stone castle with landscaping and flowers

2 Week Itinerary and Things to See in Scotland and Ireland

We just got back from a whirlwind of a driving trip through Ireland and Scotland!  I spent a ton of time researching the best places to go and planning this trip, so I thought I would share things to see in Scotland and Ireland here to give anyone looking to plan a similar trip some ideas!

stone castle with landscaping and flowers

This was really the trip of a lifetime and I’m so happy we got to experience it.  All the planning I did really paid off, I think we hit all the main attractions and largest historic landmarks and a few off-the-beaten path, and really checked off a lot of things on my bucket list.

We went in September to avoid the high season and I think that was a bonus too.  The weather was still nice but the crowds were slightly lower.

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Table of Contents

Was Two Weeks Enough?

This trip was 2 weeks, one week in each country.  We rented a car and drove a big loop through each country, and stayed in many different places.  It was really a great way to see a lot of things, but it was BUSY!  

We really did have to pick and choose the highlights and could have easily spent a lot longer in each country or in each stop.  If you have more time to spend, or if you prefer a slower pace, you might want to consider taking more time.  

couple at the gap of dunloe

To give you an idea of the pace, each day we were up early, left our hotel by about 8 AM, and spent each day driving and sightseeing until around supper time.  We then checked in to our next place, found a place to eat supper, and most nights were in bed pretty early so we could do it all again the next day.  We didn’t have a lot of free time, we didn’t do any shopping really, and we didn’t dilly dally at most of our stops so we could fit as much in as possible!  

There are certainly many more things to see in Scotland and Ireland than we covered so if you have more time there is a lot more to both countries!

How to Plan and Book Your Stays around the Things to See in Scotland and Ireland

I started by getting a rough idea of what I wanted to do and things to see in Scotland and Ireland with Google searches and reading travel blogs.  Then, I roughed out a path for us to drive in each country.

I found an online platform called Furkot that I found pretty helpful.  I was able to map out the route, add in our stops, add in an estimated time to spend at each stop and it calculated the drive time so I could see if I was being realistic in my plan or if I had to cut a few things out. 

I used a route/ trip planner called Furkot to map out our route and plan

Once I had a route planned and mapped out all the things to see in Scotland and Ireland, I booked the hotels in each location.  I went for a mid-range price most of the time with a few splurges.  The hotels/ stays in the bigger cities (Dublin and Edinburgh) were more expensive (and less nice, ha!)  

I did search out a few castles to stay in because I really wanted to do that and I highly recommend it if you can swing it and are castle-obsessed like me!  The ones we stayed at were not much more expensive than a regular hotel but it was so cool to stay in an honest-to-goodness medieval castle with a history.  Where else in the world can you do that?

castle with ivy growing on it
We stayed at a couple of castles like this one and it was so special!

Internet

For the first time we got E-SIM cards for our phones and it worked great!  If you haven’t heard of E-SIMs, they are electronic SIM cards that you download and install on your phone when you get to a new country so you can roam and use the internet.  We only had a data plan, but we didn’t find that we needed to have a phone number active.  We used What’s App to phone our kids a few times.  

We had to get a different ESIM for Scotland and for Ireland.  We also went into Northern Ireland, so we discovered that the Ireland ESIM didn’t work there as Northern Ireland is it’s own country, and a part of the UK.  I ended up getting an ESIM for Ireland and an ESIM for the UK (which worked in both Northern Ireland and Scotland).

We used AirAlo for our trip, and if you use use code ERIN6443 to sign up you get $4.50 off your ESIM purchase!

I wasn’t sure how much data to get, so I got a 5G package in each country and had about 1.5G left at the end of the week.  That was with me streaming Spotify whenever we were driving and with my Maps open navigating pretty much constantly!  I could have gotten away with way less if I had downloaded music and maps, so keep that in mind!

Flights

We chose to fly into Dublin Airport and fly out of Edinburgh Airport so we didn’t have to waste any time returning to the city we started at, and that worked out great.  Overall, it ended up being cheaper that way for us and saved time.  Both cities had direct flights (via WestJet) to Calgary.

In order to get between Scotland and Ireland, we took a flight on RyanAir.  It was very inexpensive and took less than an hour.  The other way to get between the two islands is to take a Ferry, but the cost of taking the rental car to a different country was not worth it and it would have taken a lot more time, too.  

Rental Car and Driving

In Ireland, we rented from My Irish Cousin and in Scotland, from Celtic Legends.  Both companies were excellent to deal with and I highly recommend them!  I found both from joining Scotland and Ireland Travel Groups on Facebook.

In Ireland, we didn’t rent a car until we were ready to leave Dublin, as Dublin is quite walkable.  We rented the car in Dublin near our hotel and returned to the airport.  We did the same in Edinburgh, Scotland, and only got the car after spending two days walking around Edinburgh.

Driving on the left side of the road took a minute to get used to (Darren did all the driving, I just did the backseat driving, HA!)  But more than driving on the other side of the road, we had to get used to the crazy narrow and winding roads that were pretty commonplace in the Irish countryside and a lot of places in Scotland.  

There was often only room for one car, so if you came across one coming the other way, you had to find a wide spot on the road to let them pass.  That sometimes meant backing up, and it sometimes meant you came over a hill or around the bend and realized you were facing an oncoming car.  It was terrifying!  Truly!  

This type of road is pretty typical, there is one lane, rock walls on either side of the road and a few wide places where cars can pull over if someone is coming the other direction. It was hard to get used to this!

However, if you can handle driving, visiting these countries on a road trip is really a wonderful way to do it.  You can catch so much more of the dramatic landscape and spectacular views than you would if you were limited to the cities or small bus tours.  You also have the power to decide where to go, when to stop, and what to see!  I really think it’s a great way to see both countries!

What to Pack

We decided to stick to one carry on suitcase and one backpack each, and I’m so glad we did that.  Simplifying our luggage really helped as we were packing up each morning to move on.  We rented a little apartment in Edinburgh, on day 8 that had a washing machine, so we could wash our clothes part way through the journey.

Scotland and Ireland are both pretty cool and rainy.  We ended up getting some really fabulous sunny weather for much of the time we were there, but the locals were quick to remind us that it was not normal for it to be so nice!  You are definitely going to need a rain jacket.  I bought this one for the trip and I love it, I’ll be wearing it a lot this fall!

In the rain with rain jackets at the cliffs of moher
Make sure you pack a rain jacket!

If you are doing any hiking at all, I would recommend some waterproof hiking boots too.  I just brought my runners because my hikers are so bulky, and I got away with that because we had such unseasonably nice weather.  But if I went again I would probably have brought proper hiking shoes!

You will also need long pants and sweaters!  You can leave your shorts at home, too!  

guy in the rain in shorts
I didn’t think shorts were necessary but Darren still managed to wear them pretty often!

The one thing I wish I had more of is hiking/ athletic clothing.  I brought a single pair of yoga pants and a few T-shirts but we spent multiple days hiking and I couldn’t wear those for days on end.  Especially after working up a sweat!  So more athletic gear and less “nice stuff”.  I wore and re-wore my casual stuff and some of the nicer tops I brought I didn’t even get out of the bag.  

Of course, if you don’t plan on doing any hiking then you don’t really need the athletic gear, but you should know that it was very casual in all the places we visited in Ireland and Scotland so you don’t need to worry too much about what you are wearing!  

I bought one of these neck pillows for the overnight flight there and I have to say I never slept so good on a plane!  I also bought my husband this travel backpack which is so great.  It opens up flat so you can pack it like a suitcase, and has so many compartments and ways to carry it.  I was sort of jealous and wished I had bought one too!  

Food

Most of the places we stayed included breakfast unless it was an Air BNB, in which case we grabbed some food at the grocery for breakfast.  We got in the habit of stopping at coffee shops for lunch (they are everywhere and most of the time had really delicious homemade food and baking!)  

Supper we always seemed to luck out, sometimes in pubs and sometimes in restaurants but it was always pretty delicious.  We were lucky to find places to eat except in Portree (in the Isle of Skye) where they have limited restaurants.  We ate in a fish-and-chip place the first night there but we were sure to make a reservation for a restaurant the second night!   

I am not a seafood fan but my husband is and there are lots of great seafood dishes.  We also really loved the Guinness Meat Pies.  We tried a little Haggis in Scotland because you kind of have to, ha!  No comment on that one.

Our 2 Week Itinerary and Things to See in Scotland and Ireland

​Here is a map of the routes we took in each Country, starting and returning in Dublin (in Ireland) and Edinburgh (in Scotland).  I made these maps using Furkot but you can also do something similar in Google Maps!

Map of ireland
Our Ireland Route
Our Scotland Route

Day 1 &2 – Dublin

We flew into Dublin and spent two days there.  We got a hotel near the city center and were able to walk to everything we wanted to see.  We didn’t pick up the rental car until we were leaving Dublin.We struggled to fill two full days in Dublin, to be honest, and if I had to do it again I might have only spent one day there and spent an extra day in Galway, Dingle, Northern Ireland or an extra day in Scotland.  

Our flight arrived late morning and our first stop was to drop off our luggage at the hotel and hit the streets.  We grabbed some lunch and hit the streets!   Here are the things we did or saw in Dublin:

  • Trinity College Library and Grounds:
  • Dublin Castle:
  • Temple Bar (Grabbed a drink and enjoyed a little live music at this famous pub!)
  • Night Ghost Tour of Dublin’s Dark Past
  • Kilmainham Jail Tour (You must book this in advance, exactly 28 days before you go, as it sells out every day.  It was worth the effort, as it was our favourite thing we did in Dublin!  The jail has a rich history and the tour is led by a local expert and was very animated!)
  • Guinness Storehouse Tour (this tour was not great in my opinion and if I had to do this again I would skip it unless you are a huge Guinness fan.)
  • Dublinia Museum (We went to this on a bit of a whim as we were walking by and it was mostly about Viking history.)
old library wood shelves and ladder
Now THAT is a library ladder! At Trinity College
dublin castle exterior
Dublin Castle Grounds
The famous Temple Bar! Drinks were VERY expensive here.
jaill with metal stairs and skylight
Kilmainham Gaol
spiral stairs at guiness storehouse
Kilmainham Gaol
street along the guiness storehouse
Guiness Storehouse
Detailed arches in church ceiling
The ceiling in the church attached to the Dublinia

I didn’t love our hotel in Dublin, so I won’t mention it here.

Day 3: Killarney National Park

We grabbed our rental car and headed West, all the way to Killarney.  It was one of our longer driving days, but we still managed to pack quite a few things in when we got there:

  • Gap of Dunloe (You can walk, bike, drive, or take a horse and buggy through this famous valley.  We chose the horse and I would do it again!  No need to book, the carriage drivers take cash and are ready to take you when you get there.  Driving is possible but not recommended as there are so many pedestrians and horses and the road is very narrow!)
  • Muckross House (This was such a gorgeous estate!)
  • Muckross Traditional Farms
  • Muckross Abbey (We almost didn’t go to this as it was getting late, but it was very worth it.  The abbey is in partial ruin but there is still lots to see and it was not very crowded.)
  • Ross Castle (this was on our list but we didn’t make it there before it closed!  We had planned to go back in the morning but after taking the windy roads to our hotel, we decided we didn’t want to backtrack and we missed it.)
scenic valley photo of mountains and a lake

Muckross Traditional Farm
tree growing in courtyard ruin
Muckross Abbey

We stayed in our first castle, in Balleyseed Castle and it was magical!  Highly recommend this place!

stone castle with vines growing on it
My dream to stay in a castle was realized!

Day 4- Dingle

We headed out to Dingle first thing which is a lovely little town and after checking into our room, we drove the Slea Head Drive which is the prettiest coastal drive around the peninsula and through a few fishing villages.  Along the way, we stopped at all the sights where there was a pull-out, basically. Including these stops and a few others not mentioned, you will see things and just stop along this scenic drive.

  • Fairy Fort Ringfort
  • Beehive Huts
  • Coumeenoole Beach
ancient stone ruins
Fairy Fort Ringfort, Slea Head Drive near Dingle. (Ancient ruins of stone houses and sheep and goats to pet and feed!)
ancient stone huts
Beehive Hut Structures
dark cliffs and beach
Coumeenoole Beach

We wandered around Dingle and checked out a few pubs and traditional Irish music, which are plentiful in Ireland!  Had we had more time I would have liked to take a boat tour there!

We stayed in the Dingle Benners Hotel which was very centrally located and I loved the traditional interiors. Our room faced the street which happened to be across the street from a very lively pub, so it wasn’t the quietest! If you do stay here you might want to request a room away from the front street.

Day 5 – Galway

We headed north towards Galway and along the way stopped at:

  • Cliffs of Moher
  • Aillwee Caves / Burren Experience
  • Galway
Cliffs of Moher
Ailwee Caves
street in Galway at dusk
Galway

We stayed at a converted castle called Claregalway Castle and it was one of our favourites!  The host there had spent years restoring it, and they had the best homemade scones I’ve ever eaten!

Day 6 – Northern Ireland

We almost didn’t go to Northern Ireland because it was kind of far but in the end, I’m so glad we did, as it was so beautiful there!  We packed up early from Galway and headed north, and saw a couple of things along the way:

  • Mussenden Temple and Downhill House
  • Giants Causeway (Amazing!  Be sure to hike up to the lookout or the “difficult” trail – it isn’t that difficult or long and the views from up there are so incredible!)
  • Dark Hedges (made famous by Game of Thrones!)
temple on the top of a cliff overlooking a beach
Mussenden Temple from Below (Dragonstone Beach on Game of Thrones!)
ruin of a mansion
Downhill House, a ruin of what was once a great Mansion
rock formations with ocean in distance
The stones at the Giant’s Causeway are truly unbelievable
Rock formations
Be sure to look behind you at the Giant’s Causeway!
cliffs overlooking the ocean
We hiked up the “hard path” (not that hard) to get a better view and I highly recommend it!
trees growing over a road
The Dark Hedges, a favourite road amount photographers and made famous by Game of Thrones!

We stayed at a really cute little cottage in Northern Ireland that was close to all the things we wanted to see and it was so spacious and really lovely. It was nice to have a bit more space after staying in hotels, and we grabbed food from a local grocery store and relaxed in the hot tub in the evening!

Day 7 – Northern Ireland/ Wicklow Mountains

We got up early and did the rope bridge and then headed south to the Wicklow mountains to spend the rest of the day:

  • Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge
  • Wicklow Mountains (Lough Tay, the Lake where the show “Vikings” is filmed, and Glendalough for some hiking)
rope bridge over cliffs and the ocean
Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge – Fisherman used to cross this to check their traps on the small rock island
lake surrounded by mountains
Lough Tay, or the Guinness Lake, was the film location for the show Vikings (village of Kattegat)! It’s not even on the OCEAN!!!
brook int he mountains
Hiking in Glendalough
man hiking at some ruins in the mountains
Hiking to some ruins of a mining town in Glendalough

We headed back late and stayed near the airport so that we could return our rental car and catch our early flight to Scotland the next day.

Day 8 &9 – Edinburgh, Scotland

We flew to Scotland early and made good use of our first day!  We took an easy shuttle bus from the airport to the “Old Town”  near the Royal Mile where our hotel was.  (The Royal Mile is a roughly mile-long street that goes between Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace and is where most of the history and tourist attractions are located).  We rented a small apartment in Edinburgh with a washing machine so we could do a bit of laundry since we were halfway through the trip at that point.  We stayed two nights in Edinburgh and it was a magical place with so much rich Scottish history!  Everything was very walkable so there was no need for a car.  During our two days there, we saw the following:

  • Edinburgh Castle
  • Gladstone’s Land
  • King Mary Close
  • Graveyard Tour and Underground Vaults (This was EXCELLENT!)
  • Royal Mile (just wandering about – it’s just so cool!)
  • Georgian House
  • Free Walking Tour (I always recommend a free tour!  The tour guide is usually a lot better as they get paid only if they do a good job, in tips!  Our guide had a PHD in History and had lived in Edinburgh his whole life, and was excellent in giving us a great overview of the history of Edinburgh and all of Scotland, so we could understand some of the sights we would see later in the trip!)
cobblestone street in old town Edinburgh
Edinburgh’s Old Town is the MOST charming!
cobblestone street in old town Edinburgh
The streets of Edinburgh
outside view of the edinburgh castle
Edinburgh Castle
edinburgh vaults
Edinburgh Vaults
Edinburgh graveyard at dusk
We did a Ghost Graveyard and Underground Vault tour and it was excellent!

In Edinburgh, we stayed at the Linton Collection Apartments, which were on the higher end of our price range but it was SO CLOSE to everything. It also was like a little apartment so we were able to spread out a little more and do some laundry since we were there for two nights. The place we stayed was great, I recommend it!

Day 10 – Inverness

We headed north towards Inverness and the Scottish Highlands and stopped at a few places along the way:

  • Huntingtower Castle (loved this one!)
  • Stanley Mills (This wasn’t that interesting so I would miss this next time and do Blair Castle instead)
  • Blair Castle (On the list but we didn’t have time!)
  • Balnuaran of Clava (these are mystical standing rocks made famous by the movie Outlander.  In the same area is Culloden Battlefield, the location for the battle that ended the Jacobite rising, which we didn’t end up going to being short on time).
  • Urquhart Castle and Loch Ness (In retrospect we should have left this for the next morning as we ended up backtracking ad driving right by it again!)
Huntingtower Castle was a favourite of ours! There was hardly anyone there, it had a really good story behind it, and the entire castle was open and available to view including the tower and rooftop walkways!
stone fireplace
Inside Huntingtower Castle
Despite my efforts I was not whisked away to the 17th century!
Urquhart Castle on the Loch Ness

We stayed in Inverness at a pretty crap hotel, to be honest.  If I had to do it again, I would have stayed somewhere along Loch Ness in the many B&Bs we saw there instead of right in Inverness.

Day 11& 12 – Isle of Skye

The Isle of Skye was probably the highlight for us, it was unbelievably beautiful. Many of the places we went just took our breaths away!  The drive from Inverness to Skye was the most breathtaking and scenic drive, the terrain changed half a dozen times on our way there and all of it was unique and beautiful.  

mountains on a misty morning
The drive to the Isle of Skye was beautiful!

Our way to Sky and for the first day in Skye we did a bit of a loop on the south-east part and visited:

  • Eilean Donan Castle
  • Fairy Pools
  • Taskiller Distillery (my husband wanted to do the distillery tour and whisky tasting but it turns out you have to book that in advance so we didn’t get to do this.
  • Dunvegan Castle
Eilean Donan Castle
Fairy Pools
Dunvegan Castle Exterior
Dunvegan Castle has been inhabited by the same family for 800 years!

And Day two:

  • Kilt Rock (viewpoint)
  • Fairy Glenn (short hike/ walk)
  • The Old Man of Storr (hike)
  • The Quiraing (hike)
  • Duntulm Castle (Ruin)
cliffs and ocean
Kilt Rock
The Quiraing
misty grassy hills
The Fairy Glen was misty when we were there and it felt magical!
Misty lake and hills
The Fairy Glen
grassy mountain
The Old Man of Storr

We stayed in a little Air B&B which was the cutest!  There aren’t a lot of hotels in Skye but there are plenty of little Guest Houses and Air B&B’s!  

Day 13

We headed off Skye towards Fort William area, and Google took us toward a Ferry, that little did we know, needed to be booked at least a day ahead.  We waited on standby at the Ferry for the chance to cross and thankfully made it on but wasted quite a bit of time there.  If I had to do it again we would have driven to the mainland the way we came in, over the bridge!  On our way to our next stop near Fort William, we stopped at:

  • Glenfinnan Viaduct to see the famous steam train and bridge that Harry Potter fans will recognize as the train to Hogwarts.  The train passes by twice a day and it didn’t work out that we would see the train on the bridge, unless we waited for a few hours, so we decided to move on.  We did however catch the train further up closer to Fort William!  
  • Glencoe national reserve
arch bridge in a valley
Glennfinnan Viaduct Bridge (made famous by Harry Potter)
steam train
Steam Train
mountains
Hiking in the Glencoe area
man crossing a rope bridge over a river
Rope Bridge on our Hike in Glencoe
mountain view
This national park has the tallest mountain in Scotland

We stayed in the Clan MacDuff Hotel which was a basic room but had a balcony and views of the Loch Linnhe, which was nice.  If we had had more time, I would have loved to do a boat tour of this area too.

Day 14

Time to head back to Edinburgh for our flight home!  We had enough time for a few stops including:

  • Stirling Castle (The free tour they do every 15 minutes was really good!)
  • Doune Castle (Another favourite! This castle was the film location to Monty Python’s The Holy Grail, Outlander, and Game of Thrones and the audio tour was great! This castle was all available to view and in great shape).
  • The Town of Culross (Can you EVEN STAND how cute that town is?)
stone castle with landscaping and flowers
Stirling Castle
Stirling Castle
castle with a green lawn
Doune Castle – not to be missed!
large stone room with fireplace
Doune Castle Kitchen
large hall inside a stone room
Doune Castle Great Hall
cobblestone street and white houses
The streets of Culross, it was like we had stepped back in time!
cobblestone street and white houses
Culross!

We got in late to our hotel and returned our car rental so we wouldn’t have to deal with it in the morning.  We opted to stay right at the Holiday Inn Express at the airport so we could just take a shuttle in the morning to the airport and fly home!  We were two weeks plus a day as we flew home on day 15!

I hope this is helpful if you are planning a trip and are looking for things to see in Scotland and Ireland!  Both countries are really beautiful and I highly recommend both places.

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6 Comments

  1. We are leaving for a 2 week trip to Ireland in a few days, so your post was especially exciting to see! Your photos are absolutely beautiful. Slainte!

  2. Your webpage is amazing. Thank you for all the information and tips.
    One question – why did you leave out Glasgow?

    My wife and I are from Vancouver, BC and are hugely inspired by your article to take the trip to Ireland and Scotland

    Thank you

  3. This is such a treat! I lived in Edinburgh a long time and traveled Ireland extensively — you really made a whirlwind trip of it. But so nice to see some of my favorite haunts again 🙂

  4. I don’t know why I left out Glasgow, I guess I just had to make some choices with the limited time we had!

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