Best of Ireland & Scotland

Great way to see so many amazing sites in Ireland and Scotland

I would highly recommend this trip as we saw so much in the two weeks and our accomodation was terrific and our tour leader made for a wonderful trip as did our driver. Great food and wonderful tour leaders who showed us the individual places and history of all our visited locations. Loved all the scenery and would definetly put this on your bucket list.

Tour director and coach driver were great. The tour length and sites visited were perfect

You see some of the most iconic sites as well as some cool local gems you would never find on your own. The bus is amazing since it's so roomy. was an awesome guide. He had the best stories! was an excellent bus driver.

This is an excellent tour for those who have never been to Ireland or Scotland, and want to know more about the history, geography, and cultures of each of these countries.

We saw all the highlights and more! A great way to see both countries!

It is fast paced but great when you want an overview of the three countries

Very fast paced, but covers a lot of the beautiful countryside. Highly recommend!

Great trip. However, the extra excursions given before the trip were not given during the trip. Only one per day was offered no other choices were given. Should not have shown them as choices if they were not.

It was busy and interesting

Awesome comfortable way to see so so much!

The itinerary was OK, but not enough time was given in each place. We wasted time in some places that we didn't need to and didn't have time see important places like Inverness. We wasted 3 hours at the Jamieson Distillery and was only given 45 minutes to eat and explore Inverness. We didn't pay over $6k a person to be rushed around like cattle. We were only given a short amount of time to explore the Blarney Castle and there was not enough time to kiss the stone and eat so you had to make a choice of what you wanted to do. Breakfast was at 6am so many had to choose to eat. I don't think time was managed very well. I was younger than most of the others and I was exhausted I don't know how the others that were in there 70's and 80's kept up!. Things are just too rushed. I loved everything we saw, just need more time to enjoy what we saw. I don't agree with offering excursions when you plan your trip to have your tour director tell you that you can't go because he decided that something else was better. We had certain things we chose to do before the trip and were not able to do 3 of them instead we had to do what he chose and they were not good, as a matter of fact I got sick at the Mackintosh Willow House one we didn't choose to go to.

I have done this trip before and was still amazed at the itinerary and management of it!

This was an excellent tour & would highly recommend it. Our bus was new with lots of leg room & overhead storage & toilet. Our driver was confident & helpful getting on & off the bus. He was also very social. Our tour director was excellent & I cannot say enough good things about him. Our our hotels were very good, clean, comfortable & lots of amenities & in a central location. Breakfasts were included & there was always a nice variety of food to chose from. When dinners were included there was always a nice choice. For lunches & dinners when we were on our own, it was nice getting the directors advise. We always received our next days itinerary the night before and we had lots of stops for a bathroom break/ refreshments, etc. When we had a local tour with a local guide, they were always very interesting, plus we usually had a little free time to wander or shop. I feel Insight Tours always looks to see what their travellers may want included.

We covered a lot of ground in a short period of time. It would have been nice if we could have spent a little more time in the bigger areas like Cork and Glasgow.

Hotels and food need improvement

Let me preface my review by saying that I had been a big advocate of Insight Vacations prior to this trip. However, this trip was extremely DISAPPOINTING! 1. Insight Vacations took us to cities and did NOTHING there as included experiences; city tours were considered optional experiences - for example, they took us to Cork and Sligo and then wanted us to do optional experiences to get the city tour! Ridiculous! 2. Blatantly inaccurate advertising about the high tea; one of the key highlights of the tour that attracted us to the tour was the "High Tea" - not just us, but many of our fellow travelers were expecting something completely different. Looks like Insight just finally updated the itinerary description to remove "high tea". However, in the trip highlights, they still have a photo that makes you think that this is going to be something formal! https://www.insightvacations.com/media/uygfa4yi/ardgowan-estate-private-tour-afternoon-tea-1.jpg 3. We were traveling as a couple and had requested one bed. However, we had multiple hotels where we were given rooms with 2 beds with both beds being smaller than king beds even though the hotels had rooms with king beds 4. Another issue was that the tour itinerary had the following description about Galway until after we completed the tour - "Join your Travel Director in Galway to see the infamous Lynch Memorial and the Church of St. Nicholas, where Christopher Columbus reputedly prayed before his discovery of America. Also see the aged Spanish Arch and Eyre Square, dedicated to the late U.S. President, John F. Kennedy." Well, they included nothing in Galway either! The only good thing about the tour was our Tour Director, Terry, who with his British sense of humor and his eagerness to do the best given what Insight had given him, was absolutely AWESOME! If it were not him, my review was 1*. Bottom line, this company is going cheap on its travelers while still charging significantly higher than its competition. Earlier, I was an advocate. Now, I cannot stop saying "I WILL NEVER TRAVEL WITH INSIGHT AGAIN"!

You cover a lot of ground in the 12 days, it is not 14 days as advertised. You meet for an evening meal on what they call day 1, then you transfer to airport prior to breakfast on what they call day 14. It's 12 days.

I was expecting to visit several distilleries, especially in Scotland. Johnny Walker was eliminated from our choice of options without having consulted us. The distillery we visited had only been open for 3 years so they didn't have any product available for us other than blends they had created. VERY disappointing! I was hoping to visit several distilleries in order to choose Scotch I would purchase at home. Most of the men were not pleased at all! While I enjoyed Ireland, I found Scotland much more captivating and would have preferred spending more time there.

The main reason I picked this trip is because it included Northern Ireland as well. You can not compare the extra leg room on the coach with other tours and they have an amazing selection of interesting hotels located in the heart of the cities. This is my fourth Insight tour and they never fail to impress me.

Very complete itinerary if you want to have a complete idea of Ireland and the best od Scotland. I would recommend one more day in Glasgow.

It is fast paced and you do not get a lot of time in each location, but it is a great overview of Ireland and Scotland. I just wish it included Belfast. However, the smaller towns were actually my favourite and really showcased the people and culture. Definitely well organized and easy to pack so much into a short amount of time. Would definitely recommend!

It was too ambitious. In the two weeks, we blew by sites and attractions hurrying to the next stop. This was a first trip for us on a tour and I’m not sure I would do it again. We spent a lot of time on the bus were happy with The driver and the tour guide.. our itinerary was changed since either Insight bought Brendan or Brendan bought Insight or the company merged. There was really more of Ireland that I would like to have seen rather than just to drive by.. I guess in order to have seen more of Ireland and Scotland. We should have booked just Ireland one year and perhaps go back to Scotland the next. At our age, we know this will never happen.. This was a once in a lifetime trip and although memorable there was a lot of disappointment as well. There was so much more we wanted to see, but not enough time to do it.

This is a well thought out itinerary. There is so much to see and learn from the tour guides and local tour guides as well. It is well paced.

The itinerary covered quiet a lot. Not much down time as it's go, go, go. The hotels were lovely, but you didn't get to enjoy them, as most of the time you got there after dinner and ended up going straight to bed. Also with the money spent on these hotels, a view would have been nice (most times all we got was roof tops or carpark). Our bus drivers were very good and our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and always made sure we got everywhere in good time. Also, if a request was made, he always made an effort to make sure the request was seen to. All in all we had a wonderful time, saw a lot and learned a lot. The people on tour with us were all respectful of each other and beautiful people.

We really enjoyed the Best of Ireland and Scotland! Our tour guide Robbie was very knowledgeable and did a great job. Our drivers Jason and Stephen also did a great job. This was our 5th trip with Insight and we'll be back for more. Keep up the good work!

This trip was amazing and so beautiful! Our guide was exceptional with their knowledge of the land and history. Not having to think about where we are going and what to do is huge especially in a foreign country. Our drivers were like magicians on the road. It would be nice to have a bit more time to explore some of the cities we visited, even like an extra hour. For example in Cork, we arrived, had the usual history lesson from our local guide, then ate dinner with probably like an hourish time limit and back on the bus to continue the journey. But overall it was a fantastic trip that I think about daily and would highly recommend.

Great guides stunning scenery

The scenery and people were fantastic. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and worked very hard to make the trip as easy for the 20 of us on the tour. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

The itinerary is reflective of the cultural, economic and beauty of Ireland and Scotland. The schedule can be flexible due to weather conditions in some cases. The behind the scenes coordination and trip details were outstanding! worked diligently to make this trip, routes, hotel and meal logistics flawless.

Good pace, good variety, good hotels. I feel like the provided food could have been better in Scotland overall though.

We felt like we saw so much of each country including the small and large cities. Our tour guide was the BEST! He knew so much about the history and stories about the whole area. He kept us informed and made everything so interesting and fun!

We loved it!! Went without a hitch.

The itinerary was perfect for us, with a good mixture of activities that were both cultural and natural. The pace was just right, with early mornings balanced with more relaxed ones. Our tour group was congenial and our tour director's knowledge extended far beyond our expectations.

For the most part, the itinerary was great. I would love to have had Belfast added and a few additional optional excursions like a sheepdog herding demonstration and a visit to the Waterford Crystal Factory. In Scotland, I personally would have traded the cruise at Loch Ness and trip to St. Andrews for a trip to the Isle of Skye. Overall, however, it was a lovely trip and our guide, Siobhan McDonald, was excellent!!

We truly enjoyed our tour of the Best of Ireland and Scotland. I rated it as "Good" not "Excellent" because I feel like we had to rush some of our visits to get from one location to the next. I should not be surprised about this since this is "BEST OF" and we had 14 days. I will reconsider BEST OFs in the future and look closely at the number of days in each location. It was tough since many of the hotels were one-nighters.

Hotels we stayed at excellent also with pools. Enjoyed all the extra itinerary. Also plenty of time to explore by ourselves. Bus plenty of room , excellent tour guide .

The tours included in the package were wonderful, and the tour also provided a nice mix of optional tours. Our tour guide, was so informative, helpful and fun. The tour was well-designed and offered amazing insight into the culture, history, and people of Ireland and Scotland. Additionally, it was well-organized, which made it so enjoyable. Not only do I highly recommend Insight, but I plan on using them again.

Good trip. Just try to ensure you have a guide who really cares. Ours did not.

This was a great tour! It hit many of the highlights we wanted to see. It would have been great if it included Stirling Castle and more time in Edinburgh but we loved it and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

Such a great look into both places beautiful trip

Wonderful experiences and a comfortable schedule. Accommodations very well chosen for a great holiday. Loved that someone handled our luggage. Meals included were perfect. Allows you to make your own choices. Very professional tour guide and coach driver. I felt very safe and knew I was going to have a special day each and every day. Made some great new friends on this two week journey into three beautiful areas.

Itinerary covered every scenic and historical attraction. John, our guide and organizer did a fantastic job. Highly recommend this tour package.

Hit all the high points that interested me plus a few additional interesting stops

This trip does visit the highlights of Ireland, NI, and Scotland by comfortable coach, with an excellent tour director and drivers, as well as superb local guides. You should arrive early to visit more of Dublin ( hop on / off bus excellent). Nearly all travelers in our group chose every optional excursion. Cobh is beautiful. Easy hike to Ross castle is nice. The line moved quick to kiss the Blarney Stone. Ring of Kerry and Cliffs of Moher both great photo ops. Walk the grounds at Connemara hotel on the ocean. Antrim coast in NI is spectacular. Giants Causeway a special treat. Nice Loch Ness cruise. Inverness a nice town. Glencoe Valley in Scotland superb. St Andrews a great stop - get your picture on Swilcan Bridge between golfers. More time needed here to see sites and grab lunch. Plenty to see in Edinburgh including great evening entertainment. All hotels comfortable. Some hotels have no A/C but room windows open and fans keep you cool. Only one morning was real early start to ferry to Scotland. Food decent ( fish and chips as well as Guinness stew are very good ). Local beers and hard ciders tasty. Very casual attire - jeans ok every day. Ample time for shopping daily. Only negative was arriving two days early, the Dublin hotel cost through Insight was far too steep vs normal hotel rate and you pay transfer fee when arriving early. Insight Vacations provided a very good experience!

This tour offers a very good taste of both Ireland and Scotland. There was a very well balanced mix of both included excursions and free time. We did many of the extra excursions and found them to be well chosen and good value. Due to the great distance covered in just two weeks, there are several one night stays and a few early mornings, however our guide made every effort to follow an early morning with a later start the following day.

Fantastic!

You really get to see the best of Ireland and Scotland. And so many stops to see beautiful scenary and take photos. The Museums, Castles, Catherdrals, Natural Wonders was spectacular!!

Family preferred Scotland. Although the Cliffs of Moher and Giants Causeway are not to be missed, the beauty of Scotland stole our hearts. By the end of the trip traditional foods are an unwelcome pallet experience. Perhaps more dining options that offer a greater variety. Your guide and driver can make or break a guided tour. , our guide, and , our driver had spectacular chemistry and shared their knowledge and insights into the culture, history, and nuances of the countries.

Siobhan is an excellent guide on a very comprehensive tour of Ireland and Scotland. We saw a lot in a short time, and learned so much because of Siobhan's excellent presentation.

More historical information and places. The food was great but had thought there would have been more traditional dishes rather than the high end fare available.

Great insight into Ireland and Scotland with excellent tour guide.

Did not need to see the horse stud farm . Could stop at a few more site (castles) . Food and hotels were top notch. Driver and tour guide were great to deal with.

was very informative, and he took care of everything. We saw a lot of things we wouldn’t have seen driving on our own.

It was on the go but meant we saw lots of stuff. Early mornings when we had a big day but easy morning other days. Fast tracked into tourist areas.

The itinerary was well thought out and planned. The only variation I would suggest is spending less time at Blair Castle and more time at St. Andrews. Out tour guide, was professional and organized. We thoroughly enjoyed his stories, commentaries and sense of humour. He was fun and approachable. Out coach driver was an exceptional driver and was very patient with all the ons and offs. We would highly recommend Insight to family and friends based on our Ireland/Scotland experience.

We saw as much of Ireland and Scotland as humanly possible for a 14 day trip. Excellent but tiring trip for a 70 yo. is an excellent Tour Guide. He will educate and entertain you!

Yes the tour was beautiful Commendation where of high quality. was the best. , very knowledgeable , personal , humorous He is an asset to your team. was the best. Felt safe with his driving. He and Compliant each. Great team. The only down side was we were to stay two night at Kings mill(ist rated) but didn’t. I don’t remember name of hotel we stayed but. You should take off your list. Again a wonderful/fabulous tour. Keep he is a true asset

is the best tour guide - his humour and knowledge of places and history made the places we visited so much fun. The only drawback is the constant changing of hotels and a few early starts. Otherwise fantastic !!

Very comprehensive with not a lot of down time - that suited us perfectly, but others in the group found it tiring. The limited time to rest and wander should be made more clear to help travelers choose wisely according to their energy level.

Fantastic variety. Great tour guide and driver.

This was a very busy itinerary that promoted “many relaxed morning starts”. That was NOT the case. Of the 12 mornings, 1 was at 6AM, 5 were 7am and 3 were 7:30 starts (breakfast and bags out) with 50 minutes to be on the bus. Many days the coach arrived at the hotel well after 4PM leaving too little time to unpack and relax before dinner.

This is a wonderful trip to experience many of the highlights of a gorgeous area. Each day seemed to out perform the previous scenery or experience. It is impossible to see everything in two weeks but this itinerary offered a fabulous insight into the history, food and culture of Ireland and Scotland. Shout out to Northern Ireland as well! The optional experiences add a whole new level of participation that should not be missed out on. The trip was a big teaser leaving me wanting more!

This was my 2nd vacation with Insight. I was not disappointed! Each new day was as good if not better than the previous. We had 2 weeks of sunny skies and picture perfect stops along the way! I highly recommend this tour!

This was an interesting and well thought, organized trip with an excellent director and driver. We enjoyed it and learned a lot. The accommodations were nice and the food excellent. The excursions were nice add on to the itinerary .

This was a fabulous trip with a great tour director and bus driver. I would highly recommend it.

Itinerary was great but exhausting. Would have liked to tour Guinness factory. No time to poop in the mornings. Big issue. Bags out at 7 . Leaving at 7:50. Crazy. The former mental hospital turned hotel was pretty creepy. There was only one run to the airport on the last day. Should have been a later one for later flights . Got to airport at 7:45 for a 1:50pm flight. The morning schedule kept changing. Get up at 7. Get up at 8. Get up at 6. Very hard on the body. Everyone on the bus got sick and slept on the bus. Too much travel and not enough time to enjoy anything.

We visited a variety of places which made the trip interesting. I learned so much during this trip. The Tour Director was excellent. Fun, friendly, knowledgeable, approachable. He couldn’t have done a better job.

It is a highlight package so don't expect half a day at each location. You can see the sights in 60 or 90 minutes so plan wisely.

The trip was very well organized with nice accomodations, good food and a relatively small group of 31. Our Tour Director, was incredibly knowlegable and very entertaining keeping everyone engaged throughout. I cannot praise our coach driver, who was without a doubt the most talented driver I have ever witnessed. How he managed to navigate many of the very small streets and towns is beyond me. Although we stayed quite busy (site to site), seeing a little of a lot in the 2 weeks and would probably like to have spent a bit more free time in some towns, there is no way we could have planned and accomplished as much as we did on our own. Would absolutley recommend

This was a wonderful way to see the 2 countries. We didn't have to worry about anything! Insight took care of all the details. Our guide was the best! He was so knowledgeable and helpful and was a delight! Our bus driver was incredible. We all were in awe of his maneuvering skills. The sights and activities were amazing and fun. The accommodations were. exceptional. The bus had plenty of room and was very comfortable. We would definitely consider another trip with Insight.

Comprehensive - saw do many things - great pace.

Nice balance of activities each day. Plenty of optional excursions and free time. Local guides do a nice job of familiarizing guests with highlights. Plenty of coach rests- no overly long periods on the road. Comfortable coach with lots of leg room. Great hotels. Balanced meals. Our guide Sean, is simply outstanding- his historical perspectives and knowledge is informative and helps connect past and present. Our coach driver absolutely knew the roads and always moved us safely- something that should not be overlooked.

The itinerary showed us a lot over around d 1700 miles of beautiful landscape. We enjoyed visiting ruins, stud horse farm, crystal shop, Cliffs of Mohrer, Giants Causeway, Ring of Kerry, cities like Dublin, Galway, Derry, Glasgow , Inverness and Edinburgh. Also enjoyed visiting mansions, castles and military memorials. On the many miles of bus rides, our guide gave wonderful commentaries about the countries and sites we would visit. The hotels were all lovely and included delicious breakfasts. The bus was extremely comfortable with lots of leg room.

I thought the itinerary was very good, especially the tour director Sean. Only suggestion might be to actually add a little of Belfast into the schedule.

Comprehensive

It was enlightening and entertaining. The sites were well planned.

Waterford would be a nice add. Better tour of Glasgow would have been nice.

Our Tour of The best of Ireland/Scotland was very well organized, our Guide made this one of our best vacation experiences. We were able to completely relax and enjoy ourselves. I would recommend everyone experience a vacation this good.

, our guide, was simply great, would travel with him again!

Tour was good it could have been excellent: There were far too many one-night stays in a row (4). The Clayton Hotel in Sligo was awful. The Connemara Hotel was very nice, but we were placed in a wing that had no elevator and required two staircases to climb to our room. The visit to the National Stud Farm was a wasted day. I would rather had visited Waterford. Going into this tour I thought that St. Andrews would be boring I don't golf, but my wife and I really liked the town would have liked more time there. Liked our driver he was very capable and engaging. Our Insight Guide was very good, laid back, took care of every and anything without any issue or fuss, no stress on the whole trip. The local guides were excellent.

There was some overlap with the Irish dancing. But overall a very nice itinerary and really like the more intimate venues. I enjoyed meeting and talking with the owners themselves. The food was always delicious, however a bit repetitive. Our tour director and driver were the best I have ever had.

It was a wonderful trip. We saw a beautiful country, old, churches, and castles. Our tour guide was very informative. The hotels were nice, and we were well fed.

This was my first time on a trip like this, I couldn't have had a better experience every thing was perfect from what we experienced to our guide and bus driver. I already have told friends and family if they are thinking about a trip I highly recommend Insight Travel.

Would have liked to spent a little more time in Scotland.

Good itinerary. Some cities the hotel was far from city center so the optional excursions were the only option.

It definitely hits all the highlights of Ireland and Scotland. This tour moves quickly day to day. We were on the bus for 1500 miles. Not a whole lot of free time. When we arrived at tours, our tour guide quickly obtained our tickets and tours started promptly. Our bus driver did an amazing job. The coach was cleaned daily and he was always there to greet us. Our guide talked during the ride from place to place and always pointed out interesting places or facts. This pic was taken from the coach.