With a very singular English accent, the British Islands has a lot to offer from museums to beautiful landscapes. It is important to understand what compose those islands, United Kingdom include England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Those countries use British Pounds as their main currency. The Republic of Ireland, with is not part of the UK is on the European Union and use Euros.
The best way to start your trip is either in London arriving with a cheap EasyJet flight or Dublin, arriving with a cheap Ryanair flight.
Ireland (4 days)
I started My trip in Dublin, capital of Ireland, the hometown of Guiness and the famous Irish bars. Best area to stay is Dublin City Center or Temple Bar.
The Guiness storehouse is on the top of the touristic attractions in the city and if you are ok to spend 25 euros for the entry fee, you will be delighted with a entire museum with the history and the process of how Guiness is made. You receive one free PINT that can be used in one of the tasting rooms or in the Guiness Academy. I particularly saved my ticket for the academy because you learn how to poor the beer and receive a certificate.
A second must in Dublin is to visit the Library of Trinity college and see the Book of Keels exhibition. This library was used as scenario for the Harry Potter movie.
Wandering around the city center you can make a pub crawl trough the Irish bars listening to some folk music. Don’t miss the most traditional Temple bar, but be ready to spent 8 euros in a PINT!
Other attractions include, historical sites, watch the old tall ships in the harbor and parks.
3 good day trips include: 1 – Hiking the top of the hill in the city of Bray, located 1 hour away by bus; 2 – Visiting the city of Howth and admiring the gannet colony and the harbor; 3 – Getting a tour to Cliffs Of Moher located at the southwestern edge of the Burren region in County Clare, Ireland.
If you have extra time visit the country side ands cities such as Galway and Cork.
Northern Ireland (3 days)
For only 20 EUR return by bus, you can use Dublin as a base and travel to Belfast for 3 days.
A must do is the Titanic Museum, even tough is 18 pounds it is definitely worth. I spent about 3 hours in the museum and could also visit the SS Nomadic (an assistant boat from Titanic) using the same ticket. If you buy online you can get a discount of around 4 pounds in certain early tickets.
Other activities is visiting the cathedral, historical sites, Queen’s University Belfast and the big fish (Salmon of knowledge)
A great day trip to go to is Giants Causeway, located on the east side of the country, 3 hours away by bus, there is an impressive formation of rocks and beautiful cliffs. From the Europa bus station, a public transport cost only 12.50 pounds return and leave daily at 9am going back at 3pm.
Scotland (6 days)
Scotland was the highlight of my British islands trip. People there are super friendly, the historical sites are really beautiful, the museums are impressive and there is plenty to see and do.
I started my adventure in Edinburgh, the capital, considering I found a flight from Dublin using Ryanair for only 15 euros. Be ready to hike, a lot. Carlton hill gives a glimpse of the city from the top, but you can’t leave Edinburgh without climbing the Arthur’s seat. Leave at least half a day to enjoy the hike and the breathtaking view. The best area to stay is in Old Town District.
The city center is divided in 2 big districts, the old town and the new town. On the old town you will see the castle, the Royal Mile, plenty of very old building and scenarios of Harry Potter movies. The new town is also historical but more recent and with beautiful architecture.
The guys is dresses will be wondering around playing their traditional instrument in the city center.
In the end of Royal Mile, near the beginning of Arthur’s seat hike there is the new Scottish parliament building. It is completely free access and anyone can enter after and x-ray check. You can also enter as a watching guest in the main discussion room.
At last but not least, Dean Village is a medieval town right on the north west area of Edinburgh and is a must see.
The Scottish museum is one of the bests I have been in life and over there you can see the sheep dolly clone, the first even animal copied.
Galway is a city on the west side of Scotland and gateway to Loch Lomond National Park and the Highlands. The city is divided in two main parts, the city center and the west end. The city center main attractions include George Square, Cathedral, Necropolis Lighthouse, Peoples house & Winter-gardens.
The west end consists of Kelvingrove Museum Art Gallery and Glasgow University that inspired Howgrats from the movie Harry Potter.
Definitely don’t miss the Ceilidh, traditional Scottish music and dance in the bar Bar Avant-garde, hosted by Cristina and William. It happens twice a week and people from all over the world with age ranges between 18 and 89, come to have a lot of fun and learn about Scottish culture.
If you have extra time you can hike and do camping on the Highlands. I did a day trip to the station of Balloch and hiked from there to Helensburgh. The Three Lochs Way links Loch Lomond, Gare Loch and Loch Long and was developed by the Helensburgh and District Access Trust. It was an enjoyable 14 kilometers hike during 4 hours. I took a train back to Galway from Helensburgh.
From Galway I took a 20 EUR bus to Cardiff, the capital of Wales. I stopped in the English city of Birmingham and could take a picture of the The Bullring a shopping centre that was the busiest in the United Kingdom in 2004 with 36.5 million visitors and has a very interesting architecture.
Wales (2 days)
The top one attraction of Cardiff is the castle with an entry fee of 13 pounds. There is a variety of castles in the country and if you are really fan of that I highly recommend spending more time in Wales. Beside the castle, Sofia gardens and the city center including national museum, parliament and laws court are supposed to be on your walking plan. The best area to stay is Cardiff Central.
A few kilometers away from the city center you can find Cardiff bay, a developed harbor area. To get there I strongly recommend the boat trip that leves from Sofia gardens trough the channel for only 5 pounds.
This harbor has an interesting history and was the coal export hub in the 1880. The coal mining industry helped fund the building of Cardiff into de capital city of Wales and helped the Third Marquis of Bute, who owned the docks, become the richest man in the world at the time.
The main building, with terracota architecture use to be the harbor master office and his room is open for visit and is free.
Additionally, the Norwegian Church,Wales Millennium Center and some restaurants are great to visit on a good weather afternoon. Many buses go daily from Cardiff to London for as cheap as 5 pounds.
England (6 days)
For time and budget reasons I skipped cities such as Manchester, Liverpool, York, Bristol, Oxford and Cambridge. Those cities has their value and historical importance for England. 2 days per city is a good timing to have a glimpse on their attractions.
I spent 6 days in London and was my second time in the city. There is absolutely a variety of thing to do there and you need at least 2 good weeks to get to understand the entire city. The best area to stay I in Central London.
You can opt to follow the touristic route and spend good money with activities such as Big Ben, London Eye, climb the tower bridge, Sherlock Holmes Museum, Madame Trousseaus museum and Musical shows.
You can opt to spent an entire week wondering around free museums such as the Science one, the Historical one, the British Museum and others.
You can spend good time exploring alternative and graffiti districts including brick lane, shoredish, south bank, Camden town. In shoredish there is a nomadic community garden and is a must see. Sunday they have live music and is spectacular.
Markets that are a must include: Brick Lane Market, Old Spitalfields Market, Broadway Market, Greenwich Market, Alfie’s Antique Market, Portobello Road Market, Camden Lock Market and Borough Market. If you want to see the craziest store in the world, visit cyberdog shop in Camden Town.
You can also see other things such as the Bank of England that has free entry and you can hold a 14kg golden bar.
The sky garden that I highly recommend must be booked online 2 weeks in advance and is free. It is a great view point from the city considering it is a 38-storey building, 160 m (525 ft) tall. Additionally you get to see a garden and have drinks on a bar.
The changing of the Guard in Buckingham palace is an interesting event to see and happens daily at 10:45 AM. More details on the schedule here.
So whenever you follow my recommendations or go trough your own path, the British Islands are one very interesting place to visit.