From France to Ireland... And Everywhere In Between!

After landing in Paris, I would recommend taking a quick nap before starting your day. Make this day more chill and relaxing—don’t book too much right when you get there to avoid feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. I recommend booking a tour of the Louvre at their latest start time. By doing this, the lines are much shorter and there are less people! We were able to walk directly up to the Mona Lisa without any issues or tons of crowded areas, like I had originally expected. After you tour the Louvre, I recommend getting a quick dinner at any of the beautiful cafes, then heading back to the hotel bar for a quick night cap before heading back to the room for the night.

This is the day where you are going to get ALL the steps in. Wake up and grab a nice coffee and croissant at a local cafe. After this, I would recommend a tour of Notre Dame with access to the cathedral, which you should book ahead of time. On this tour, the guide will meet you at a designated meeting point, and walk you to the cathedral. We learned so many things about Paris and the cathedral from our tour guide. At the end of the tour, the guide will drop you off at the doors of the cathedral for you to enter on your own. A little secret—every Friday, the Crown of Thorns is displayed at Notre Dame from 3–6:30 p.m., so if this is something you want to see, make sure you go on a Friday. You may be lucky enough to see a Mass while at the cathedral, so don’t forget to be quiet and respectful since it is a fully functioning place of worship.

Next, I recommend going to get the hot chocolate at Carette. This is a FULL experience. Make sure you order “Chocolat ‘Carette’” for the full experience. I recommend going early in the day to beat the crowds. Next, go see the Eiffel Tower. We walked through Champ de Mars to get some of the best viewpoints from ground level, and for the aesthetic photo, make sure you go to the Rue de l’Universite viewpoint, which you can locate on Google Maps. Last but definitely not least, book one of the many dinner cruises that are available. On a river cruise, you will get to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle, which occurs at the beginning of every hour from dusk until 1 a.m., for 5 minutes at a time. So don’t miss your photo!

Unfortunately, it’s now time to leave Paris—BUT, fortunately we are heading to London. To get to London from Paris, I recommend taking the Eurostar. The travel is very simple and you need to buy your ticket beforehand. There are also multiple different seating options on this train as well, depending on what you are looking for. I also recommend taking the earliest train, which is usually around 7:45 a.m., so that you can get your day started in London ASAP! After arriving in London, drop your bags off at the hotel and start exploring! The first thing you should do is head to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guards ceremony. This ceremony takes place Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sundays at 11 a.m., and every day at 11 a.m. in June and July, so don’t miss it! I recommend arriving early so you can get a good viewpoint. After this, grab some lunch at a local pub and walk through Hyde Park as you make your way to Kensington Palace. Kensington Palace offers tours for around $30 a person, which you can buy at the door. This was an unexpected highlight of our day, and I highly recommend it if you have any interest in the Royal family. To end the night, I suggest getting dinner at London’s oldest wine bar, Gordon’s Wine Bar. They have a HUGE outdoor patio, therefore it is typically quite easy to walk up and get a table.

This day was fully dedicated to the Warner Bros Studio Tour, so if that is not your thing, feel free to skip! I recommend booking a tour with transfer from London, so that everything is seamless. We met at our meeting point, loaded up on the bus, and headed to the studio. My husband is a huge fan of Harry Potter, so this was one of his favorite parts of the trip. You get to see all of the different sets that were used in the making of Harry Potter. In the middle of the tour, there is a cafe, which I recommend you grab a bite to eat at before continuing through the tour. It is long and you may not have time to eat at the end before loading back up on the bus to head back to London.

With this being the last day in London, I recommend seeing as much as possible. Start the day with some coffee and breakfast at one of the many local coffee shops. After this, take a stroll down Oxford Street for some AMAZING shopping as you head towards Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square. After seeing these amazing monuments—head towards the main attraction of the day, Elizabeth Tower and Westminster Abbey for your iconic insta photo. Don’t forget, depending on the path you take, you will also see the London Eye. For the best photo with the tower in the background, I recommend taking the photo on the left side of the Westminster Bridge, or down on Thames Path near the National Covid Memorial Wall. Next, we are going to pass by St. Pauls Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge (which is featured in Harry Potter) on our way to grab some bites at Borough Market. You have an ENDLESS amount of food and drink options at Borough Market, but I recommend The Black Pig for a perfect sandwich, and then grab the Chocolate Covered Strawberries from Turnips. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

After this, I recommend heading back towards the hotel, maybe stopping at a local pub like Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese for a beer on the way. In order to get us from London to Inverness, we decided to take the Caledonian Sleeper Train to best utilize our time without taking up an entire day. Therefore, we grabbed our bags and headed to the station to board the sleeper train. I recommend booking a Club Suite room for the train, so that you have access to the lounge before boarding, the club car for dinner once on the train, and you have your own private room with two bunk beds, a shower and toilet, sink, and window to look out at the scenery. The sleeper train was an 11-hour ride, and we woke up the next morning in Inverness, Scotland.

The benefit of taking the Caledonian Sleeper train is waking up the next morning in the destination, with little or no effort on your part getting there, plus no time wasted. Once we arrived in Inverness, I suggest going and dropping your bags off at your hotel to avoid having to lug them around the cobblestone streets. Since we planned to explore the highlands while in Inverness, I had reserved a rental car to be picked up from the airport after we arrived there. We took a bus to the airport and picked up the rental car. I highly recommend researching beforehand if your hotel has parking, and if not, making sure you plan where you will be parking your car before picking it up. I found a 24-hour garage in the city center, so I knew that was where we would keep the car, for only about $10 a day.

After getting back to the city with the car, I recommend getting checked into your hotel and then going to one of the local pubs for lunch. We walked around the city, which is easy to do since it is so small. We found a local used bookshop called Leakey’s Book Shop, which was super cool and interesting.

For dinner, I recommend making a reservation at The Walrus & Corkscrew Wine Bar. Make sure you make a reservation ahead of time because they stay busy, and it is hard to get in! After this, stop into any of the lively pubs and listen to live music before turning in for the night.

I recommend starting this day with a good breakfast. We went to XOKO Bakehouse and Coffeebar, and it was amazing. If I had the chance to go back, I would order the bacon and egg croissant with maple syrup, and their banana bread latte.

After breakfast, head to the car to head out on a full day of sightseeing. From Inverness, I recommend heading out on the A82 highway west towards Fort William. If you are inexperienced at driving in Europe like we were, this is a very easy two-lane highway route that is fool-proof. Along this route, look for things such as Loch Ness, Invergarry Castle, and Urquhart Castle. You can tour the Urquhart Castle for about $30 a person, and get some super beautiful photos from all its viewpoints. For almost all of this drive, you will have Loch Ness out your passenger side window as a view. There are multiple different pull-offs almost every mile, so you have plenty of opportunities to stop and take photos. Make sure you make it to Fort William, and go north to see the Glenfinnan Viaduct (the bridge featured in Harry Potter).

Depending on the time of year, you may get lucky enough to see the Jacobite Train cross the bridge. There is also an opportunity here to hike up to multiple different viewing points for the Viaduct, at your own leisure. After this, I recommend grabbing some food at Black Isle Brewing Co in Fort William, and also exploring this small, quaint town before heading back to Inverness.

Another travel day is upon us. Before heading out of Inverness to Edinburgh, I recommend going to PERK Coffee and Doughnuts, and getting one of their specialty doughnuts like a “Rhu-Barbara Streisand” or a “Can’t Reese-ist.” Also, this coffee shop doubles as a cocktail bar at night with specialty espresso martinis, so if you have time one night while you are there, be sure to check it out.

After getting your breakfast, I recommend hitting the road. My husband and I drove our rental car from Inverness to Edinburgh so that we could stop along the way and do more sightseeing. My husband is a huge fan of golf, so we decided to take a little detour on the way to Edinburgh and go a little east to the coast to St. Andrews. St. Andrews is the home to The Old Course, where golf has been played for over 600 years. Some of the most famous golfers you can think of have ALL played on this course in their career. Because it is a public golf course, anyone is welcome to walk onto it. There is an iconic bridge near hole 18 that is the perfect photo-op, so be sure to check that out while you are there.

Once arriving in Edinburgh, we dropped off the rental car at Edinburgh airport, and got a taxi into the city to our LOVELY hotel, Virgin Hotels Edinburgh (which I HIGHLY recommend). At this point in your trip, take the night to relax and enjoy the beautiful hotel that you booked. Not only were we welcomed with a free glass of champagne, The Virgin Hotels Edinburgh also has two different restaurants and two different bars you can enjoy during your stay. We decided to have dinner at the Italian restaurant in our hotel, called Eve. After enjoying dinner, we tucked in for the night in our robes and slippers provided by the hotel with a bottle of wine.

This is the day to see and explore Edinburgh. I suggest waking up and getting breakfast at Pablo Eggs-Go-Bao. This place is absolutely AMAZING and delicious. They serve breakfast sandwiches on bao buns, with special sauces that were to die for. Make note, they are a walk up only restaurant, so after ordering, find a nearby bench or park to enjoy your breakfast.

After breakfast, we decided to start exploring Edinburgh and seeing a lot of the places that inspired JK Rowling while writing Harry Potter. Some of these places include the Elephant House (which you can order and enjoy a Butter Beer!), Greyfriars Kirkland (where you will find the tombstone of Tom Riddle), George Heriot’s School (whose architecture inspired Hogwarts), and lastly Victoria Street, which is the inspiration for Diagon Alley. Luckily for us, our hotel was on Victoria Street, so we were able to spend a lot of time here. There is a lot of shopping and things to do on this street alone.

After a day of exploring, I recommend grabbing a bite to eat at Cold Town House for lunch and a beer. This restaurant is located right below Edinburgh Castle, with a really great viewpoint for photos. Other places to explore around the area include New Town, which is where all the good shopping is. There are multiple stores in this area for anything from designer clothes to magnets and shot glasses. After all this exploring, I recommend taking a quick break and pit stop in the room before heading to dinner. My husband and I opted to stay close to our hotel for dinner, and went to a Mexican restaurant on Victoria Street called Mariachi, and it was so good!

Another beautiful day to explore Edinburgh. My husband and I are F45-ers, so we started our morning by catching a workout at F45 Stockbridge. The trainers there were amazing and so welcoming, and after a week of eating and drinking, a workout was much needed! After this, I recommend stopping at one of the many coffee shops for coffee and a pastry. One thing I highly recommend doing while in Edinburgh is touring the castle, of course. We bought our tickets the day before and have no issues getting them. The tour is definitely worth your time, and it’s all self-guided with an option for the headphones. A small tip—try to go around 1 p.m. so that you can see them shoot the cannon off!. They do this every day at 1 p.m. on the dot, so make sure you don’t miss it!

After our tour of the castle, I booked a bag making class at Islander. I highly recommend this experience if you are crafty or love making things. I booked my ticket ahead of time online. The class lasts about an hour, and you get to customize your bag down to the strap colors! The guide leads you through making your bag and how to screw it all together, and in the end, you get to take it home in its own little dust bag! There are multiple different types of bags you can choose to make, from a small handbag to a large backpack! Definitely check this out if you are there! To end the night, an absolute MUST is having dinner at Piggs Wine and Tapas Bar. If you love traditional Spanish-style tapas, then this is the place for you. Some of the best food we had on the entire trip was here at this tapas bar. It is a family-run business by two brothers who truly have a love for the Spanish way of life. Be sure to order the huevos rotos, patatas bravas, and the croquetas.

The day has come to say goodbye to Scotland, and head to Ireland. I recommend booking an earlier flight out of Edinburgh so that you don’t waste an entire day travelling. Once arriving in Dublin, we took an Uber to the hotel. We stayed at the Conrad Dublin, which I highly recommend. The location was perfect and close to everything you would want to do. After getting settled, I suggest you start exploring the city.

The first place I recommend going is down Grafton Street and throughout this area. There is tons of shopping and things to do here. After you make your way down Grafton Street, cut on over to the Temple Bar district and check out the Temple Bar itself. I recommend going earlier in the day to actually be able to walk in and get a seat, because it gets very crowded and busy at night. Once you’re here, order and enjoy a Guinness and some lunch. Go ahead and walk and see the Dublin Castle while you are on this side of town, before heading to the Guinness Storehouse for a tour.

After the tour, I suggest getting some downtime at the hotel before enjoying an AMAZING dinner at Big Fan. Big Fan is a Chinese tapas restaurant that I stumbled across on social media. As you can tell, my husband and I are ‘big fans’ of tapas. Be sure to order the Wagyu Cheeseburger Jiaozi, the Wu Ya Bao, and the Enoki Fan. After dinner, head back to the hotel bar for a cocktail before heading to bed.

Because we only had a short amount of time in Ireland, we knew we wanted to at least see the Cliffs of Moher while we were there. I booked us a tour that included a round trip transfer to and from the Cliffs, and also a two-hour stop in Galway. After meeting at the designated meeting point, it was about a 2.5 hour drive to the Cliffs from Dublin. Our tour guide was amazing and interacted with us the entire bus ride, and taught us some interesting facts about Ireland along the way. Once we got to the Cliffs, we had two hours of free time to explore them on our own, which was plenty of time to go to all the different viewpoints. There is a small gift shop and also a little museum on site if you choose to do that, which was included in our ticket.

After the Cliffs, our bus driver drove us about an hour to Galway, where we had another two hours of free time to explore the city and have some lunch. My husband and I decided to get some proper Irish chips from Chipeen, which were to DIE for. After that, we came across a local pub called The Dew Drop Inn, where we had a pint and enjoyed talking to the locals before heading back to the bus. Because this tour was so long, and took up about 12 hours of the day, we went back to the hotel and decided to order some room service, and pack up since we were leaving to head back home the next morning.