Britain & Ireland Discovery - From £6,115

Europe United Kingdom
OVERVIEW
Across Britain and Ireland, you’ll journey between ancient cities, wild landscapes and places where centuries of history still sit close to the surface. Feel the warmth rising from Bath’s Roman waters, taste the roasted notes behind Ireland’s most famous stout at the Guinness Storehouse and walk the battlements of Edinburgh Castle high above the Scottish capital. Along the way, discover places steeped in history, from medieval Kilkenny and its castle to Salisbury Plain, where the monoliths of Stonehenge have stood for almost 5,000 years. In York, crooked timber-framed houses crowd the narrow Shambles, while elsewhere castles, old streets and shared stories invite you deeper into Britain and Ireland on a journey filled with history, flavour and moments of wonder.
EXPERIENCES
Derry/Londonderry: There's no better way to experience sightseeing than with one of Northern Ireland's best storytellers, Ronan, as he takes you on a tour inside the city walls. See the Gothic Guildhall and the Georgian houses of Shipquay Street.

Kilkenny: Visit Kilkenny Castle to learn the history of this magnificent castle and that of the powerful Ormonde family that came to call it home for so many centuries. Amble through the Picture Gallery, library, drawing room, nursery and bedrooms decorated in 1830s splendour as well as the rolling parkland formal terraced rose garden, woodlands and man-made lake.
DEPARTURE DATES AND PRICES
Tour
Departs		 Tour
Returns		 Starting From
(price per person)		 Definite Departure
What's this? 		Book Now!
05/04/2028 26/04/2028 £7,150   Book
12/04/2028 03/05/2028 £7,150   Book
16/04/2028 07/05/2028 £7,225   Book
19/04/2028 10/05/2028 £7,195   Book
23/04/2028 14/05/2028 £7,195   Book
26/04/2028 17/05/2028 £7,250   Book
30/04/2028 21/05/2028 £7,295   Book
03/05/2028 24/05/2028 £7,895   Book
07/05/2028 28/05/2028 £7,895   Book
10/05/2028 31/05/2028 £7,895   Book
14/05/2028 04/06/2028 £7,895   Book
17/05/2028 07/06/2028 £7,865   Book
21/05/2028 11/06/2028 £7,975   Book
24/05/2028 14/06/2028 £7,975   Book
28/05/2028 18/06/2028 £7,975   Book
31/05/2028 21/06/2028 £7,375   Book
04/06/2028 25/06/2028 £7,425   Book
07/06/2028 28/06/2028 £7,425   Book
11/06/2028 02/07/2028 £7,375   Book
14/06/2028 05/07/2028 £7,425   Book
18/06/2028 09/07/2028 £7,425   Book
21/06/2028 12/07/2028 £7,425   Book
25/06/2028 16/07/2028 £7,425   Book
28/06/2028 19/07/2028 £7,550   Book
02/07/2028 23/07/2028 £7,520   Book
05/07/2028 26/07/2028 £7,550   Book
09/07/2028 30/07/2028 £7,550   Book
12/07/2028 02/08/2028 £7,495   Book
16/07/2028 06/08/2028 £7,550   Book
19/07/2028 09/08/2028 £7,550   Book
23/07/2028 13/08/2028 £7,550   Book
26/07/2028 16/08/2028 £7,550   Book
30/07/2028 20/08/2028 £7,695   Book
02/08/2028 23/08/2028 £8,595   Book
06/08/2028 27/08/2028 £8,525   Book
09/08/2028 30/08/2028 £8,595   Book
13/08/2028 03/09/2028 £8,595   Book
16/08/2028 06/09/2028 £8,595   Book
20/08/2028 10/09/2028 £8,595   Book
23/08/2028 13/09/2028 £8,350   Book
27/08/2028 17/09/2028 £8,350   Book
30/08/2028 20/09/2028 £8,330   Book
06/09/2028 27/09/2028 £8,075   Book
13/09/2028 04/10/2028 £8,050   Book
17/09/2028 08/10/2028 £7,895   Book
20/09/2028 11/10/2028 £7,895   Book
View Our Dates
Ask a question
ITINERARY

You’ll meet your Travel Director in London, then travel through the wooded Chiltern Hills to Oxford, where the city’s spires rise above narrow streets. In your free time, you might explore the Ashmolean, pausing over ancient Egyptian coffins, gleaming gold and painted ceramics, or browse the Covered Market as the scents of coffee, warm bread and fresh flowers mingle beneath its old roof. Continue through the Cotswolds, where pale limestone cottages and dry-stone walls line the route to Stratford-upon-Avon. Inside Shakespeare’s half-timbered birthplace, you’ll see where the bard’s life began. Later, share dinner and drinks with your Travel Director and fellow travellers.

Beyond the countryside, you’ll reach York, where ancient walls enclose streets with Roman foundations and a Viking past. York Minster’s Gothic towers stand among detailed carvings and stained-glass marking centuries of craftsmanship. Follow the cobbles into the Shambles, where crooked timber-framed houses lean across the narrow lane, then spend the rest of the day at leisure, tracing York’s twisting ‘snickelways’. After dark, perhaps join a ghost tour and hear the tales behind the city’s famously haunted reputation.

Passing through the Yorkshire Dales and wild Pennines, you’ll watch green valleys open into broad moorland on the way to the Lake District. Here, long stretches of water lie beneath craggy steeps and green fells in the landscape that inspired the Big Six of English Romantic Poetry. Take a pause in Grasmere, visiting Wordsworth’s grave and taking in the mountain-stone cottages scattered across the hillside. You’ll cross the Scottish border into Gretna Green, where the vows exchanged by runaway lovers echo over the blacksmith’s anvil. Continue to Edinburgh, where you might join an Optional Experience at a Scottish cultural dinner, sharing food and drink before the music starts and the ceilidh steps begin.

A Local Specialist leads you on a drive along Princes Street, past the Scott Monument’s intricate Gothic stonework and the graceful crescents and classical façades of the New Town. Across the city, the Old Town takes you to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the official Scottish residence of His Majesty the King, before you enter Edinburgh Castle to see Mons Meg, the Stone of Destiny and the Honours of Scotland, their gold and jewels gleaming beneath the castle lights. The rest of the day is yours. Perhaps trace your family tartan at the Tartan Centre, or spend time among the paintings of the National Gallery. On select departures, the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo fills the evening with the skirl of pipes, the beat of drums and dancers moving beneath the floodlit walls of Edinburgh Castle.

Crossing the Firth of Forth, you'll pass through Fife and continue to St Andrews, where the Old Course meets the North Sea and centuries of golfing history begin. During your free time, you might follow the pale curve of West Sands as waves roll onto the shore, recalling the famous running scene from Chariots of Fire. Or pass through the quadrangles of St Andrews University, where Catherine and Prince William first met as students. At a local whisky distillery, breathe in the warm scent of malt, toasted grain and oak during your MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience. Continue to Aberdeen, where your 19th-century baronial mansion awaits among 30 acres of green grounds, an atmospheric place to end the day.

Through Scotland’s northeast, you'll pass rippling barley fields and coastal villages before boarding your cruise on Loch Ness. Beneath your boat, the inky waters plunge to mysterious depths. At its northern end, whitewashed Bona Lighthouse marks the narrow channel towards Loch Dochfour, once guiding vessels into the Caledonian Canal. You may find yourself searching for signs of Nessie as your Travel Director shares the loch’s geology and legendary tales. Farther north, you'll reach Wick, once known as Europe’s herring capital. On the approach, watch for Ebenezer Place, recognised as the world’s shortest street at just 2.06m (6ft 7in) long.

On the ferry across the Pentland Firth, feel the sea air and northern wind as Orkney's low green islands appear on the horizon. With your Travel Director, you'll visit the Italian Chapel, where prisoners of war painted graceful arches and fashioned delicate ironwork inside two simple wartime huts. Continue through the old Norse town of Kirkwall to Skara Brae beside the Bay of Skaill, where stone beds, cupboards and hearths remain within 5,000-year-old homes. At the Ring of Brodgar, you can pause among weathered standing stones, listening to the wind ripple through the grass and wondering at the hands that raised them thousands of years ago.

Between deep lochs and mountain slopes, you’ll make your way to Ullapool, where whitewashed houses cast a watchful eye and fishing boats pull playfully at their moorings. Your route continues beside Loch Carron and through Glen Carron, with wooded hills, rocky shores and sea air accompanying you towards the Isle of Skye, the largest of the Inner Hebrides. As you cross to the island, hear the story behind ‘Over the Sea to Skye’ and Flora MacDonald’s daring rescue of Bonnie Prince Charlie after Culloden. Headlands and sheltered inlets lead the way to Broadford.

Back on the mainland, you’ll cross the causeway to Eilean Donan Castle, where three sea lochs meet beneath its weathered walls. When the water lies still, the turrets may shimmer in reflection. At the Commando Memorial, highland winds glide across the open ground as the bronze soldiers look towards Ben Nevis, visible when the cloud lifts. In Glencoe, steep ridges close around the road while your Travel Director recounts the 1692 massacre of Clan MacDonald. Beside Loch Lomond, Sir Walter Scott’s ‘Queen of Scottish Lakes’, islands rest across the broad water before you continue to Glasgow.

From the ferry, you’ll watch the Isle of Arran soften into the sea haze as the deck hums beneath you on the crossing to Northern Ireland. At the UNESCO-listed Giant’s Causeway, Atlantic water foams between some 40,000 black basalt columns, formed by volcanic activity more than 60 million years ago. Pick your way across these geometric pillars as waves break against their dark edges. Continue to Londonderry, Northern Ireland’s only remaining completely walled city, where original 17th-century ramparts form an unbroken circuit of stone gateways, bastions and cannon.

Inside Derry/Londonderry’s cannon-topped walls, you’ll feel the wind against the ramparts as Ronan, one of the nation’s great storytellers, begins his tales. Follow steep Shipquay Street past elegant Georgian houses to the Gothic Guildhall, listening as centuries of history unfold through his words. Across the border in Donegal, visit O’Donnell’s Castle before spending time where the River Eske flows into Donegal Bay. Once the stronghold of a powerful Gaelic dynasty, the town’s riverside streets recall Ireland’s medieval past. Continue to your country retreat beside Sligo Bay, where a coastal breeze sweeps across the grounds and the water stretches towards the horizon.

Through Connemara, you’ll follow winding roads between the clustered lakes, sharp mountains, and open bogland that embody its ‘savage beauty’. In Galway, your Travel Director leads you into the city’s past, from the cool hush and lofty arches of St Nicholas Cathedral to the Spanish Arch, where the River Corrib meets Galway Bay and gulls call above the water. In Eyre Square, dedicated to the late US President John F. Kennedy, the city’s passing voices and music add a lively note to your visit. Later, you reach Limerick, where Georgian fronts line the streets and fine threads of lace meet the playful wit of the city’s rhymes.

In Limerick, you’ll trace the city’s past from the battlements of King John’s Castle to the quiet arches of St. Mary’s Cathedral and the Treaty Stone. Continue through Adare, where whitewashed cottages sit beneath thick thatched roofs, before the road carries you into County Kerry, long celebrated in Irish song and legend. During your MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience, you’ll meet John and Freda, passionate restaurant owners whose farm-to-table approach keeps every ingredient within five miles of their kitchen. Hear how nearby farms supply each dish, then savour a freshly prepared meal as warm aromas rise from the kitchen. At night your Dine-Around Evening offers you authentic and intimate dining as you choose from a hand-picked selection of local restaurants, ranging in style and ambiance.

Along the Ring of Kerry, you pass soaring cliffs, lake-speckled valleys and remote villages beneath Ireland’s highest mountain range. The three Lakes of Killarney lie between mountain slopes and shores, their still water lending a gentle romance to the rugged landscape. With time to yourself, why not hire a bicycle and follow the trails beside the lakes or through Killarney National Park, breathing in the cool scent of woodland and listening to the birds calling from the trees?

Traversing the low, rolling terrain of the Derrynasaggart Mountains, you’ll make your way to Blarney, known for the Stone of Eloquence, where garden paths lead to the ruined battlements of its 15th-century castle. You’ll continue to Cork, Ireland’s second most populous city, built where the River Lee divides around its centre. You might join a city tour before checking into your hotel, crossing bridges between the river channels as reflections flicker beneath the quays and colourful shopfronts brighten the streets.

You’ll travel to medieval Kilkenny, where the stone walls of 12th-century Kilkenny Castle rise above the River Nore. Walk through its restored Victorian rooms, where polished wood, portraits and period furnishings trace centuries of Irish history. Then continue to Dublin for a very different taste of Ireland at the Guinness Storehouse. Follow the brewing process behind the country’s famous stout and hear how the Guinness name became part of Dublin life, before looking out across the capital from the Gravity Bar. This evening is yours, whether you fancy exploring independently or joining a traditional Irish cabaret.

Dublin is yours to get to know more closely today. With your Local Specialist, explore its Georgian squares, O’Connell Street and the neoclassical Custom House, hearing the stories behind the streets and buildings of the Irish capital. The afternoon is free to spend as you please, perhaps browsing Grafton Street or stopping for coffee along the way. Or choose an Optional Experience to Glendalough, where the remains of a monastic settlement founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century sit among the Wicklow Mountains. This evening, you may also choose an Optional Experience for dinner in Dublin.

Across the Irish Sea, you’ll reach Wales and Conwy Castle, where eight imposing towers and high curtain walls have watched over the medieval town and estuary for more than 700 years. You’ll then head back into England for Liverpool, a city of grand waterfront buildings, red-brick warehouses and a musical legacy known around the world. Once there, you’ll follow streets shaped by music and maritime history, with the River Mersey beside you and the city’s grand waterfront recalling its seafaring past. Perhaps join an Optional Experience tracing the story of The Beatles, from the places that coloured their early lives to the melodies that carried around the world.

As you head back through the Welsh countryside and arrive in Cardiff, the Welsh capital unfolds in broad avenues and grand civic architecture. You’ll pass the University of Wales and the imposing scale of the Principality Stadium before continuing to City Hall and the National Museum, where elegant buildings with carved details speak to the city’s cultural pride. Between these and open public spaces, you can take in a capital that wears its history with a certain quiet grandeur.

The city of Bath awaits across the Severn Bridge, a UNESCO World Heritage city of graceful Georgian terraces sweeping across the surrounding hills. Follow its elegant streets towards Pulteney Bridge and Bath Abbey, where carved angels climb Jacob’s Ladder across the Gothic facade. You'll then visit the remarkably preserved Roman Baths to hear mineral-rich water spilling into pools first used nearly two thousand years ago. In Somerset, you’ll step inside Wells Cathedral, where coloured light filters through stained glass onto Gothic arches and intricate medieval carvings. After a day spent among warm Bath stone, ancient water and centuries of craftsmanship, you'll continue to Plymouth.

For your choice experience, you can head into Dartmoor National Park, where open moorland stretches towards granite tors and the wind carries the scent of heather across the landscape. Or take to Plymouth harbour, feeling the gentle rise and fall of the water as you cruise the same waters from which the Mayflower set sail for America 400 years ago. Back in Plymouth, raise a glass of wine over dinner with your fellow travellers, lingering over good food, shared stories and the memories of everything you’ve experienced together.

Across Salisbury Plain, you’ll approach Stonehenge, its immense, enduring stones standing against the open sky as they have for almost 5,000 years. Walk through this prehistoric landscape and take in the rough grain of the monoliths, the surrounding expanse of grass and the enduring mystery of a monument that still stirs the imagination. From here, return to London as your journey comes to an end, carrying with you the landscapes, stories and moments that make Britain and Ireland unforgettable.
WHAT'S INCLUDED
  • Air-conditioned, 40-seat coach with double the standard legroom and onboard washroom
  • All hotel tips, charges and local taxes
  • An expert Travel Director and professional Driver
  • Audio headsets for flexible sightseeing
  • Complimentary coach and hotel Wi-Fi where available
  • From time to time, your Travel Director will delight you with a local specialty representing the destination.
  • We carry your bags for you and promptly deliver them to your hotel door
ACCOMMODATION
DAY 1: Swan's Nest - Meals: Dinner
DAY 2: Hilton - Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
DAY 3: Clayton St. Andrew Square - Meals: Breakfast
DAY 4: Clayton St. Andrew Square - Meals: Breakfast
DAY 5: Ardoe House Hotel and Spa - Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
DAY 6: The Norseman - Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
DAY 7: The Norseman - Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
DAY 8: The Dunollie - Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
DAY 9: Radisson Blu - Meals: Breakfast
DAY 10: Da Vinci's - Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
DAY 11: Clayton - Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
DAY 12: The George - Meals: Breakfast
DAY 13: Aghadoe Heights Hotel and Spa, Great Southern - Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
DAY 14: Aghadoe Heights Hotel and Spa, Great Southern - Meals: Breakfast
DAY 15: Maldron South Mall - Meals: Breakfast
DAY 16: Trinity City - Meals: Breakfast
DAY 17: Trinity City - Meals: Breakfast
DAY 18: Maldron - Meals: Breakfast
DAY 19: Clayton - Meals: Breakfast
DAY 20: Crowne Plaza - Meals: Breakfast
DAY 21: Crowne Plaza - Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Search Tours