How long you need
Ten days is a comfortable minimum for all three countries. With less, most of each day goes on the road and you see Britain and Ireland through a car window. Two weeks lets you stay two nights in most places, which matters more than it sounds: you unpack once, and you get a full day somewhere without check-out in the morning.
We plan for around four hours of driving on a normal day, so there's time to stop properly. The longer legs go on days when the drive is the point, such as the road through Glencoe or the Northumberland coast.
A sample route, Dublin to London
- Dublin, two nights. Arrive and settle in. On the second day, Glendalough and the Wicklow Mountains, or Newgrange in the Boyne Valley.
- Belfast and the Causeway Coast, two nights. Titanic Belfast, then the coast road north to the Giant's Causeway and Dunluce Castle.
- Ferry to Scotland, one night. Belfast to Cairnryan, then up through Ayrshire, stopping at Culzean Castle, to Glasgow or Loch Lomond.
- The Highlands, two nights. Glencoe, Fort William, then along Loch Ness to Inverness. With an extra night, add Skye.
- Edinburgh, two nights. South through the Cairngorms and Perthshire, with a stop at Pitlochry or Blair Castle. Then a full day in the city on foot.
- Northumberland and York, two nights. Down the coast past Bamburgh Castle and Alnwick to York, with Holy Island if the tide allows.
- London. Straight down the A1, or by the Peak District and Stratford-upon-Avon if you'd rather take two days over it.
Flying into London instead? The route works in reverse, finishing in Dublin. The Ireland to Scotland crossing runs the same in either direction.
England, stage by stage
Northumberland. Bamburgh is about two hours south of Edinburgh on the A1. Lindisfarne, Holy Island, is reached by a causeway that floods twice a day, so the safe crossing times decide when you go; your driver checks them in advance. Alnwick Castle, the Harry Potter broomstick-lesson castle, is twenty minutes further south.
Hadrian's Wall and Durham. Housesteads Roman fort is the best-preserved stretch of the Wall to walk. Durham Cathedral sits on a loop of the River Wear on the way down to York.
York. The Minster, the city walls and the Shambles are all within a short walk of each other. A car is no use in the old centre, so your driver drops you at the hotel and the car stays put for the day.
The Lake District. Windermere, Grasmere and Wordsworth's Dove Cottage. It's about two and a half hours from Edinburgh, so it fits as a stop on the way south, or as the last stage before a flight from Manchester.
The Cotswolds and Bath. If you have the days, the villages of the Cotswolds and the Georgian city of Bath make a slower way into London than the motorway.
The other way across: Dublin to Holyhead
If England matters more to you than the Highlands, take the ferry from Dublin to Holyhead on Anglesey instead, about three and a quarter hours. From there, Snowdonia and Conwy Castle are on the doorstep, and Chester, the Lake District and York are each a reasonable day's drive. Then come north to finish in Edinburgh, or carry on south to London.
What we look after
- The route and the daily timings, built around the hotels you've chosen. If you haven't booked yet, we can suggest places that suit the route.
- The ferry sailings for the car and driver.
- Luggage in and out at every hotel.
- Changes on the road. If you want another night somewhere, we rework the days that follow.
- The driver's own accommodation and meals, which are part of the quote, so nothing extra lands on you during the trip.
Pricing
Multi-day tours are quoted as one fixed price for the whole trip once we've agreed a route with you. Your own hotels, meals and attraction tickets aren't included unless we agree otherwise.
Coming for the golf? A week of links courses fits into this kind of trip; see our golf tours. For shorter trips, see our day tours.
