Here it is - my first ever blog post and I’m diving head first starting with our 15 day UK/Ireland trip!

This Itinerary is not for those with the faint of heart. Just kidding, it’s for anyone. Whether you’re an avid road-tripper or an ambitious novice… if we can do it in 15 days with 4 kids aged 6-1, so can you 😜. Not to mention, our itinerary can always be customized to fit your needs/wants!

Without further ado - a semi detailed guide to our 15 day road trip through UK and Ireland.

Itinerary Overview

•Day 1. Home to Calais, France

Drive time: 6hr

•Day 2. Eurotunnel Train from Calais, France into Folkestone, UK to York to Holy Island

Drive time: 7hr 3min

• Day 3. Holy Island to Edinburgh To Perth

Drive time: 2hr 24min

• Day 4. Perth to Cairngorms National Park to Inverness to Auldearn to Loch Ness to Achanalt

Drive time: 4hr 57min

•Day 5. Achanalt to Bealach Na Bà to The Storr Isle of Skye to Quiraing to The Fairy Glen

Drive time: 4hr 11min

•Day 6.The Fairy Glen to Trumpan Church to Eilean Donan Castle to Glencoe

Drive time: 4hr 38min

•Day 7. Glencoe to Kilchurn Castle to North Cairnryan to Belfast to Glenariff Forest Park

Drive time: 5hr 20min + 2.5hr ferry

•Day 8. Glenariff Forest Park to the Dark Hedges to Dunseverick Castle To Giants Causeway.

Drive time: 3hr

•Day 9. Benbulbin to Corcomroe Abbey to Poulnabrone Dolmen to Cliffs of Moher to Limerick.

Drive time: 4hr 51min

•Day 10. Limerick to Dingle and Slea Head Dr.

Drive time: 3hr 24min

•Day 11. Dingle to Gap of Dunloe to The Magic Road to Wicklow

Drive time: 6hr 2min

•Day 12. Wicklow to Dublin to Holyhead

Drive time: 1hr 25min + 4.5 hr ferry

•Day 13. Holyhead to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch to Betws-y-Coed to Snowdonia to Gloucester

Drive time: 5hr 1min

•Day 14. Gloucester to Castle Combe to Stonehenge To spot outside of London

Drive time: 4hr

Day 15. London to location enroute to Folkestone.

Drive time: 1 hr

•Day 16. Folkestone to Calais, France and back home

Drive time: 6hr

Eurotunnel Train from Calais, France into Folkestone, UK

We started our journey in Germany so we drove 6hrs from our home to the Eurotunnel station in Calais, France. Enroute, we made a quick stop at Hallerbos in Belgium to see the Hyacinths blooming, 10/10 recommend!

When we arrived in Calais we found a local spot to camp (thanks to our favorite app Park4Night). It was about 10 minutes drive from the Eurotunnel so we could wake up and easily catch our train the following morning.

Folkestone to York to Holy Island

If you haven’t taken the Eurotunnel before, I strongly recommend it! I wish ALL travel that required flight could be swapped with under water trains. The process was so simple, we never even had to get out of our van.

We drove onto the train around 9:20am and in less than 30 minutes we popped up on the other side on UK soil.

From there we drove off and made our way to York!

In York we went to the shambles to walk around for a bit. Stopped in at all the cute shops including The Potions Cauldron and The Shop That Must Not Be Named.

We then grabbed some lunch at the food trucks and headed towards Holy Island. We made it just as the sun was setting and the tide was going down so we took a quick drive around before heading out and setting up for the night! We found a quant little cafe to park at in exchange for having breakfast there (fair trade because it was delicious!).

Holy Island to Edinburgh To Perth

After breakfast we made our way back to Holy Island to give it a proper look. We moseyed our way through the village, up to the old church, through the priory and down to the Lindisfarne Castle. We did a paid self-guided tour of the castle which was small but by far one of my favorite castles to date!

Definitely recommend stopping in at The National Trust Shop where we grabbed some fudge and chocolate covered honeycomb!

We loaded up the van, said goodbye to England and started making our way up towards Edinburgh.

Surprisingly, Edinburgh was not on our list of places to see but it was enroute so we figured, why not! Definitely glad we did because it wound up being one of our favorite cities.

We parked our van near the Palace of Holyroodhouse then hopped on the bus (using the my favorite app for public transportation Citymapper) up towards Edinburgh castle and walked our way back down. We didn't do any official tours here because the castle required more advanced booking and Mary King’s Close didn’t allow children under 5 (sigh). Regardless, we had an amazing time just wandering in and out of all the little shops, listening to bagpipes, watching wool get hand-spun and playing with giant bubble wands! We ended our day eating at The Filling Station then finished the walk back down to our van. From Edinburgh we continued north, stopping in Perth and staying the night by an old monastery before continuing on the following morning.

Perth to Cairngorms National Park to Inverness to Auldearn to Loch Ness to Achanalt

From Perth we headed towards the Cairngorms and slowly made our way through this beautiful National Park. We had every intention of spending the day exploring Inverness but our plans quickly changed after we drove through. We didn’t feel there was much there for us to see so we made a short stop at the Battle of Culloden then made our way 30 minutes north to check out an old Free Church of Scotland that was converted into the most beautiful antique store. After talking to the owner for while we started back on the road toward Loch Ness.

Here we stopped off to search for Nessie (with great success according to the kids) then continued on towards Isle of Skye.

It was starting to get dark so we decided to pull over for the night so we wouldn’t miss any of the sights along the way. We found a beautiful spot in Achanalt and tucked ourselves in for the night.

Achanalt to Bealach na Bà to The Storr Isle of Skye to Quiraing to The Fairy Glen

The next morning we left Achanalt and made our way to Bealach Na Bà. This place is definitely top on our list. The drive alone is beautiful!

From Bealach we continued on towards Isle of Skye but not without stopping at Lochcarron Weavers for some traditional hand woven Scottish tartans then a beautiful local pottery shop up the road called Balnacra Pottery.

Just before entering Isle of Skye we made a pit stop at the Skye Bridge Distillery in Kyle of Lochalsh to try some non-award winning gin and coffee 😉.

We continued on to The Storr, then to Quiraing. Here we did the short but incredibly jaw dropping hike, so much so that it is probably the top place we went to on our entire trip!

We got back to the van as the sun was setting so we made our way to a local grocery store to grab some ingredients for dinner then camped overnight in The Ferry Glen (where a Brownie the kids named Crumb hitched a ride and now lives in our van☺️).

The fairy glen to Trumpan church to Eilean Donan Castle to glencoe

The next morning we hiked The Fairy Glen, grabbed some goodies from Isle of Skye Baking Company before making our way to Truman Church.

As we made our way off of Isle of Skye we happened upon a small little antique store called Skye Antiques. Here we bought a few things but the best of all was finding one of a kind hand carved wands for the kids! A local to the area made them by hand and never did any two the same. For each wand they wrote a little note saying their name and that the “wand chose them”, it was adorable. We aren’t die hard Harry Potter fans but even we couldn’t resist the uniqueness and personalization of these hand carved gifts.

We did a quick stop at Eilean Donan Castle then on to Glencoe where we stopped and ate at a traditional Scottish pub called The Laroch Restaurant and Bar. It was family owned and delicious, if you stop in here I strongly suggest the mussels. They’re caught locally and are hands down the best we’ve ever tried. I ate every bit and I don’t even care for mussels 😆.

After, we made our way a little further down the road to stop for the night right before the scenic drive through Glencoe.

Glencoe to Kilchurn Castle to cairnryan to Belfast to glenariff forest park

From Glencoe we did a quick detour to Kilchurn Castle and from there to Cairnryan to catch our Ferry to Belfast.

We took Stena Line and have no real complaints other than the fact that we had to get out of our car 😆. What I thought was a small ferry was really more like a small cruise ship. Inside there was a bistro, kids play room, theatre, casino and lots of room to lounge around. All in all it wasn’t bad and the 2.5 hr cruise went by quickly.

We arrived in Belfast and made our way to Glenariff Forest Park so we could park in a place with a proper shower and washing machine.

Glenariff forest park to the dark hedges to Dunseverick Castle To giants causeway.

The next morning we took it slow. Ate a delicious breakfast at the park cafe and finished up our laundry before going to The Dark Hedges.

I will not lie, The Dark Hedges were not as impressive as photoshop makes it out to be 😅. I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt and add that the trees were just starting to bloom so it may be much more impressive when they’re full. Either way, I definitely wouldn’t go out of my way to see it but thankfully it was enroute for us to Giants Causeway!

We took a short detour to Dunseverick Castle and Falls before arriving at the Giants Causeway. To get there you will have to park and then take a short hike down. Instead of going back the same way we decided to make it a loop so we took the scenic route back and it was longer but beautiful!

We started our way toward Benbulbin and found a place to camp enroute.

Benbulbin to Corcomroe Abbey to Poulnabrone Dolmen to cliffs of moher to limerick.

The next mourning we continued onward saying goodbye to Northern Ireland and hello to the Republic of Ireland.

Our first stop was Benbulbin where we drove around admiring the beautiful landscape and getting some drone footage. After, we continued our way south stopping at Corcomroe Abbey. It wasn’t on our list but we saw it as we were driving and had to stop and take a look! We had it all to ourselves and it really added to the eerie yet peaceful ambience of the place.

From the abbey we headed towards Poulnabrone Dolmen, a stone age tomb marking a mass grave sight. As you might have expected, there wasn’t much to see😜 but it was a nice stopping point before Cliffs of Moher.

We got to Cliffs of Moher as the sun was setting. What I have to say about this place probably isn’t what a lot of people want to hear, especially since it’s on many must see lists. But I was not all that impressed. They’ve monetized the cliffs and when you enter they’ve built stone fences blocking the entire path. The cliffs are grand but if I had to choose one cliffside sight to visit, Étretat, France would win hands down. Not only is it free but the landscape is more untouched without any barriers blocking the view… and while the cliffs might not be as tall, they’re made of chalk with beautiful white arches along the way!

The Cliffs of Moher are still a sight to see and if you do wish to visit them, I suggest taking the alternate path and parking at Guerin’s Path instead of the visitors center. It’s cheaper and you’ll have access to the path without barriers!

From the Cliffs we hopped back in the van and made our way to Limerick where we parked for the night.

The next morning we started towards Dingle taking the narrow cliff edge route through Conor Pass. This route is not accessible to larger campers so keep that in mind (we drive a Ford Transit regular length).

Dingle to gap of Dunloe to magic road to Wicklow

When we got to Dingle I spotted Grá Dingle Health Food store and had to run in real quick to grab as many local goods as possible. I snagged handmade salves from Harebell Herbs, hand harvested seaweed from the wild Atlantic way, local kombucha, local beeswax candles, local honey, hand harvested seasalt from the Dingle Peninsula and a few other goodies! Before starting our way down Slea Head Dr. we filled up our tank at the gas station and bought the yummiest hummus there to snack on while we drove ( It’s called “The Happy Pear” so be on the lookout for it!).

Our first (and favorite) stop along the Dingle Peninsula was the FairyFort Ringfort to see the ancient fairy forts and farm animals. It was supposed to be for the kids but Ryen and I probably had more fun petting and feeding all of the lambs, pigs, sheep and miniature ponies ourselves. We also enjoyed great conversation with the owner who shared with us all about the area and his life growing up in Dingle.

Further down the road we stopped to see the Famine Cottages, Coumeenoole Beach where we saw dolphins off the coast and finally a small detour to Gallarus Oratory, one of Irelands best preserved 1300 year old church.

We made it back into dingle just as it was getting dark, grabbed some food and knocked out.

The following morning we did a bit more exploring of the actual Dingle village. I stopped in at Dingle Candle for their beautiful handmade teacup candles and was please to hear that if it ever ran out I could bring my teacup back and they’d re-fill my candle for me (perfect reason to plan a trip back😉).

We then made our way to The Gap of Dunloe… another highlight of our trip! To get to the gap you must park then walk, bike or take a horse and carriage. We opted for the horse and carriage ride ( obviously 🤣) and had an amazing time. We were escorted by a guide and his horse, Paddy❤️. He shared with us all of the details about the wishing bridge and just the right spot to stop and hear your voice echo through the mountains.

After the ride we stopped in at the little cafe for some lunch then had originally planned to head straight to Dublin. However, Ryen overheard some locals talking about a “magic road” where “the ball rolls uphill”. So, I did some searching and found this Magic Road was just a slight detour from our route!

This is a place that we had very little exceptions for but ended up have the most amazing and magical time. It’s a place that you have to see to really believe or at least get the full experience.

And yes, things really do roll uphill here! I found all the “roll-worthy” items I could and we spent probably an unnecessary amount of time watching them all roll “up-hill”. The final test was seeing if our van would do the same so we put it in neutral, took off the break and sure enough… not only did it roll, it sped!

It was wild. After all the fun, we surprised the kids with their hand carved wands at the magical fairy tree off the Magic Road!

We got back in the van and made it as far up the coast to Dublin as possible before finding a quiet spot in Wicklow by the ocean to sleep for the night.

Wicklow to Dublin to holyhead

The next morning we woke and made our way to Dublin! We wandered around a bit, stopped by the Garda Museum, The Dublin Castle and tried to find some antique stores but we couldn’t find anything we’d recommend.

To be completely honest, we weren’t that impressed by the city but I’m still glad we were able to see it!

At the end of the day we caught the Stena Ferry Line from Dublin to Holyhead, Wales. It was a longer route, around 4.5 hours, so when we arrived it was late and we decided to just park somewhere local for the night.

Holyhead to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch to betws-y-Coed to snowdonia to Gloucester

The next morning we headed towards the small village of
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, yes, this is the actual name of the village😅. It was a quick stop at the train station where they had a gift shop and market with local foods for purchase.

From there we made our way to Betws-y-Coed for the MOST delicious clotted cream and scones at Ty Hill ( The Ugly House ). I would absolutely go out of my way just to stop in at this history filled little tea house. Before leaving we snagged some of their special blend tea and local Welsh honey then headed further down the road to the actual village of Betws-y-Coed. We only drove though but it was a beautiful place and definitely deserved more of our time.

We made our way through the Snowdonia National Park and admired the beautiful countryside of Wales as we headed towards Gloucester.

In Gloucester we parked in the city so we could wake up bright and early to explore.

Gloucester to Castle combe to Stonehenge To spot outside of London

The next morning we walked our way through Gloucester and down to the Gloucester Cathedral. This is a church to see, we walked the long ornately carved halls at least 4 times simply admiring the beauty. After, we made a few stops at the some of the local antique/thrift shops before heading toward the town of Castle Combe.

If you want to see a quintessential english countryside village, this is the ONE. It was fairytale-like and I would 100% sell a kidney to live there 😬.

From Castle Combe we headed toward the famous Stonehenge. It wasn’t a must see for us and after finding out you’re charged to visit the monument… it was even less appealing. However, I was able to find an alternate route to Stonehenge that got you just as close, is legal AND for FREE. On google maps it will be labeled as “Parking to Stonehenge” at the intersection of Fargo Rd and Willoughby Rd. From here you can continue driving down Willoughby Rd. until it takes you right up to the Stonehenge! Beware, the road is bumpy but any car can make it there.

We watched the sun set over Stonehenge then we made our way to the outskirts of London to park for the night.

London

London was yet another place that wasn’t on our list because we had already been. But, we ended up having some extra time to spare so we figured, why not!

That morning we parked our camper in London and made our first stop at London’s Shrek Adventure. It was a cute interactive experience and our kids had a blast. After, with such little time in a such a large city, we decided to do the most touristy thing of all - a bus tour! We went with Tootbus and loved it. The kids had so much fun sitting on the upper deck, listening to the audio guide and hopping off whenever they saw something of interest. We ended our night at Piccadilly Circus before heading back to the van and finding a quite place to park on Park4night outside of the city.