Edinburgh and Dublin 2 days each?
 

My sister and I are going to be traveling to London and the Lake District next year. We are talking about adding on Edinburgh and Dublin at the end of the trip. I know 2 days is not much - but is it do-able to do a fast tour of these cities (guided tour, possibly?)?

We have a few extra days in the trip that we have to play with and we've toyed with the idea of 1) day trip from London to Stonehenge, Bath, etc.; 2) Day trip from London to Paris.

Any input is appreciated.

Thank you.

Both cities are doable for two days each. That's enough time to get a good feel for the city and do a tour. I would personally say two days for Dublin is plenty, while two days in Edinburgh will feel a bit squeezed but is perfectly fine.

You will be doing a fair bit of travel though, by the looks of it!

If you're travelling to the Lake District then carrying on from there by train to Edinburgh is straightforward. Flights from Edinburgh to Dublin (and then Dublin back to London) are also easy and not that expensive.

As for other day trips from London, I'd firstly ask if you've factored enough time in London itself? I know I'm somewhat biased as it's my home and I love it, but it is a big city with a lot to see. I would give London a few days to get the best from it. Bath is very easy as a day trip from London - about 1.5 hours on a direct train to get there (and Bath city centre is fairly compact and easy to get around). As for stonehenge, I've never seen the attraction myself. It would be more difficult to do, i.e. a longer journey to get there, but there are oodles of day trip options by coach from London. If it was me I'd forego stonehenge to get another day in London.

Paris is a fab city but I would save it for another trip if you can. Just going there for the day doesn't do it justice. You can see several sights but you'll need to pack them in, and forget places that typically have long queues (e.g. the Louvre) as you won't want to spend a chunk of your day queuing.

That all said, if you do really want to go then the Eurostar train is a cool way to travel between London and Paris, and even if you only get a day in Paris you'll enjoy it. My main advice would be, firstly, book the Eurostar well in advance for best prices, head out early and back late, and book somewhere nice for lunch somewhere fairly central, e.g. in the Marais district, so you have a special 'pivot' on the day.

We have plans to be in London for about a week. It's probably not enough time to see/do everything, but most of the highlights?

The thought of day trips would be instead of going to Dublin. Would you opt for Dublin? We also planned on flying back home from DUB instead of LHR. Oddly enough, it's a lower price to return home from DUB than LHR.

Thank you for the help on Edinburgh and Dublin!

Sounds like we have similar plans except most of our vacation will be in Ireland.

We were able to book flights on RyanAir from Dublin to Edinburgh for only $14 or $17 each which was cheaper than the other options. We figured that we'd rent a car in Edinburgh and then drive down to London and be there for a week.

I'll have to keep an eye on this thread to see what everyone suggests! Hope you have a great trip.

We do sound like we have similar plans - just opposite itinerary.

With flights on RyanAir I have heard that the weight of our luggage will be the catch. I've not looking into RyanAir yet, but if we have carry-on luggage is that also subject to weight restrictions? That's a deal for a flight! Wow! I was finding Aer Lingus from EDI to DUB for about $98. That is reasonable, too...I thought.

These boards are so helpful! If you learn more will you please share it here, too?

Thanks!

Yeah, we are traveling lighter than normal. If I remember correctly, the bigger carryon can weigh 22 lbs, the smaller carryon doesn't have a weight limit. We're trying to book hotels where we'll have access to a washing machine once a week.

All you wanted to know about Ryanair luggage allowance but were afraid to ask:

https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful...erview/Baggage

Personally, if you can find a decent fare (particularly if there's a Business Plus sale on), I find premium front row seats (which comes with pre-boarding) make the whole process a little more civilised. Not that it's a particularly long flight.

Agree with the analysis that two days will allow a decent overview of Dublin but will feel squeezed in Edinburgh. A hop on/off bus in each city is worthwhile. Although perhaps an unfair comparison, measuring Dublin Castle versus Edinburgh Castle illustrates the issue between the two cities: Dublin Castle can be done in two hours while Edinburgh Castle could take much longer. And the views of the city and surrounding countryside from Edinburgh Castle are worth the price while Dublin Castle is in the middle of Dublin but without elevation--in fact, going to the rooftop bar at the Guinness Brewery is the best view of Dublin and should be done.

If you're of a literary or music bent, however, Dublin matches up against Edinburgh and might justify a longer stay of a day or two. I've had the luxury of multiple trips to both areas, but I definitely understand that if you didn't know whether you would return, you'd like to slip in no more than a couple of days in both cities.

Should we consider taking Dublin out of the itinerary and spend more time in Edinburgh? The two days we have "extra" spend 1 extra day in Edinburgh (making it a total of 3 days there) and then take a day trip from Edinburgh to Loch Ness? (Or what other day trips would you recommend?)

In the alternative....the two "extra days"..... Spend 1 extra day in London and do a day trip from there? And then an extra day in Edinburgh?

Interesting dilemma. If you were to asking whether to choose either Edinburgh or Dublin, I'd say Edinburgh without a doubt. If you have time for both then do both, but there is less to see in Dublin, as nice a city as it is.

Three nights in Edinburgh does open up more options, both to see more of the city and for trips out. Either out to see the countryside or to Glasgow - an easy trip on the train. Loch Ness would be doable in a day but only do it if you like long coach trips. It's not close. There are plenty of options for day trips out of Edinburgh, typically to see mountains, castles and whiskey distilleries. My best advice is take a look online and work out if there are any specific others that appeal. I'd personally go for something closer so you're not spending so many hours on a coach.

Thinking about it, three nights in Edinburgh with a flight to Dublin on the morning of the fourth, so you have most of the day (and evening) in Dublin, before your flight home the next day, is a pretty good use of time.

A week in London is plenty. You could also be thinking of day trips out of London to, say, Oxford, Cambridge or Bath. Or even Paris as per other threads on here, but that would be a very full day (although a cool thing to say you visited Paris for the day, from London :cool:).

I'd say go for both Dublin and Edinburgh if you can afford both. Two days in Edinburgh may be a bit squeezed but you'd have enough time to do Edinburgh Castle, souvenir shopping and even take a train ride out over the Forth Rail Bridge if that's your thing. There'd be stuff you'd not get to see, but I don't think the extra day in Edinburgh would be worth missing out on Dublin for.

Dublin is a different city but there's plenty to see, Trinity College quad is beautiful, the post office, the Guinness museum is worth a visit, so is the Jameson's whiskey distillery if you have time. Definitely make time for cake from Queen of Tarts though. And try and catch an Irish music session in one of the pubs in Temple Bar if you can.

Excellent information! And cake from Queen of Tarts sounds good! (I am a foodie!)

I think this is the plan we're leaning towards.
Are there any hotels that are close to the airport and offer airport transportation, but also have transportation options from the hotel to the city center OR an organized tour that would pick us up at an airport hotel?

I really appreciate everyone's help! Thank you!

I wouldn't bother with an airport hotel in Dublin. The airport is relatively close to the center of Dublin, maybe 15 minutes with no traffic, and is easily accessed by using the Airlink bus: http://www.dublinbus.ie/Your-Journey...port-Services/. There are a couple of hotels on or around the airport property, but most of the hotels that advertise themselves as "airport" hotels are a decent distance from the airport--not much closer than central Dublin by the Airlink.

If you really don't want to stay in the city, I'd consider Malahide, a small, seaside town north of Dublin and northeast of the airport. There are several nice restaurants in town, a seaside walking path, and the DART into Dublin, which will take about 30 minutes or so and put you in the heart of O'Connell Street several blocks north of the Liffey.

Once in the city, I'd consider one of the hop-on/hop-off bus tours--which would also be a good option in Edinburgh. There are also literary and pub music tours: http://www.dublinpubcrawl.com/.

I can't give you a comprehensive survey of the Dublin food scene, but I have had two excellent meals at the Winding Stair.

Most of the "airport hotels" are a 10 minute cab ride away from the terminal, if you're going to do that you may as well be in a hotel in the city centre. As lwildernorva says, depending on time of day you can be in the city centre on the Airlink bus or the Aircoach coach service within 20 minutes, and you wouldn't have the faff on of getting into town from the hotel.

I can't give you many tips on food, except to say Cornucopia (veggie) is a nice spot for lunch. But that lots of other people agree, so it's normally packed.

My recommendation, pick one, not both. There is more to Scotland than just Edinburgh and there is more to Ireland than just Dublin. There are so many things to do and see in both cities and the surrounding area I would say pick one and tour it well instead of spending additional time traveling.

As far as day trips from London, Bath is beautiful and the bus trip down to Bath covers a lot of pretty area too. Another day trip I went on last year was Becky's Secret Cottage tour in the Cotswold. This was a fantastic tour. You take the train to Moreton-in-Marsh. They pick you up in Mercedes vans and take you back to a private cottage where the explain the tour, give you a cup of tea and a snack and away you go. They take you where the larger tour buses can't go and Cotswolds countryside is gobsmacking beautiful. You go back to the cottage two more times, once for lunch and another time for traditional cream tea. Everyone on the tour (there were 14 of us) raved about the food and the cottage coziness. http://www.cotswoldtourismtours.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/CottageTour/

So for day trips I would consider the following.
Becky's Secret Cottage
Bath tour, there are several out there.

I love Scotland, I also love the Rabbies day tours. Take the high speed train from London to Edinburgh and stay 3 or 4 nights there. The hop on hop off buses are a nice way to get a snap shot of the city and history but the Rabbies tours are a great way to see the outlying areas. Here are their day tours from Edinburgh. https://www.rabbies.com/en/tour-scot...from-edinburgh I have taken the Highlands tour and the Stirling Castle tour. I have also taken the 3 day Isle of Skye tour which was wonderful.

If you decide Rosslyn Chapel is a must do because you like the Da Vinci Code you don't need to sign up for a tour you can just take the bus from Edinburgh city centre and it lets you off right at the end of the drive to Rosslyn Chapel.

While I have been to Dublin and loved it there are probably people better qualified than I to give you Dublin and Ireland details.

A week in London and No time in Dublin, is a waste of a week.

How would you divvy up the time? If you had 8 or 9 days.....and the list of places we want to see are Lake District, London, Edinburgh and Dublin - if it makes the cut....

Two days in Dublin is an excellent amount of time to spend there. In Dublin, there are various bus tours you can take to view historical places and learn more about Dublin.

9 Days in Dublin? Hahahaha

Seriously though, you will have a much better time in Ireland if you choose to ignore your countrymens advice about what to do in Dublin

How much do you want to spend on your trip?

Are you doing the 10hr drive from central london to lake district to edinburgh.

I wouldnt do it that way.

We're still making plans but as of today we're now talking about taking Dublin out of the entire trip. We will fly to LHR and spend a few days there. We're either going to take the overnight train to Edinburgh or the day train to Carlisle. I think we're leaning towards the overnight train to Edinburgh.

From Edinburgh we'd make our way to the Lake District and for a few days before flying back home.....possibly from MAN.

Our plans have been changing, but still incorporating the same places (possibly without Dublin).

I will be able to give you some info the end of Nov.
We're going to EDI for 6 days to visit our Grandaughter. She said there would be plenty to do, but I know she's spending one day with my wife and her sister Wedding dress shopping. She's there until Dec. and they've traveled a lot with EDI as their home base including Lochness.
They took the train to London? I asked about renting a car and she said don't bother it's not needed.

Thank you! I hope you have a great trip!

I am working on a trip similar to yours. We are going in Sept of next year so I have lots of time to plan. The working plan now is 5 nights in London, day train to Edinburgh for 3 nights, on to Ireland where we are traveling Northern Ireland for 5 nights and then 2 in Dublin. It is a lot of work, there is so much to see and do, its kind of overwhelming.
I will be watching this thread with interest!

Edinburgh is a much better city than Dublin in my opinion. In my opinion, people put too much emphasis on Dublin in Ireland visits almost as a rule because of how you may put an emphasis on Rome, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Barcelona and so forth visiting those countries but Dublin isn't those cities, sorry to say.

I had a great experience with Rabbies on a 4 day/3 night Islay whisky tour. It was fabulous - 6 distilleries on Islay (Ardbeg, Lagavulin, Laphroaig, Kilchoman, Bruichladdich, Bowmore) and a stop at Oban for a tasting after lunch on the way to Islay.

Both Ryanair & Aer Lingus have free carry on luggage - with very strict size and weight restrictions so no giant rollaboard cases unlike the US and charge for checked luggage - prices vary by weight. If you stick to their rules, travel will be easy.

I am going to vote yes for a side trip to Stonehenge -- conditionally.

1. Stay in the Salisbury Cathedral Close - Sarum College. See here. The rooms are inside the walls surrounding the Cathedral and the folks are amazingly nice (e.g., kept the kitchen open to make breakfast after a morning trip to Stonehenge). Very neat experience!

2. Stonehenge - Book a Stone Circle Access visit and get close to the rocks (before or after normal visiting hours). Any other visit, based on seeing where the ropes are set up to keep folks at a distance, probably sux (seriously - the barriers keep visitors far away from the rocks) -- however, being able to walk through Stonehenge, and get up close and personal with the rocks was fantastic.

3. Visit and walk through/around nearby Avebury. More fun rocks to see. Lots more.

Practical tip: Landed at LHR, rented a car, and drove straight to Salisbury. A lot easier than LHR>London> Stonehenge (passing LHR)>back to London. I'm sure a local can provide better details on this. Maybe LHR>London>Salisbury>next destination(?) rather than traveling back and forth.

Also, I am heading to DUB for 2 nights this weekend, I'll try to remember and come back and post re is 2 days enough/too much time/etc. (or PM me)


Cheers

Unless it is top of your must do list. I would recommend giving stonehenge a miss. So many people are disappointed and it eats a lot of time that could be better spent. There are a few other threads debating the subject in this forum

I've had others tell me the same about Stonehenge.

What about a day tour from London to Oxford, Stratford, Cotswolds and Warwick Castle?

Worth it or skip that and spend more time in London?

Change that AND to an OR, and it's quite a good idea. Each of those is interesting, in different ways, and can be done as a nice day trip from London

While you might physically be able to get to all 4 in a single day, you won't have any time to visit all of them, so don't try doing all together!

You could do a whole day at Warwick Castle. It depends what you are looking for.

Merlin (the owners of this and other theme parks such as Alton Towers/Chessington World of Adventures/Madame Tussauds etc) are more aligned with theme parks than historical attractions and I think this is reflected in the way Warwick Castle is run.

Historical info on the castle and rooms are much harder to come by than if you were visiting a National Trust property but there will be lots of activities/shows each day.

This is actually a tour that was put together as a full day tour offered from London.

The best day trip for the Cotswolds is Becky's Secret Cottage. You take a morning train to Moreton-In-Marsh. Becky sends her van around to collect you and it is off to her cottage for a cup of coffee and explanation of how the tour works. Because you are in small vans for the tour you will see a the Cotswolds up close and personal with plenty of time to enjoy the villages. You won't get that from a tour bus that has three other places on the list. The scenery you will see is just gorgeous and the hospitality is wonderful. I highly recommend this tour as your preferred way to enjoy the Cotswolds if you only have a day. The tour includes lunch, cream tea, a warm fireplace and a friendly dog who lives at the cottage. This tour books up quickly, it is necessary to pre-plan your dates.

http://www.cotswoldtourismtours.co.uk
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...s_England.html

Yeah, my reaction was "oh, that's okay...I guess". I was much more impressed by the countryside and some sheep on a picturesque, almost too green hill nearby. Guess it's nice to be able to say I've seen it, but I've had a lot more impressive side trips. Loved the Imperial War Museum, loved Cambridge, Oxford was cool, Hampton Court was fantastic. I've spent a ton of time in London for work and have ended up with dozens of weekends where I went out of the city. Driven down to Brighton, Southampton, Chichester, many others as well.

As for Dublin, I've had a lot of fun there and parts of the city are very beautiful. I found the people to be the best asset, they definitely were nice to me and a lot of fun. I was strangely mesmerized by their natural history museum... Or the dead zoo as it was called by someone I spoke to. I really enjoyed just wandering around the city and stopping at bars.

OK two days in Edinburgh... here's what I would do.

1) Edinburgh castle. It's expensive, but you kind of have to. Once done there, walk down the Royal Mile (you can be a masochist and walk up but that's why god invented downhill). ignore the tartan tat shops at the top, but there are one or two nicer craft shops towards the bottom. Some nicer cafes and restaurants as well (Wedgwood, Mimi's bakehouse, anything Turkish). Once at the bottom of the Mile then obviously...
2) Holyrood Palace and/or Scottish Parliament. Parliament really doesn't take long and it may be dull as a non-Scot, but does have a nice gift shop. Holyrood Palace is pretty good though and worth the time. If you want the weirdest royal gifts, there or Britannia are happy to oblige.

Day 2. Britannia is done well so worth a visit, but with not really anything else around it. But hop on/hop off buses make it easier. Try to spend some time in the New Town, as that's the architecturally nice bit. Of the museums and art galleries, it depends on what is on and what your taste is - I like the National Museum since the revamp, the National Gallery and the Portrait Museum (probably in that order, except I'm a wee bit obsessed with a Gainsborough in the Gallery but probably everyone else isn't). Go and have drinks in the Dome on George St. (I cannot emphasise this enough. It's amazing. Seriously. Bars should not be allowed to be that jaw-dropping - it's like a church (it actually used to be a bank)).

Other places to consider - Rosslyn Chapel. Climbing Arthur's Seat. Going out to the Forth Road Bridge and having lunch in South Queensferry (food options have improved there a lot recently). Glasgow. Jedburgh. North Berwick. Even St Andrews (although a bit of a pig). Botanic Gardens. Dynamic Earth.

No, you don't need a car in Edinburgh. In fact as a non-resident, your life will be immeasurably easier without them. Road layouts are 'quirky' and non-intuitive, parking is non existent and expensive and parking rules are arcane and not written down anywhere in the streets themselves. Lothian buses are the way to go - but when they say they don't take change, they really, really, really mean it. Really. There's no way to get change on board. So don't join the throng of tourists I see on my bus every day in summer boarding hopefully and waving £10 at the driver in the hope he'll magically be able to find some change from someplace... Day tickets (currently £4) are available and give unlimited tram and bus journeys (except from the airport).

On Easyjet, "There is no weight restriction for cabin baggage. As long as you are able to place the bag into the overhead locker and get it out again without assistance then the bag will be accepted into the cabin."

Easyjet do check size, but as long as you are within the size you'll be fine if you board near the start of boarding. Near the end of boarding, there may not be room and your bag will be checked into the hold. So queue up early.

Easyjet also strictly allow only one bag; no additional laptop bag, handbag, purse, satchel, backpack, no nothing. Make sure your handbag, laptop, etc, fits in the main bag - unless you buy "Speedy boarding" in which case you get seat selection, a second small underseat item, and so on.

In my (extensive) Easyjet flying I have rarely seen anyone dinged for bag size if they weren't taking the piss, but I have frequently seen people challenged to reduce their bag count to one. Some passengers find the idea that a handbag is a bag to be a difficult one to accept.

Thanks, we'll be staying at Dalkeith Palace with our Grand Daughter. She said no need for a car she will meet us at EDI.
Should have a report soon, she's got all the plans lol.

We did have a great trip. The Castle tours are a must. Edinburgh Castle is THE best. Our Gran daughter has been over there for 3+ months and was our guide. She worked us hard 12 hrs X's 3 days once. We did take the rail and start at Stirling Castle and hit some more at stops during the return to Edinburgh.

I would suggest the guided tours. It's a City of 500K so it's not large but not small either. We used the bus day passes for a family of 3. Unlimited use for 8 #'s. I know it's the best bus plan I've ever seen, but I'm sure others do have similar. We have nothing like it in the Mid-West at the price and never waited more than 10-15min.

Enjoy there's a lot of tours and roaming the Royal Mile. The ladies loved shopping at the Primark store.

If your there on a Saturday you can take in a Soccer or Rugby match. They are very passionate about both. Gran Daughter saw the Highland games in August and loved them.

We spent 6 days and never saw a rain drop? We had expected rain and planned for it, maybe we just got lucky. But it is a very damp area being 30 miles from the North Sea. ps she loved the Highlands but said it's a warm weather thing.

For this and other similar comments --- see my post above. Stonehenge probably is a miss if one takes the normal tour behind the ropes. A Stone Circle Access visit is not walking around the ropes and looking from a distance. And since this topic is apparently being debated, I'll leave my comment as is (albeit -- have the "no go" folks been on an Access visit?)

Also, for those following along at home, 2 days was just about enough time for DUB.

Cheers