
Day 16
- Spend day at Durham and Hadrian's Wall.
Day 17
- Leave Durham early and drive to Edinburgh. Arrive at Edinburgh. Return car.
Day 18
- Spend day at Edinburgh.
Day 19
- Take morning train from Edinburgh to Inverness. Arrive at Inverness and spend afternoon there. Rent car.
Day 20
- Leave Inverness early, drive to Oban through the Highlands, detouring at the Isle of Skye and stopping quickly at Glencoe. Arrive at Oban late.
Day 21
- Leave Oban and fly to Belfast. Spend remaining day in Belfast. Rent car.
Day 22
- Day trip to Giant's Causeway and Antrim Coast. Return to Belfast. Return car.
Day 23
- Leave Belfast and fly to Dublin. Spend remaining day in Dublin. Rent car.
Day 24
- Leave Dublin and drive to Kilkenny, stopping at the Valley of the Boyne and Glendalough. Spend night at Kilkenny.
Day 25
- Leave Kilkenny early and drive to Killarney, stopping at the Rock of Cashel and Blarney. Spend night at Killarney.
Day 26
- Leave Killarney very early and drive to Galway, taking the Ring of Kerry and stopping at/near Dingle and the Cliffs of Moher. Spend night in Galway.
Day 27
- Take early trip to the Aran Islands, return to Galway. Return car. Fly to Dublin. Fly home.
3+ weeks in the United Kingdom and Ireland Trip Itinerary?
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Re: young driver's fee - How old are you?
Re: home - where's that, the US? If so, most flights are in morning or early afternoon. You can't do day 27 as is.
This itinerary is completely daft. London is twice the size of any other city in Western Europe so two days won't do.
Your day 20 is impossible. The Scotland experts will tell you why. Days 24 and 26 seem impossible too and others with more experience with Ireland can tell if I'm right on that.
Day 21 is ridiculous - why would you rent a car for a day in Belfast? There are day tours that can take you to the Giant's Causeway.
Your approach is unfathomable just from the itinerary - do you want to stop in places without any regard for what to see or why you want to go there or is there something specific you want to see? No one goes to Inverness just to see Inverness.
Consider a more hub-and-spoke approach where you pick a variety of areas (say 4-5) and stay multiple nights. Then you can drive during the day to nearby sites of interest or take trains (e.g., in Leeds you can take a day trip to Manchester), which will likely be less expensive than car travel because petrol in the UK is about $8/gallon. You won't have to pack/unpack/repack and check-in/check-out every day and you can have a base of operations for the area in case you change your mind about what you want to see and why.
Fly Belfast to Dublin?
Really??? It's about 2 hours by bus, or train. Fares have GOT to be less than airfare. Plus, with travel to and from both airports and time wasted waiting to depart, I doubt if a flight would be any quicker.
Have you traveled to Europe before? You seem to be making a LOT of 'FUZZY' assumptions, concerning time and distances ...
Bob
Just a few of the most glaring issues:
Day 4) London to Bath via Avebury/Stonehenge/Salisbury/Wells is 200 miles and at least 6 hours 'behind the wheel' time (and could take longer). Even w/ just an hour at each stop and just one meal you'll be on the road about eleven hours! You won't be near Bath by late afternoon.
Day 6/7) There is absolutely no reason to stay in both Chipping Campden and Stratford. They are only 30mins apart so pick one or the other and stay two nights in one place as a base for both.
Day 20 is nuts (sorry but it is). Nearly 275 miles - depending on what you see on Skye - some over very slow roads. You are looking at 8-ish hours w/o a single stop.
Day 21 leave Oban and fly from where? GLA? If so that is a 2.5-3 hour drive plus time to turn in the car plus check in time. You aren't likely to get to Belfast til mid-late afternoon.
Won't comment on day 27 -since it is just about impossible.
I'll be 23 while there and home is the US. I meant to mention that.
I know the plan is a tad bit, well, ridiculous on several days, but your suggestions help me out a lot with timing issues. I wanted to start with as much as possible (or I guess impossible lol) packed in there, get some feedback and then remove stops to smooth things out for good reasons rather than 'nilly-willy', more along the lines of what BigRuss suggested and janisj confirmed.
Itallian_Chauffer - I'm making loads of assumptions regarding distances I know. Some of the days are totally doable, many I didn't spend so much time figuring out distances/times yet so they've become quite messy. I'm going to fix it though. I have been to Europe a few times before, but only traveled truly based on my plans through Hungary, Ukraine and Russia and China while in Asia - might explain the tendency to pack too much stuff in in smaller countries after visiting the latter two!
I hope the itinerary didn't get anyone too frustrated reading through it lol - like I said it's just a first draft. It'll get fixed up. Any suggestions from trips to either of the two countries regarding places you didn't find worthwhile or perhaps less touristy hidden gems? Either way I know a lot of the stops in the itinerary have to go to the chopping block.
for driving times and distances, google maps is very good - put in a place name, look at the map, and then use the panel on the left of the screen to find out how long it'll take you to drive to the next place.
Hello, Just a few comments:
Day 17 - Why return the car in Edinburgh, just to rent another in Inverness 2 days later? Sounds like a lot of trouble - just find somewhere to park it during your time in Edinburgh.
Day 20 - I haven't been to Scotland yet...but I know this day is impossible.
Day 21 - Agree with Big Russ about not renting a car in Belfast.
Day 23 - Don't rent a car in Dublin until you're ready to leave.
Day 24 - Drop either Boyne Valley or Glendalough.
Day 26 - Wildly impossible.
Day 27 - Galway does not have an airport anymore. Drive back to Dublin & return car.
Greetings
By any chance are you basing your itinerary on Rick Steves' 3 week trip through GB, plus a bit of his Ireland itinerary? (He does not, you will note, recommend going straight from the Aran islands to the airport, with good reason.)
I have used his itineraries as a base - as a base, mind - for many a successful trip, but I have found one needs to add about 25 per cent more time, minimum, to his itineraries, for them to be doable. In other words, you could scratch all of Ireland from your itinerary and still have plenty to amuse yourself in 27 days. It isn't that Ireland isn't worth doing, it is. But even a speedy traveler will need more time to cover your Irish portions. Save it for another trip. And save yourself a lot of stress and get back to your airport gateway, whatever that turns out to be, with at least a night to spare.
Gas (petrol) in GB costs an arm and a leg. Consider using a car only in rural areas where a car would be really useful.
I would suggest you familiarize yourself with the trip planning tools of viamichelin.com, or google maps. This will help you plan your driving routes. And familiarize yourself with the train schedules. The train in GB is your friend.
I urge you to consider that traffic jams happen; that it can take time to find a gas (petrol) station; that life, in short, happens while one is traveling. You need breathing room, a lot of it, to make your trip work well. Bon voyage.
I have to agree with the others, your proposed itinerary is pretty hosed.
Build a backwards calendar, staring with your last day. This will help you allocate your days.
You don't have to see everything the first time through.
I'm in the middle of planning a trip to the UK/Scotland & Ireland.
Here are some basic references
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/ireland/0226020795.html
http://www.destination360.com/europe/ireland/things-to-do
Thank you all so much for your advice - I will definitely check out the links provided and use your suggestions! My trip itinerary plans usually start out pretty crazy and overstuffed, but this will help me narrow it down.