Ireland and Scotland in May--a few questions

In My Humble Opinion
1

Time for yet another trip! For this one, I’m thinking about going to Europe by myself for the first time. (Although I’ve been to Europe with family a few times, and traveled alone in Asia.)

I’ve only got about 16 days or so, so I’m thinking to keep it within Scotland and Ireland. Scotland–because I have relatives there, and Ireland–because I’ve never been there.

I’m thinking about spending both a week in both places. But before I make any solid plans, I guess the most important question is this:

  1. Is it worth going to Ireland without a car?

I’m a poor grad student who will be traveling alone, and I can’t really afford the expense of hiring a car. Plus, I’m a terrible driver in the US, and I can’t imagine what I might do if turned loose upon the roads of the British Isles. So yeah, a car is pretty much out.

This will be less of a problem in Scotland–as I said, lots of family there and I’m hoping to be able to stay with them, in Glasgow, the Highlands, and the Hebrides. So I should probably be OK. But although I actually do have family in Ireland, they are of the distant and elderly description.

I went to New Zealand a few years back, in the low season and without a car, and transportation was quite a hassle, although not impossible. Is it safe to say that Ireland will be similar?

Thing is, I could wait until the next family trip (next year probably), when hiring a car will be a more sensible option and try to convince my family to do Ireland then. But I’d like to strike out on my own.

My tentative plan is to stay a few nights in Dublin, do some day trips to places near by, and then head over to Kilarney or Dingle and make a base there for a few more nights.

I’ve been reading past threads about Ireland trips and they’ve been most helpful, but if anyone has specific advice about going car-less I’d love to hear it.

  1. Second question: I’d also love to hear people’s thoughts about the best way to get to both Dublin and Glasgow from London. That is, I’ll fly in to London and I’m not sure how to get to both of those places and end up back in London for my flight home. I was thinking:

London -> Dublin via RyanAir/EasyJet
Dublin -> Glasgow via same
Glasgow -> London via bus or train

Does that sound sensible? What about taking a ferry–I figure with the budget airlines around these days it’s probably not going to be a better option, but who knows.

3.) Any general advice on nice things to do in Ireland (or if I should change my home bases). Advice about Scotland would be nice too. I’d like to go to Iona as it is one of my mother’s favorite places (she is my Scottish relative). My cousin lives in near a town called Mallaig; anyone have any good ideas about how to get to Iona from there?

In general, I like art / museums, nature and hillwalking (although nothing too hardcore), and old ruins, the more crumbly and abandoned the better.

2

I visited Ireland back in 2002 without a car. As long as you research routes and schedules you shouldn’t have too much of a problem, but be sure to take sturdy walking shoes and a raincoat. Once I took a 20 minute bus ride to a place that didn’t have a bus back that day, so I ended up walking back to the village. Although that was in April - buses run a lot more frequently starting after Easter, so this might not be a problem for you.

I suggest looking into flights from Glasgow to London - I took the night train once and it was freezing and loud and people were smoking in the non smoking cars. Flights are pretty cheap these days.

Don’t forget to take a sweater and a jacket. Scotland and Ireland can get pretty chilly and wet.

3

Just throwing it out there: I rented a tiny car from Enterprise when I was in Ireland. It was ridiculously cheap. Then the only trick was saying “left left left” every time I got on the road. Anyways, sorry to be the first non-responsive response since you said no car, but I figured i’d share my experience because it was so bloody cheap.

4

Ireland and Scotland have marvelous public transportation. Unless you are way off the beaten track, you can absolutely get by without a car.

If you are from America, then this is doubly true (outside of San Francisco, NYC, Boston or Chicago, which have pretty good public transportation).

5

16 days means you won’t see much of either.

You can also travel around Scotland using the postman. Seemingly they do take people in their vans (according to Lonely Planet).

6

Why don’t you fly direct into Dublin rather than London? Or is that not a possibility? It seems like it would be a bit of a pain factoring in the trip from London>Dublin and then Glasgow>London. So if you could cut it out I’d recmomend that.

7

Don’t take a bus from Glasgow to London. Take a train. They’re quite cheap if you book in advance, a hell of a lot faster and more comfortable, and they leave every hour.

8

As Capt. Ridley’s Shooting Party said, don’t take the bus from Glasgow to London. Yes, it’s cheaper (but if you book the train in advance, not by much), but it’s ten hours of uncomfortable seating, unreliable Wi-Fi, and sometimes rather odd/scary fellow passengers (this applies to both Megabus and National Express, btw).

The train (booked around 3-4 weeks in advance) can be had for around £40 or less, takes 4.5 hours on average and is a much more pleasant ride.

Public transportation around the centre of Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling) is best when using trains. Usually fast and efficient, the Glasgow-Edinburgh trains run every 15 minutes between Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh Waverley train stations.

Budget airlines: Easyjet and Ryanair may seem cheap at first, but only if you’re only carrying hand luggage. Heavy surcharges are levied for extra luggage (suitcases, backpacks etc.) that go into the hold, and they charge extra for any payment type that isn’t Visa Electron.

One last tip: it may not be part of your route, but Scotrail have a deal going where you can purchase a ticket from Scotland to Belfast (or vice versa) that includes the ferry ride for only £25 each way.

9

As others have said if what you plan to see is in or near the main urban centres, Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick etc then public transport is enough.

However there are some remote places out west that are easiest to access with a car.

In terms of what to see in Ireland, once again I’m gonna fly the Cork flag over Dublin. Especially if you want a smaller city whose centre you can see mostly on foot.

Plus it means day trips to Kinsale, Crosshaven, (lots of crumbly castles and forts in both of them) and numerous places in West Cork. East Cork is also nice, but you may have trouble pronouncing Youghal.

North Cork has the Galtee mountains (probably only hills to be fair) which are supposed to be great to climb.

Wherever you go in Ireland, one thing I always recommend is to try and catch a Hurling match if its GAA season. Even if it is just in the Pub watching it on TV.

10

Without your relative taking you, I think you’d have to take the train or bus back from Mallaig to Fort William, a Citilink bus to Oban, the ferry to Mull and another bus (Bowmans Coaches) across Mull (takes 80 minutes) to the passenger ferry across to Iona itself.
It’s an awkward thing to try to do, unless your cousin takes you.

Hopefully somebody else knows a more efficient route!

11

Train to Oban, ferry to Mull, bus to Fionnphort, ferry to Iona. Use this website to sort out the timetables:

It doesn’t look much on a map, but that journey will take a good few hours (on the winter timetables, looks like about 8). When you see the West Highlands, you’ll understand.

12

Getting to Oban from Mallaig is the tricky and time-consuming part on public transport. Your cousin is your best bet here.

13

Doesn’t look like there is one. Google Maps reckons 3hrs 15 mins **in a car ** using the Fishnish - Lochaline ferry (which I wasn’t aware of until now, no idea how often it runs) , and about 4 hours using the Oban ferry.

14

I recommend going to Galway City in the west of Ireland, it’s a small city, easy to walk around, with loads going on, great nightlife, and for the carless there are numerous sightseeing tours that leave from the city centre and visit places like the Cliffs of Moher, Connemara, Kylemore Abbey etc. I don’t drive a car and I’ve done several of the tours from Galway City. Of course you don’t have the freedom that a driver has but you also get to relax and actually properly see the sights. http://www.healytours.ie/ has examples of what I’m talking about.

15

I have been to Oban, Cork, and Dublin and greatly preferred Oban and Cork to Dublin. You may want to find my thread from last summer—lots of good advice in it. We made it around Cork without a car with no problem.

16

Thanks for the great advice, everyone!

I was talking to my dad last night and it turns out my Irish relatives are actually from Killarney – apparently my great-uncle is memorialized in a plaque somewhere as he was killed by the British forces. :eek: A little family history I never knew! I thought my great-grandfather just left Ireland due to poverty, but according to my dad, it was because his parents were afraid he’d get involved with the IRA too. I hate to be one of those Americans who want to “find their roots” or whatever, but it does kind of intrigue me.

Now, for people’s comments:

Thanks for the advice from someone who was in my position–that’s very helpful! I’ll keep the unpleasantness of the train in mind.

From where I live (Pittsburgh) and the dates when I’m looking to go, it seems like flights will be around $200 more to fly directly into Dublin… I’m pretty sure I can do cheaper. I’d also like to maybe spend a day or two in London at the end of my trip, but I’m not sure if I’ll have time.

Thanks for the bus/train advice, both of you! I do actually enjoy trains quite a bit more than buses, so it’s good to know the train is a better bet.

Hmm, intriguing advice. I’m definitely not set on Dublin by any means–it just looked like there were some cool day trips (to the ancient tombs nearby, etc.) But if Cork is also close to stuff, that’s an option too–I’d like to stay in a smaller city.

Thanks to **Meurglys **and Baron Greenback for advice about Iona–that does seem like a pain. Now I remember why my parents didn’t take me before… but my cousin might be so kind as to take me to Oban. I’ll see if that’s a possibility.

Good advice–I think I’ll be taking a few such tours since I probably won’t have a car. Do you recommend that tour company?

Also, if anyone else has any recommendation for tour companies in general or in specific places (e.g. out of Dublin or around County Kerry, etc.)

Also, I’ve heard the West Highland Railway out to Mallaig from Glasgow is a very beautiful scenic trip–can anyone confirm/deny this?

Last, do we have any Glasgow dopers here? My mother is from Glasgow and one of my cousins lives there, so I’m planning to spend a few days there. I’ve been before and gone to the major art museums, as well as that people’s museum–I forgot what it’s called, but it’s about people’s daily life in Glasgow. Does any one have any more unusual recommendations for things to check out, good restaurants, or whatever?

Again, thanks so much guys! I’m excited. :slight_smile:

17

I honestly can’t recall what tour groups I’ve used but a number of different ones in the city do the same tours, there’s not too much in the difference, although if you travel on a minibus instead of a coach they can bring you further off the beaten track.

18

If you’re getting the train from Glasgow, it’s sort of feasible to get the morning train (about 08.00), stop at Oban (11.30) to go to Iona for a short time, and get the evening train (18.00) on to Mallaig, arriving about 23.30). Looking at last summer’s Mull bus timetable (pdf), you’d be lucky to get much more than about an hour on Iona itself, even assuming the ferry from Oban got you to Mull by 12.50

Might be easier to sign up for a day’s coach tour round the area, including a visit there.

19

Yes, it is one of the great rail journeys of the world. You must do this.

20

Been to see the Burrell Collection? Random rich guy who collected stuff, very eclectic, endlessly fascinating, very well presented.