Cliffs of Moher was good, but there were a lot of people there in March right after the snow. I can’t imagine how crowded it is during tourist season. We loved the 1,000 cliffs on our drive around the Ring of Kerry. They were quite spectacular and we were the only people there!
Re: Cliffs of Moher—we wanted to see them as we are big Princess Bride fans (we think we found the Cliffs of Insanity spot!) but I have to say in mid-July it was one of the only times I felt like a tourist. Tons of big tour buses, crowds of people all trying to get the best photo–some of them dangerously so–we got out of there faster than I expected. Our guide drove us “around the corner” a bit and we were able to get out and have a nice view of the cliffs from down below.
@shellz We’ve done. Ireland. Scotland, England and Wales. What time of year and what are your interests?
@Sally22 I liked Scotland a bit better than Ireland. I’d take them all the way to the north, into the Hoghlands and then West to the Islands. But you can hit some cool things based on timing. @shellz Do you like piping music?
Have you driven much in the UK?
@gearmom we are going mid June for two weeks (plus a day). Someone mentioned that as a first trip—kind of a sampling of the “best of” each area (subjective, I know), that two weeks should be ok. We are very busy people…love a packed itinerary. Here’s hoping! Piping music…might enjoy it! Certainly not well versed in the finer points, lol. We are history lovers, and of course Outlander fans (books, not tv drama). We are also very interested in biking/hiking…anything active. Thx for all the amazing comments. And to the poster who mentioned my gaff regarding HP tour in Leeds…my bad. Too much furious scribbling of notes during a lunch date with a friend who has done this trip…must have read my notes wrong.
If you are thinking of driving, my favorite tour books for motoring trips are the Michelin Green Guides. Very easy to see options at a glance. Suggested routes and all the stops of any possible level of interest noted. I check current websites for updated opening times and info on those stops we are interested in. I can get the books at the library and Michelin has on-line info also. This seems an old-fashioned approach in this day and age, but I’ve sworn by Michelin suggestions for 50 years of travel and haven’t found a single source for info that I like better. Of course, just my opinion.
I have been planning a motor trip to some rather obscure areas of northern Germany, leaving in 2 weeks. I was very pleased to find Michelin searchable maps on-line - much better than Google maps.
I am the queen of the “packed itinerary”. I still think 2 weeks which includes both Scotland and Ireland will be more in “travel time” getting from point A to B than exploring different regions with hiking, biking, etc. If it was me, and I do recognize that it is not my trip, I would stick to multiple days in London including many day trips which will allow you to see many other places in England before driving through Scotland using Edinburgh or possibly York as a launching point. Many varied places to visit - castles, manor houses, scenery, etc. We have stumbled on local Highland Games days in the Hebrides in June.
The guided tour companies can manage trips to the countries you plan in two weeks because they have everyone out the door at 6 AM en route to the next stop and have professional drivers who know the routes and tourists have only very limited time at any one stop. In my many years of individual travel through much of Europe and Asia, I have never been able to be as efficient - even when I am returning to a country I know quite well.
Quick updating to say we ditched the Cliffs of Moher and did Glendalough and Kilkenny on a bus tour and it was wonderful!
Drove in England, which was both worse and better than expected. #neverwasonthebucket list
@sally22 Scotland for a week in September - starting in Glasgow- recommendations? Jacobite steam train is one idea we would like to fit in.
We loved going on a cliff walk from the town of Doolin to the Cliffs of Moher. You don’t have to go all the way to the touristy part of the cliff area, you can see the cave they used in the Harry Potter movie long before you get there. There is a man named Pat Sweeney who gives a great cliff walk/tour. He is famous for his stories. Doolin is also well loved for their trad music and pubs. It’s a small town, but also has ferries that go to the Aran islands.
I didn’t spend much time in Dublin and wasn’t impressed with the Book of Kells or the Guiness tour. We loved heading north a bit and seeing the Hill of Tara and Newgrange. Newgrange is a religious site, about 700 years older than Stonehenge and is also astronomically oriented. You need a tour to go inside so don’t get there late. The Hill of Tara is a vast site that you just walk around. There are 7 or so sacred wells around the base and a fairy tree on it (rowan).
Seconding Newgrange. We didn’t get to go in the big mound,but went to the other one (Knowth). Very cool.
@stradmom, could you elaborate on the “worse” part of the driving in England? We’ve done it in past years (as in more than 10 years ago). DH, the original I-hate-to-travel guy, just joined me on a driving tour in northern Germany which was successful in all respects - much more than I expected. With this success down, I’d love to convince him to explore some areas of England that are hard by train. Not having driven the UK in so long, I want to be sure I know what I am proposing!
Thanks for the update. I so appreciate all the posters on these travel questions. So many suggestions and comments on various posts regarding various locations have been very helpful to me over the past several years.
@Momofadult the driving was fine, really. We picked the car up in Oxford on a busy Saturday afternoon and immediately had to contend with tourists and busses as we were trying to remember to stay to the left. The first sign we saw said “Try Praying”!! Motorways were fine, roundabouts were roundabouts, and we ended up on some very tiny hedgerow lanes, but most people were very polite about my tentative driving efforts.
My H did all the driving in Ireland but he said his perception was off. I felt we were always way too close to my side of the road – like he overcorrected to not be in oncoming traffic. We basically drove around the whole week with the passenger side mirror folded in because he was coming so close to the hedgerows/walls/etc.
@SC Anteater, that was exactly the experience we had last time we did UK driving! I was so afraid DH would hit the wall as we pulled out of Inverness. He was angry with me for all my passenger seat squeals of fear until I became the driver and he experienced the same too close for comfort feeling!
@stradmom, thanks. I’ve gotten used to roundabouts through the years (we keep going 'round until sure of our route!) and can remember pulling into busy Oxford. I agree with you, those situations are less than delightful when you are adjusting not only to a new car, but also left side driving. I’m sure traffic patterns have become busier since our last trip, but maybe the basics are the same.
Ireland is one of the few countries where your credit card likely will not cover a collision damage deductible if you rent a car. The country roads are very narrow, and cars can scrape each other. Tour buses will scrape each other.
Yes, we bought the extra CDW coverage for Ireland, even though we have USAA and they cover rental car damage. NZ has the same issue with the regular CDW.
YES, do the Pat Sweeney walk. We did it in 2013 on the recommendation of Greenwitch (IIRC) and it was fabulous. Went in late September and had a glorious sunny (!) day. It’s an 8 km walk, fairly flat, as you are walking along the cliffs. We took a local bus back to town. Stayed at his family’s B&B as well and his wife is delightful.
I’ve done the left side driving in NZ, AUS and IRL and have been fine. I do try to avoid city driving, though. Too many things to keep track of and my instinctive responses are right-sided. While I love stick shifts and htey are more common in Europe, I avoid them if I’m driving on the left. We had a small scrape with a parked van in NZ when DH was trying to direct me in reverse on a dark street (and as it turns out, he had really bad cataracts at the time). If I had ignored him, I would have been fine, so I totally get the difference in perception from sitting in a unfamiliar position in the car!
Don’t forget about Northern Ireland! It’s beautiful and has a lot of history!
Disclosure: One of the best parts of our sons growing up is that we can now travel in months that are not peak tourist season. April/May and September/October often have good weather (but occasional snow if that’s exciting) and it’s shoulder season, so things are open but not packed. That said, we did nine days in Scotland and nine days in Ireland on our trip, and it was not nearly enough time to do either place justice (and we tend towards the we-traveled-all-this-way-we must-make-every-minute-count form of vacationing)
Glendalough and Kilkenny is an easy day trip (or overnight) from Dublin. Both are gorgeous.
If you get to Doolin, walk into a pub about 8-9 pm. Almost any pub. There will be music. Glorious, passionate music. Get a Guinness. It will rock your world. I went to O’Sullivan’s Courthouse Pub, sans spouse, who is not into this sort of thing. Sat and soaked it up.
When we went to Scotland, we spent a couple of days in Edinburgh (Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, Royal Mile, Arthur’s Seat if you want to hike to a great view (or Holyrood Park, which is at the base of the climb to Arthur’s Seat), wandering through all the little alleys and closes, lots of museums to cover a variety of interests. We also went out to Stirling to see the medieval castle and town. Was about a 45 min train ride from Edinburgh and an easy day trip. We also went on a three day tour to the Isle of Skye by Rabbie’s Tours (look them up). Went to many places along the route, and it was magical. Had four seasons of weather in four hours! Stayed at a B&B on Portree. What we like about Rabbie’s is that it’s a small tour, max 16 people, so it was personalized. The driver also does the guiding and ours was fabulous. She was a history major who turned down a management position at a bank to drive all over the countryside and talk history. Our tour was mostly younger women traveling solo and couples. Cost was very reasonable.
In Ireland – if you are interested in stargazing and are visiting the Ring of Kerry, check out kerrydarksky on the Google machine. It is the only IDSA five-star rated dark sky site in the northern hemisphere. Bring your SLR camera with long exposure capability!
Muckross House was gorgeous – there was an additional hike which we didn’t have time to do, but it’s on my list of places to return. Kylemore Abbey is also on my list.
We never got to Kerry, Galway or Dublin (beyond staying at the airport at the beginning and end). And since DH couldn’t see much on the last trip, we are thinking about another trip next fall. My dad’s side off the family came from County Tipperary, and I want to return there as well.
I found Belfast absolutely fascinating, but I’m a history buff and lived in Europe during the Troubles in the 70s, so that conflict was compelling to me. We did a walking tour of some of the areas where there was violence with someone who now works with youth to maintain peace. Also did a taxi tour of the walls – residential neighborhoods in Belfast are painted to honor the martyrs to their respective causes. Very moving and a stark reminder that tensions are still under the surface.
I loved the Cotswolds and would definitely spend a few days there. If you are a fan of gardens, there is a National Trust garden in the Cotswolds that’s spectacular—Hidcote. Also, Kew Gardens or the Royal Botanic Garden (in London) is one of the largest botanic gardens in the world. If you like plants, you will be awed by the collection.