Itinerary
| Day 1 | UNITED STATES TO DUBLIN Depart your hometown and take an overnight flight across the Atlantic. Enjoy in-flight entertainment and meal service as you travel to start your vacation. |
| Day 2 | DUBLIN ARRIVAL & SIGHTSEEING After landing at Dublin Airport, complete customs and immigration formalities. Then your CIE Tours driver/guide will welcome you to Ireland and escort you and your luggage to the coach. Head to the Man O War pub for a welcome Irish Breakfast. Board the coach for a tour of Guinness. Dublin is one of the liveliest capitals in Europe but there are plenty of historical places also. ***Do something else.*** Then drive to your hotel and check in. After you settle into your room you may like to rest or explore some of the city on your own. This evening drive to Rathfarnham to Taylor’s Three Rock. After dinner is served enjoy the lively show of Irish songs and music. OVERNIGHT: DUBLIN |
| Day 3 | BOYNE VALLEY VISITOR CENTER & PASSAGE TOMBS This morning drive north to the Boyne Valley Visitor Centre where you can learn about the nearby underground burial sights, exhibits and audio-visual presentations. Walk through a full-size replica of the largest tumulus, Newgrange, before visiting the actual site. The Megalithic Passage Tomb at Newgrange was built about 3200 BC. The kidney shaped mound covers an area of over one acre and is surrounded by 97 kerbstones, some of which are richly decorated with megalithic art. It is estimated that the construction of the Passage Tomb at Newgrange would have taken a work force of 300 at least 20 years. Next visit the Great Mound at Knowth, which was built over 5000 years ago, probably after the construction of Newgrange and before the construction of Dowth. The Great Mound is similar in size to Newgrange and is surrounded by 18 smaller satellite mounds. It has two passages with entrances on opposite sides ending with a cruciform chamber. Visit the Hill of Tara and experience where the High Kings of Ireland once ruled from. After your visit return to Dublin where you can spend the afternoon at leisure so that you can browse, shop and sightsee independently. In the evening you are free to choose from the many restaurants, theaters and pubs that Dublin can offer. OVERNIGHT: DUBLIN |
| Day 4 | GLENDALOUGH & WICKLOW MOUNTAINS This morning drive across the Wicklow Mountains to see the 6th century monastic ruins of Glendalough, where the peacefulness of the valley conjures up the spirit of the monks. The Visitor Centre explains how St. Kevin founded this settlement at a time when Christianity was burgeoning throughout Ireland. Today the monks have long gone, leaving the ruins of numerous churches and a round tower. ****Other places will be explored when Jim & Monica come up with ideas………..**** Enjoy the evening at leisure for independent activities and dining. OVERNIGHT: DUBLIN |
| Day 5 | DUBLIN TO HOLYHEAD & ANGLESEY SIGHTSEEING Transfer to the ferry port at Dun Laoghaire, just a few miles south of Dublin, this morning for the high-speed ferry crossing to Holyhead in North Wales, which takes 90 minutes. Upon arrival in Wales meet your CIE Tours driver and guide who will welcome you to Wales and escort you to the motorcoach. Travel around to tour some of the popular sights of the Isle of Anglesey. First visit Bryn Celli Ddu, the mound in a dark grove, which is the best passage grave in Wales. It started as a late Neolithic henge or ritual enclosure, with a stone circle surrounded by a bank and internal ditch. A later passage grave was built inside the ditch. Next visit the Din Lligwy Hut Group, an interesting combination of round and rectangular huts, which some historians have suggested is indicative of an Iron Age villa. The houses’ stone walls and defences are comprised of limestone slabs, which stand up straight on their edges. Some of these buildings would have been domestic and others were workshops. Finds including metalwork, pottery and glassware indicate a settlement, which continued into the Roman period. The site stands on a low cliff and is worth a visit for the view alone. Continue on to visit Barclodiad-y-gawres, a neolithic passage grave dating from the 3rd century B.C. Believed to have been constructed around 3000 BC, the name means the ‘Giantess’s Apronful’ and it is evidence of the ability of Neolithic communities. After your visit drive south to the town of Gwynedd and check into your hotel for dinner and overnight stay. DINNER & OVERNIGHT: GWYNEDD |
| Day 6 | TOURING ANGLESEY This morning board the coach and return to Anglesey to continue sightseeing in this beautiful area beginning with Ty Newydd Cromlech. Excavations have revealed that although this cromlech is all that remains of a Neolithic tomb, it was in use into the Bronze Age. Continue on to visit Din Llgwy Cromlech before driving on to visit the imposing Castle Beaumaris. Beaumaris, begun in 1295, was the last and largest of the castles to be built by King Edward I in Wales. Raised on an entirely new site, without earlier buildings to fetter its designer’s creative genius, it is possibly the most sophisticated example of medieval military architecture in Britain. Spend some time exploring the area before continuing on to visit the Well of St. Seiriol. This tranquil location on the eastern tip of Anglesey has remains spanning over 1,000 years. It was the site of a monastery dating back to the time of St. Seiriol, who is believed to have lived in about the 6th century. A holy well, which survives, may have its origins in this period. After completing your touring of this scenic area, return to your hotel in Gwynedd and enjoy some time to relax before joining your group for dinner. DINNER & OVERNIGHT: GWYNEDD |
| Day 7 | CAERNARFON CASTLE & SNOWDONIA NATIONAL PARK Depart Gwynedd this morning and travel north to Caernarfon to visit Caernarfon Castle, an impregnable fortress built by King Edward I from 1283 to 1330. Craftsmen from all over England were summoned to work on the castle and strong walls, which have never been breached. It includes the 10-sided Eagle Tower, and the walls have bands of color, possibly copied from the walls of Constantinople. Then drive south into the mountainous region of Snowdonia National Park, which was was established in 1951 as the third national park in England and Wales. The National Park covers 823 square miles of the most beautiful and unspoilt countryside in northwest Wales. Unlike “wild” National Parks elsewhere in the world, Snowdonia is home to just over 26,000 people, who live and work in its towns and villages, and on its hill farms. Continue through the park to the historic slate mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog to take a scenic trip by narrow gauge steam train. The steam-hauled narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway runs through the Snowdonia National Park to the picturesque harbor town of Porthmadog. On their journey, the trains pass through tranquil pastures and forests, past lakes and waterfalls, round horseshoe bends and even round a complete spiral, sometimes clinging to the mountainside, sometimes tunneling through it. After disembarking from the train board the coach and drive to the town of Betws-y-coed and upon arrival check into your hotel for dinner and overnight stay. DINNER & OVERNIGHT: BETWS-Y-COED |
| Day 8 | BETWS-Y-COED TOUR & DOLWYDDELAN CASTLE This morning set out on a tour to see the principal sights of the area. Betws-y-coed is North Wales’ most popular inland resort. It is where the River Conwy meets its three tributaries flowing from the west, the Llugwy, the Lledr and the Machno. Much of it was built in Victorian times and it is the principal village of the Snowdonia National Park. See the main street, Holyhead Road, which has numerous inns, bed-and-breakfasts and shops, which specialize in outdoor clothes. The railway station is a Museum with a miniature railway, shop and restaurant. And the old 14th century church of St. Michael’s is one of the oldest in Wales. Of exceptional interest are the many bridges in the area. Pont-y-Pair (the bridge of the cauldron), built in 1468, is buffeted by foaming water after heavy rain. A mile or so away is the Miner’s Bridge, on the road to Capel Curig, where the miners crossed the river on a steep ladder to their work and Thomas Telford’s iron Waterloo Bridge built in 1815, which bears the cast iron inscription “This arch was constructed in the same year the battle of Waterloo was fought”. Then drive a short distance to visit Dolwyddelan Castle. It was built between about 1210 and 1240 by Llywelyn the Great, ruler of Snowdonia, to control a strategic pass through his mountainous kingdom. The core of the castle, the rectangular stone tower, was restored in Victorian times. It can be seen for miles around, standing proud on a ridge against the rugged backdrop of Moel Siabod. A visit to this solitary sentinel is worth it for the views alone – the sweeping mountain vistas visible from its battlements are truly stunning. After your visit return to Betws-y-coed and enjoy the remainder of the afternoon at leisure before dining in the hotel restaurant with your fellow travelers. DINNER & OVERNIGHT: BETWS-Y-COED |
| Day 9 | DAY TRIP TO PORTMEIRION After breakfast this morning travel south to the town of Portmeirion for a day of sightseeing and exploring. Clough Williams-Ellis built Portmeirion from 1925 to 1975 on his own private peninsula on the coast of Snowdonia. He wanted to show that ‘the development of a naturally beautiful site need not lead to its defilement’. Portmeirion is owned by a Registered Charity called The Second Portmeirion Foundation. All the cottages in the village are let as part of the Portmeirion Hotel and the village also has several shops and restaurants and is surrounded by the Gwyllt sub-tropical gardens and woodlands and miles of sandy beaches. Enjoy the day at leisure to explore, shop and dine in this charming setting. Return to your hotel in Betws-y-coed in time for dinner. DINNER & OVERNIGHT: ROYAL OAK HOTEL, BETWS-Y-COED |
| Day 10 | CHESTER WALKING TOUR & MANCHESTER Depart Betws-y-coed this morning and travel east through the scenic countryside of Wales and across the border into England. Continue to the town of Chester, an ancient walled city. Take a walking tour of the city, partly along the wall itself, taking in The Rows, original arcaded shops from medieval times, and Chester Cathedral, founded as a Benedictine Monastery in 1092 on the sites of earlier churches. Spend some time at leisure before continuing your drive east to the town of Manchester. Upon arrival embark on a panoramic tour to see the principal sights of the area. Then check into your hotel and enjoy some time to relax and settle in before joining your group for a farewell dinner. DINNER & OVERNIGHT: MANCHESTER |
| Day 11 | RETURN TO THE UNITED STATES Today your vacation has come to its final day. Transfer to Manchester Airport in plenty of time to check in for your transatlantic flight. You may do some last minute shopping at the duty free stores before boarding your aircraft. Enjoy your flight across the Atlantic Ocean back to your hometown in the United States. |
