The UK and Ireland was made for a road trip last February discovering gorgeous countryside, adorable villages, and stunning coastlines. Although there are several UK and Ireland road trip itineraries and route out there, this guide is to help you plan your own by sharing the route I designed.
You’ll find a day by day breakdown for up to fourteen days and you can use it to build your own itinerary for however long you want your trip to be. The choice is entirely yours.
After many evenings of research, planning and mapping, it made sense to set off from London as it would bring me to all the highlights I wanted to visit at a pace that allows the freedom to experience the lesser known villages, and coastal routes.
So if you are at the planning stage for your own road trip, be it with your family, friends or solo, and looking for ideas, information and inspiration on where to visit and places to stay while travelling in the UK and Ireland, then this post is for you!
ENGLAND, IRELAND AND WALES TRIP ROUTE
OVERVIEW
The route is a straight line and back with several detours starting from London Heathrow. This is because I chose to stay in unique self-catering cottages that are mostly located in cute and quaint districts that are also close enough to drive to Areas Of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) such as Cotswold and Peak District.
This route could easily be done anti-clockwise or clockwise, with ferry ride options into Ireland from either Holyhead or Fishguard, depending on the places you wish to visit first.
If you are arriving in London Heathrow, simply follow the same route in the map below, taking into account that the first week will be better spent in Cotswold and its surrounding area (or a little bit beyond) instead of London. You’ll also have to factor in your arrival time in London and make sure you have ample daylight to pick up your car rental and drive to your first accommodation.
Before moving on with a day by day breakdown of this UK and Ireland road trip itinerary, I would like to provide you with a few pointers on the above map and this post in general:
- You can open the map above within Google Maps for a full scale interactive overview with more details on directions, driving distances and places to visit.
- Starred locations are places and key stops along the route and around where I stayed i.e. cliff walks, lighthouses, historical landmarks, beaches, villages, towns and slightly beyond. You don’t have to go to all of them but most of them are highly recommended.
- Red marks indicate the five towns where I stayed during the road trip. One of my main tips for any style or length of a road trip is to choose a few ‘home bases’ and make day trips from them to places around that particular spot or ones that are one hour away or slightly beyond. Remember the UK and Ireland’s land mass is not that huge. Infact, Malaysia is 35% larger (in sq km) than the United Kingdom. So day trips, are absolutely doable especially when you have ‘home bases’.
- After several road trips, I find that booking a one week stay saves you money and leaves room for other things. It is typically cheaper than if you book for two or three nights at a time. Plus, you really get the time to fully enjoy and truly get a sense of what that place is all about.
- The blue line (with A to G marks) indicates my general driving route. It doesn’t include each journey I made and is not 100% accurate in terms of the road I took. However, it provides a general outline of the overall route I drove in the UK and Ireland.
- This trip was also done in a group of three, making the drive less of a chore and keeps the cost affordable for one person.
- Final Note. Overall this route covers roughly around 1,338 km (return) in distance. In a different trip, you can just as easily do the 2,600km of the Wild Atlantic Way route (one way, starting from the Inishowen Peninsula in County Donegal and ending in the town of Kinsale in County Cork or vice versa. Whichever end you finish, you can then make your way into Wales and England should you wish to.
ROAD TRIP ITINERARY
WEEK ONE
DAY 1 ~ London to Cotswold
DAY 2 ~ The Model Village
DAY 3 ~ Hidcote Garden
DAY 4 ~ Broadway Tower
DAY 5 ~ Exeter and Exmouth
DAY 6 ~ Cotswold to Holyhead to Bettystown
DAY 7 ~ Bettystown
WEEK TWO
DAY 8 ~ Dublin or Malahide
DAY 9 ~ Downpatrick Head
DAY 10 ~ Broadhaven Lighthouse
DAY 11 ~ Howth Bailey Lighthouse
DAY 12 ~ Ashbourne
DAY 13 ~ Leek, Staffordshire’s Hidden Charm
DAY 14 ~ Tissington Village
ARRIVAL AT LONDON HEATHROW AIRPORT
Flying from Kuala Lumpur, we arrived at London Heathrow Airport at 6.25 a.m. which was a day later than the scheduled time of arrival. We intentionally booked a flight that would land in the morning or at least in the first half of the day. This allowed us to adjust our biological clock faster by the time we land, and we’d have sufficient energy to pick up the car.
Drive | We found and booked our car directly via Avis for two reasons. One, they have a pick up location near the terminal and two, they offer continental cover. Unfortunately, we regretted this decision because during our pick up, we were informed that they don’t offer any continental cover.
This was a major setback because it meant that we had to plan a reroute of our entire road trip at the Avis pick up location and make a decision as to whether we should continue hiring with Avis or arrange for an additional car rental just for our Ireland leg in the coming days.
Important note | Should you decide to rent with Avis for whatever reason, there is a fine print on their website that says you can drive Avis cars with an additional cross border coverage fee for only £23, provided the drive is limited to only within the Republic of Ireland. Hence, our decision to book with them in the beginning. However, according to Avis’s on-site staff who attended to us, said the company stopped offering continental cover just this year.
I recommend checking with Avis or any other rental companies directly to confirm this sort of information.
We never got a reason why Avis decided to stop selling the cover. If any of you have similar experiences and have any information that we didn’t know about, please share in the comment box below. It will be much appreciated.
In hindsight, we should have probably booked our car via Auto Europe because rates are much cheaper, you get to compare rates from various different companies and that they usually offer continental covers. Companies like Enterprise, Sixt, Europcar typically has them.
I’d suggest checking on both Auto Europe and RentalCars.com for your own travel dates and to secure a car sooner rather than later.
DAY ONE: LONDON TO COTSWOLD
118 km / 1.5 hours
Drive | Exiting Heathrow airport, you’ll quickly notice the villages of Sipson, Harlington, Longford and Harmondsworth surrounding it. It’s an easy and well sign posted drive from Terminal 3 heading northeast on Contrail Way to continue onto the M4 towards Swindon.
Stay | We decided that we will be staying in cottages that fits three.
In Cotswold, we booked a seven night stay via staycotswold.com and found Star Cottage, a two bedroom, one bath self-catering cottage. The cottage is situated in a peaceful village called Little Compton near the bustling market town of Moreton-in-Marsh and it is also very close by to other attractions within the Cotswold District.
Plan | Check in and settle down for the day.
DAY TWO: THE MODEL VILLAGE
15 km / 17 minutes from Little Compton
Drive | After two hours of work and client calls in the morning, we took a nice short drive in the countryside to The Model Village for our first taste of Cotswold.
The Model Village accurately reflects life just as it was in the 1930’s when it was first built. Here you’ll be able to step into Gulliver’s shoes in Lilliput as you explore the only Grade II Listed model village in the country.
Stay | No need to move tonight because you’ll be staying in the same cottage for the next six days.
Plan | Depending on the time you start your day today, you’ll hopefully have enough time to explore a little bit more of Cotswold. Some things to consider seeing and doing includes:
- Do an eight mile walk from Little Compton (where you are staying) to the Rollright Stones, an impressive prehistoric stone circle on the Cotswold escarpment.
- Get lost in Moreton-in-Marsh (or join a tour so you don’t!).
- Cheese lover anyone? Visit the Cotswold Cheese Company. It’s a treasure trove, stocking up to 120 varieties of artisan and farmhouse cheeses.
- Stop by Hufkins in Stow-on-the-Wold for some baked goods and tea
- See films and TV sets in real life. Gloucester Cathedral was used for scenes of Hogwarts in Harry Potter
DAY THREE: HIDCOTE GARDEN
22 km / 28 minutes from Little Compton
Continuing to use Star Cottage as our base, we spent the day discovering one of the 500 historic gardens owned by Europe’s largest conservation charity – the National Trust.
Lots of people have heard only of Hidcote Garden but never of Major Lawrence Johnston whom in 1907 bought Hidcote Garden on behalf of his mother. He designed the garden with the idea of creating a series of spaces to arouse the curiosity rather than a panorama that can be grasped in one view.
If you only have one hour:
- Learn about Lawrence Johnston in the Manor House, Potting Shed and Thatched Barn.
- Head to the Old Garden and admire the view through the Red Border
If you only have three hours:
- Navigate the narrow, winding pathway along the stream up to Rock Bank to admire the view out to the Malvern Hills.
- Stroll through the Long Borders
If you have all day:
- Why not explore the wilderness and admire the view from the Long Walk
DAY FOUR: BROADWAY TOWER
18 km / 20 minutes from Little Compton
After many road trips, I learn that it’s essential to factor in a few chill days without any serious driving or sightseeing. Travel fatigue can quickly dampen your explorer spirit.
So on this day, we rose up a little later than usual. Like any other day, I attend a quick client call in the morning and later in the day head to the supermarket just a few minutes down the road to stock up on food supplies, snacks and treats for the next few days.
While you’re here, have coffee and tea at The Den. It was here, we discovered that we could check out Broadway Tower, a 200-acres estate of parkland with a deer park and walking grounds. We could have just as easily picnic at Broadway Tower but some of us weren’t too keen on being outdoors for too long, so I went ahead and did the relaxing walk to view the Tower instead.
DAY FIVE: EXETER AND EXMOUTH
203 km / full day of exploration
Though the duration of this drive took almost three hours, we took the opportunity to visit Exeter with a slight detour to Exmouth. The stop at Exeter was merely to reminisce my childhood and to revisit memories of my mother studying for her master’s degree at the University of Exeter.
Since we had plenty of time to kill today, we visited my childhood on-campus home, the middle school I went to, and the High Street of Exeter.
Things to do, see and experience in Exeter and Exmouth:
- Explore the city’s history with a free daily guided Red Coat Guided Tour which starts from the west front of Exeter Cathedral.
- Explore a unique ancient monument which is also a network of subterranean passages beneath the streets of Exeter.
- Learn about Exeter’s position on the River Axe, which led to Exeter’s tremendous wealth in the 17th and 18th centuries, all thanks to the woollen cloth trade.
- Eating on the go? Stop by Exeter’s Farmer’s Market to pick up a pie or some pastry. Alternatively you can sample more food at the GuildHall Street Food Market
- Take a 30 minute drive to Exmouth from Exeter and stop for a stroll on the beach while sampling Sea Shore Ice Creamery ice cream from their massive selection of flavours.
- If you have the time, enjoy spectacular coastal walks along dramatic cliffs of the Jurassic Coast
DAY SIX: COTSWOLD TO HOLYHEAD TO BETTYSTOWN
385+ km / 4 hours 7 minutes from Little Compton to Holyhead followed by a 4 hour ferry ride to Dublin.
We started early on this day, so we could have breakfast in Holyhead while we wait for our ferry.
We booked a return ferry ticket with Stena Line departing from Holyhead at 2.45 P.M. and arriving in Dublin at 6.00 P.M. It was just nice for us to catch the daylight and search for our next stay at Bettystown. We didn’t book a room while on the the ferry but there were plenty of comfortable seats to chill, nap and a decent cafeteria to buy food and drinks.
Here you can either take a ferry ride from Holyhead or Fishguard. If you decide to start your Ireland leg by driving the Wild Atlantic Way from Kinsale, County Cork, then taking a ferry from Fishguard and arriving at Rosslare Harbour makes more sense.
Stay | We found Appleloft at The Cottages Ireland, a 300 year old thatched cottage that sits along a beach in Bettystown on the Irish sea. The cottages are run by Liz and Roger, and their sweet fur baby, Poppy.
Plan | Check-in and settle down for the day.
DAY SEVEN: BETTYSTOWN
Since we had a long day of travel the day before, we took full advantage of just resting and relaxing on this day, and enjoy soaking up the cottage atmosphere. The compound has a beautiful garden surrounding and a private beach access.
Stay | Appleloft at The Cottages Ireland (refer to the map for the location of the cottage)
Plan | If you wish to do something on this day, there are seven attractions in the County Meath I recommend you explore just so you get to know the place a little better.
- Brú na Bóinne
- Loughcrew Cairns
- Slane Castle and Distillery
- Battle of the Boyne Visitor Centre
- Irish Military War Museum
- Climb the Hill of Tara
- If you are into Braveheart, visit Trim Castle
WEEK TWO
DAY EIGHT: DUBLIN OR MALAHIDE
48 km / 50 minutes from Bettystown
I’m not normally a big fan of cities especially when I can avoid them while traveling. It’s mainly because the crowd, the hustling and bustling, gives me anxiety and amplifies the travel fatigue.
But if Dublin is in your bucket list, here are a list of attractions that are less than 10 km apart from each other.
- Learn the Irish history through Kilmainham Gaol Prison, where in over a 100 years it has held thousands of men, women and children with minor offenses.
- Listen to Buskers on Grafton Street
- Whilst nearby is the Trinity College Library that houses 200,000 ancient books. It is the perfect place to spend the day if you are up for a relaxing read.
What to do in Malahide?
- Catch a taco truck at Malahide Marina to sample El Milagro’s birria tacos. Imagine juicy chunks of beef brisket squished between corn tortillas and seared in a splash of guajillo and ancho broth.
- Get your bearings on your first day by walking the Poolbeg Lighthouse.
Stay | No need to move tonight.
DAY NINE: DOWNPATRICK HEAD
277 km / 3 hours 34 minutes from Bettystown
After a satisfying rest and a full day of discovering a little bit of Dublin the day before, we head out early in the morning to drive to the west coast of Ireland so we can discover Downpatrick Head’s spectacular scenic drive and breathtaking views of Dún Briste.
I recommend making use of the car to do remote detours on this route (if time permits).
- Laze on the slopes of Lough Owel to have lunch with a picturesque view of the glacier lake
- Step back in time by visiting the Belderrig Valley
Stay | One of the benefits of having your own vehicle is you have the option to plan your trip route according to your liking. In this part of our road trip, we cast a wider net, and found Ceide Glamping. It’s one of our favourite stays in this entire trip. Safe to say, it is the pod of our dreams and it sits right by the Atlantic Ocean with a view of the broken fort at Downpatrick Head.
Plan | Read One Night Along The Wild Atlantic Way travel and photo journal for inspiration.
DAY TEN: BROADHAVEN LIGHTHOUSE
59 km / 53 minutes from Ceide Glamping
The morning after breakfast, was dedicated to enjoying our drive on the route leading to Broadhaven Lighthouse a.k.a. Ballyglass Lighthouse. The main highlight for this key stop was for the opportunity to take some dramatic photos of the lighthouse from a distance and to capture the autumn colors of the landscape surrounding it.
If you have time to kill, I recommend finding the ruins of the World War II Coast Watch Station by walking the Erris Head Loop. It is a 5 km loop treating you to lush landscapes and salty escapes. There may be some soft and wet trails along the way, so a pair of waterproof walking boots would do you justice if you ever decide to go.
Stay | You can choose to stay another night at Ceide Glamping. We however decided to head back to Bettystown and continue our stay at Appleloft.
Plan | Drive back to Bettystown.
DAY ELEVEN: HOWTH, BAILEY LIGHTHOUSE
50 km / 57 minutes from Appleloft, The Cottages Ireland
Some friends recommended that we we’d love Howth and that there is a lighthouse that I would love to take photos of from the distance – they weren’t wrong!
Howth is one of the prettiest seaside towns in Ireland which is also ideal for short getaways outside Dublin’s City Center.
This Irish seaside village is a famous tourist destination, but I still continue to recommend it as a short getaway destination because, there is no better way than to discover a place, its history and culture by sampling its seafood menus.
Stay | Final night in Bettystown
Here are top 3 best things to do in Howth:
- Into photography? Take photos of the Bailey Lighthouse while walking one of the cliff walks
- Immerse yourself in a fisherman’s tale with Howth School of Fish. Doran On The Pier is a 60 year old business ran by Sean Doran who is himself a former fisherman and is amazing at providing insights about the quirky characters of the people in the community and the challenges they face as fishermen. You’ll have a newfound appreciation of seafood.
- Choose from the best 5 Howth Cliff Walks to stretch the legs and admire the dramatic sea cliff views of the ocean.
DAY TWELVE: ASHBOURNE
100+ km / full day of travelling
Our journey for the day starts early. We had to catch our ferry at Dublin Port for a 2.15 A.M. departure. I must say that the whole experience was smooth from the time we checked in until we drove off from the ferry .
Now, if you are travelling without a car, you can purchase a seat without one too. Just like an airplane ticket, you can choose from three types of fares – economy, flexi and premium. Standard stuff.
Your choice of fares really also depends on whether your trip plans are fixed or whether it has the potential to change at the last minute. If you think your plans might change, you get a 100% refund less cancellation fees with the Flexi ticket, provided the cancellation is made twenty-four hours before departure. As for the Premium ticket, you get 100% refund less a small cancellation fee when you cancel two hours before departure.
After three hours and forty-five minutes, we finally arrive at Holyhead. Shops weren’t open as it was 5.45 A.M. so the obvious thing to do was continue our sleep in the car until it was time for breakfast.
We planned our route by driving via the A55 and exit to A5. Enroute however was the stunning Gwydyr Forest and Betwys-Y-Coed. This marked our first taste of Wales and the remarkable Snowdonia.
Once you hit the A5, the stretch before reaching to Betwys-Y-Coed is in itself, quite a drive. It’s then a case of deciding whether we should stop to have coffee at a cafe or get a sandwich to go and park by the lake to admire the majesticness of Tryfan from a distance.
Tryfan is a mountain in the Ogwen Valley and is one of Britain’s most recognisable peaks. It’s rugged pointy crags sits at 917.5 metres above sea level. Depending where your base is located for the next week, you have a choice of returning to Ogwen Valley to do a scramble up this mountain.
Betwys-Y-Coed was enroute to our next stay for the week, and while we did not spend the week here, I recommend that you do. Since it is a part of Snowdonia, it’s also one of those places that if you have the time, should be included in your itinerary.
Stay | Our base for the next week, will be in Yew Tree, a cute traditional English stone cottage at a lovely village in Fenny Bentley, just 4.8 km north of Ashbourne town.
Plan | If you find yourself having lots of time, break the activities below and incorporate them in the next couple of days.
- Hire a bike at the Bike Barn and cycle the High Peak Trail
- Since Ashbourne is very near to Peak District, choose from a galore of trails to walk
- Join an open access hand-building pottery workshop with The ClayRooms for a mellow activity.
- Sample authentic gelato flavours made using milk and cream from Tagg Lane Dairy’s award winning Jersey Herd. You’ll also be able to see how your ice cream is being made!
DAY THIRTEEN: LEEK, STAFFORDSHIRE’S HIDDEN CHARM
28 km / town walk
Leek was once a silk-producing town in the 18th century with over 100 silk mills operating. A distinct feature about this town as soon as you drive in, is that it’s mostly centered around a stone-cobbled market square surrounded by well preserved architecture that are remnants of Napoleonic Wars.
Leek was meant for us to take advantage of the slow pace charm it brought.
Note that Leek is a 35 minutes drive from Fenny Bentley and parking at the market square is limited, so you may have to find parking elsewhere, which is still within a walking distance from the market square.
Stay | No need to move tonight.
DAY FOURTEEN: TISSINGTON VILLAGE
3.2 km / 5 minutes from Fenny Bentley
Tissington Village is the perfect example of an unspoilt quaint little English village that sits in Derbyshire bordering the infamous, Peak District. The village has a rather grandeur feel to it as it has an entrance that is accessed off the main portion of Ashbourne Road where you’ll drive through large lodge gates.
Once inside, you’ll notice stunning examples of a typical village life with a manor tea room, thatched limestone cottages to rent, a church, a charming eating spot in a converted barn, entry to the Tissington cycling trail and a proper old fashion candy shop.
Stay | No need to move tonight.
Plan | Walk the Tissington Trail. This lovely trail is 21km in distance and joins with the High Peak Trail that continues to Buxton. If you are looking to enjoy the countryside, you can hike or cycle.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE DIFFERENTLY?
In all honesty not that much – we were quite happy with this road trip itinerary!
If we could do it all over again, we’d probably rent the car via Auto Europe. Even though it would likely require us to travel a little further out from the terminal just to pick it up, we’d be certain that there would be car companies that offer the continental cover.
Oh, and more time in Snowdonia. It’s a stunning part of Wales that I don’t think anyone should ever skip. At least opt for a week’s stay to fully immerse in the majesticness of Snowdonia’s mountains by doing a three to four day hike.
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