Visit the Culloden Visitor Centre at the site of the final battle of the Jacobite rising. Explore accounts presented through voices, maps and personal stories to understand the people caught up in the conflict.

Fought in 1746, the Battle of Culloden lasted about an hour but had lasting consequences for Highland life. The visitor centre places that short, decisive battle in a broader historical context, bringing clarity to a pivotal Scottish site.

• 7 Dinner (D)
• 13 Breakfast (B)

• Business class coach with extended leg room
• Top-rated dining, from farm-to-table to local restaurants
• Premium regional accommodation

• Dublin: Join your Travel Director for a warm and friendly dinner and an opportunity to get to know your fellow travellers.
• Edinburgh: Enjoy a memorable dinner with your small group, reflecting on your journey in the company of newfound friends. 

• Dublin: A stunning combination of cobblestone walkways, emerald-green lawns and 18th-century architectural gems, Trinity College is one of Europe’s elite universities and counts poet Oscar Wilde among its alumni. See the enchanting college campus and discover insights into its impressive history. Enjoy access to view the famous Book of Kells, an exquisite manuscript of the four gospels of the Christian New Testament, renowned for the intricacy, detail and majesty of the illustrations.
• Kildare: Horse racing is key part of Irish culture; and you’ll gain a rare insight into it on your visit to the Irish National Stud. Set in Kildare at the breeding ground of champions and the birthplace of legends, explore the foaling unit, museum and the stallions that continue to make racing history. As the only stud farm in Ireland open to the public, learn the insights of horse-racing at a site whose former visitors include queens and presidents. 
• Derry/Londonderry: There’s no better way to experience sightseeing than with one of Northern Ireland’s best storytellers, Ronan, as he takes you on a tour inside the city walls. See the Gothic Guildhall and the Georgian houses of Shipquay Street.
• Edinburgh: Create a bespoke Islander Harris Tweed® handbag in Edinburgh, choosing the body colour, Harris Tweed® lid and decorative strap before assembling it with tools provided. Handwoven in the Outer Hebrides, Harris Tweed® gives your finished bag a direct link to Scottish textile craft.

Insight Vacations

Meet your Travel Director and small group over a welcome dinner in Dublin. It is a hosted introduction to the people sharing your journey, rather than an evening spent finding your own table in an unfamiliar city.

Conversation offers a first taste of Irish hospitality and a chance to exchange travel plans. The relaxed setting makes it easy to get acquainted before exploring Ireland and Scotland together.

Explore central Dublin with your Travel Director, following the River Liffey past the neoclassical Custom House and through streets that reveal the capital’s Georgian character. See St Patrick’s Cathedral, associated with Ireland’s patron saint.

The cathedral’s medieval origins contrast with the Custom House’s late-18th-century grandeur, giving you two perspectives on the city’s history. Your Travel Director brings context to the landmarks while helping you get your bearings in Dublin.

Visit Trinity College Library to view the Book of Kells, a richly illuminated manuscript of the Christian Gospels created around the ninth century. Walk through a university setting of cobblestones, lawns and historic buildings in the heart of Dublin.

The manuscript’s intricate lettering and decoration offer a close encounter with the skill of early medieval scribes. Trinity’s academic heritage adds another layer to the visit: its former students include the writer Oscar Wilde.

Go behind the scenes at the Irish National Stud in County Kildare to learn how thoroughbred horses are bred and raised. Explore this working centre of Irish racing, with its foaling facilities, museum and stallions.

Walk through the adjoining Japanese Gardens, designed by Tassa and Minoru Eida to represent the journey of life through paths, water and carefully shaped planting. Together, the visits reveal two distinctive Kildare traditions: champion racehorses and landscape design.

Discover Cork with your Travel Director along Grand Parade and South Mall, taking in City Hall and the Opera House. The orientation introduces a city shaped by the River Lee and known for its independent, sometimes rebellious spirit.

Hear how Cork grew from the early religious settlement associated with St Finbarr through Viking and Norman eras into a prosperous trading city. Its broad streets and civic buildings make those layers of history visible.

Visit 15th-century Blarney Castle, built by the McCarthy dynasty, and see the famous Blarney Stone set high in its battlements. Travellers who wish to follow the tradition can take their turn kissing the stone.

Legend promises the gift of eloquence to those who do. The climb and the castle’s weathered stonework make the visit more than a brush with folklore, offering a tangible connection to Ireland’s medieval past.

Get to know Killarney with your Travel Director, noticing its shopfronts, church spires and mountain backdrop. Take a horse-drawn jaunting car ride with a local jarvey, whose knowledge of the town’s lanes adds a personal voice to the outing.

Jaunting cars have carried visitors here since the 19th century. Their unhurried pace suits a place closely tied to the surrounding lakes and mountains, giving you time to absorb Killarney’s setting.

Explore the Ring of Kerry, a circular route around the Iveragh Peninsula where rocky coastline, beaches, sheep-dotted fields and remote villages frame the views. Look towards the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks and Lakes of Killarney as the landscape shifts from shore to mountain.

The approximately 111-mile route gathers many of southwest Ireland’s defining landscapes into one journey. Its appeal lies in those changing perspectives, from open Atlantic edges to sheltered lakelands.

Cross the Shannon Estuary by ferry, with open-water views towards the Clare coastline. This short sailing is a chance to step away from the coach and take in the broad meeting of river and sea.

The estuary separates counties Kerry and Clare, and its shifting light gives the crossing a character of its own. Watch the shoreline come into view from the water as you travel towards Ireland’s Atlantic coast.

Visit the Cliffs of Moher and look out across the Atlantic from an edge that rises to about 214 metres. Explore the visitor centre exhibition for insight into the cliffs’ geology, history and wildlife.

Part of the Wild Atlantic Way, these layered rock faces expose millions of years of geological history. Your Travel Director adds context to the sea-carved landscape and the birds that find shelter along its ledges.

Walk Galway’s historic heart with your Travel Director, visiting the Lynch Memorial Window and seeing St Nicholas’ Church, the Spanish Arch and Eyre Square. Streets filled with local life give this guided orientation its lively setting.

The medieval church and surviving arch speak to Galway’s long history as a trading port, while the stories behind its landmarks reveal the people who shaped it. The walk offers a grounded introduction to the city’s layered past.

Explore Sligo with your Travel Director on an orientation through its streets and landmarks. Learn about the town’s medieval history and its close association with the poet W. B. Yeats.

Yeats drew inspiration from the landscapes of the surrounding region, and Sligo remains closely linked to his work. The guided introduction connects the town you see with the literary imagination that helped make this corner of Ireland known far beyond its shores.

Walk Derry/Londonderry’s 17th-century city walls with local storyteller Ronan, passing historic cannons and looking down on the streets within. Follow Shipquay Street’s Georgian frontages and pause outside the red-sandstone Guildhall.

The walls provide a powerful vantage point for understanding the city’s complex history. Ronan’s stories bring local perspectives to its architecture and public spaces, making this a guided encounter with both the place and the people who know it.

Walk among the Giant’s Causeway’s basalt columns on Northern Ireland’s UNESCO-listed coast. More than 40,000 interlocking formations meet the sea in striking geometric patterns, inviting a closer look at their varied heights and shapes.

Volcanic activity and cooling lava formed the columns around 60 million years ago. Their unusual appearance also inspired tales of the giant Finn McCool, giving this coastal landmark both a geological story and a place in Irish folklore.

Walk through Ballygally with your Travel Director, following the curve of its bay along the Antrim Coast. Take in the pale strip of sand, neat village cottages and views between the shoreline and nearby cliffs.

Sea air and the sound of water lend this small coastal settlement a quieter character than the region’s larger towns. The gentle orientation gives you a closer sense of the landscape rather than simply seeing the bay through a coach window.

Sail across the Irish Sea from Northern Ireland to Scotland, taking in the changing views from the ferry. In clear conditions, look for Ailsa Craig, the volcanic island that rises steeply from the water.

This sea route has linked the two shores through centuries of migration, trade and cultural exchange. Ailsa Craig has its own distinctive story: its granite has long been used to make curling stones, connecting the seascape to a Scottish sporting tradition.

Meet the 29th Laird and Lady at Craufurdland Castle for a tour of their home in Scotland. Hearing from its present-day custodians offers a personal perspective on a historic property still lived in today.

Enjoy a traditional afternoon tea featuring classic British fare. The combination of a hosted castle visit and a familiar culinary ritual makes this an intimate cultural experience, rather than a view of the building from outside.

Explore Glasgow with your Travel Director, taking in its broad streets and Victorian architecture. Pause in George Square among statues and civic buildings, and see St Mungo’s Cathedral, whose medieval origins offer a contrast to the surrounding city.

Glasgow’s grand public spaces reflect the wealth and ambition of its industrial era, while the cathedral recalls a much older settlement. This orientation puts the city’s different architectural layers into focus.

Take in the Highland landscapes of Loch Lomond and Glencoe, where lochside scenery gives way to steep mountains and a dramatic glen. At the Commando Memorial near Fort William, pause for views towards Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest mountain.

Glencoe is closely associated with the history of Scotland’s clans, while the memorial honours the commandos who trained in the Highlands during the Second World War. The views carry both natural scale and historical weight.

Cruise Loch Ness through the Great Glen, viewing Highland shores and landmarks including Aldourie Castle from the water. The loch’s long, dark stretches create an atmosphere that feels far removed from the bustle of Scotland’s cities.

Stretching roughly 37 kilometres, Loch Ness occupies a geological fault shaped over millions of years. Peat limits visibility in its deep water, a feature that has helped sustain stories of Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster.

Discover Inverness with your Travel Director, following the River Ness and seeing Inverness Castle’s prominent position above the water. The orientation introduces the compact city often regarded as the capital of the Highlands.

Riverbanks, bridges and nearby Highland scenery give Inverness its distinctive sense of place. Your Travel Director connects the landmarks to the city’s history, offering a useful introduction to its streets and its role in the wider region.

Explore Uile-bheist distillery in Inverness to learn how it makes whisky and beer, and how Highland folklore influences its creations. Hear about distilling traditions and whisky smugglers before tasting a wee dram.

The distillery pairs established craft with a lower-carbon approach to production and an ambition to reach net zero by 2030. The visit offers a flavour of Scottish drinks culture while showing how a contemporary producer is rethinking its environmental impact.

Discover St Andrews’ coastal landmarks, looking across the Old Course and walking towards West Sands Beach. The town’s university buildings, links and sea air give this Scottish stop a character of its own.

Golf has been played in St Andrews for centuries, making the Old Course a touchstone for the sport. West Sands has a different claim to fame: its broad shoreline featured in the opening sequence of the film Chariots of Fire.

Explore Edinburgh with a Local Specialist, travelling along Princes Street past the Scott Monument and through the Georgian New Town. See the Palace of Holyroodhouse and follow the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle.

Inside the castle, view Scotland’s Crown Jewels and Mons Meg, a formidable medieval cannon. The tour brings together the city’s contrasting Old and New Towns, royal landmarks and commanding castle setting in one guided experience.

Create an Islander Harris Tweed handbag in a hands-on Edinburgh workshop. Choose the bag’s body colour, a Harris Tweed lid and a decorative strap, then assemble your design with the tools provided.

Harris Tweed is handwoven in the Outer Hebrides, giving the finished bag a direct connection to Scottish textile craft. Selecting and putting together each component makes this a practical encounter with the material, as well as a distinctive keepsake to take home.

Share a hosted dinner with your small group in Edinburgh, featuring modern Scottish flavours paired with wine. It is an opportunity to enjoy regional cooking together rather than simply dine independently.

Scottish food draws on ingredients and traditions shaped by its coasts, farms and Highlands. Around the table, compare favourite places and moments from Ireland and Scotland while spending a final evening in the company of the travellers you have come to know.

Experience the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo on select August departures, when massed performers appear against the setting of Edinburgh Castle. Hear the skirl of pipes and beat of drums as music and military pageantry fill the evening.

This seasonal spectacle draws on Scottish ceremonial traditions while welcoming performers from around the world. Attendance is available only on applicable departures; this optional experience is at additional cost and can be booked on tour, subject to availability.