Taste of Scotland & Ireland Reviews

Loved every minute of the trip. Sam our driver was amazing. Jaquie our guide was fabulous. Couldn't recommend them any more. Would do it again in a heartbeat. A must do trip to add to your bucket list.

Just wanted to let the world know that they should add this to their bucket list, the tour was an excellent holiday well organised and well carried out by Mal (Maliachy Norton), his driving skills and knowledge of Scotland and Ireland are amazing. From fits of laughter to tears of sorrow over the Irish history Mal was ôThe Manö. Our accommodation was ...read more very, very good and the bags were delivered to the rooms promptly. We were fortunate enough to do the Edinburgh Tattoo which was fantastic. The group we were with was a fantastic group and our Kilt wearing ôSteveö kept us well entertained. We learnt about the fauna and flora ôrosebay willowherbö yep the little pink flowers thanks to Pauline. I would do it all again in a heartbeat. Thanks to all on the CIE team, attention to detail was excellent. Our guides in Scotland were Pauline and Mary, and in Ireland Padraich Org. We canÆt begin to thank them enough for how special this trip was. I only took 9997 photos which serves as a good reminder of an awesome trip. I could go on forever, but if ever you do this trip and get Mal as your coach pilot you will be truly blessed with a fantastic time.

We're just completing our tour with our Driver/Guide Aiden. Our group started with 45 people with some leaving after Scotland and a few left early in Ireland. I must say this was a very enjoyable trip with plenty of events and stops along the way. Aiden, our driver and guide was most skilful guiding our huge bus on the narrow and winding roads of Ireland. ...read more He also provided a running commentary along the routes including history, current events, as well as Irish folklore. We thoroughly recommend him!
This was our first trip to Ireland and Scotland. We were able to attend the Military Tattoo in Edinburgh, which we rate as the highlight of the trip. Scotland was vast and sparsely populated, but beautiful and historic. Ireland blew me away with its beauty, cleanliness and pleasant people. There were many shows and events included, as well as some optional shows that were recommended. Every one of the events we much enjoyed. The hotels along the way were beautiful and comfortable well run affairs with very fast check in, free wifi and great breakfasts (primarily buffet style). The provided meals were very good. The tour bus also has wifi which was pretty good!
The seating on the bus was not particularly comfortable, although not torture. Seats are rotated throughout the trip. If you are mobility challenged, this is probably not a good choice for you, as the driver has 45 people to move along the way, and many attractions require moderate walking, stairs, and sometimes narrow passageways. On similar trips we've taken, they post an itinerary schedule in the lobby of the hotel... good suggestion for CIE. I would certainly recommend this company and tour to friends and family.

Me and my husband usually travel together once or twice per year but this is the first time we have ever done a coach tour. We picked the ten days Taste of Scotland and Ireland. Everything was more than we had expected. We loved our guides Ian and Andrew and our local guides. The bus drives were packed with information and fun. The itinerary was well ...read more sewn together (although we would have liked more free time in Dublin). The hotels were fabulous and the meals really nice! Would love to do more tours with CIE.

First class all the way and Mark was outstanding as Tour Director! We have waited 35 years to take this trip and to be able to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary at Bunratty Castle was tremendous!! Thank you for such a great trip and we will take our next trip with CIE!!

We did not know what to expect when we signed up for this tour. We very much wanted to see Ireland and Scotland but were nervous about driving on our own and didn't really know what we wanted to see. We joined the group at our Glasgow hotel where we met our driver/guide Aidan Carrigy. We found him to be very knowledgeable and a really nice guy. He went ...read more over each step of our journey every day to make sure we were all on the same page regarding the plans for the day. He really had the patience of a saint sometimes when after a careful explanation of a particular point someone would ask him a question that he had just clearly answered. He would just smile and repeat what he had just said.
In each city we visited we did have local city guides and for the first two days in Scotland we had a guide who travelled with us. Ian also had a lot of good information to share with us and told us some great stories about relations between the clans. He made the history of Scotland so interesting. Bob took us around Edinburgh Castle and we also enjoyed his talk. What I liked about the tour in general was that we had a person who took care of our transportation, coordinated our hotel rooms and luggage and tickets and just basically made sure we were all happy. But he also had lots of solid information to impart about Scotland and especially Ireland. But once we got to specific places and had a bit of a tour we had time to look around on our own. We were not herded everywhere. Some meals we shared with the other tour members and some we had on our own. I really don't know what part of the tour was my favourite. The Cliffs of Moher were pretty spectacular. But kissing the Blarney Stone was pretty cool. And of course just visiting Edinburgh Castle was amazing. And seeing the Book of Kells! Oh my!
The hotels we stayed in were solid, clean and comfortable. My only complaint was the distance away from the city centres we were in two of the hotels. As Aidan said the tour is called a taste because we covered a large area in a short amount of time while trying to cram in as much as possible. But it did give us a feel for both countries and a huge desire to come back and when we do we will find another CIE tour. I highly recommend our guide/driver Aidan Carrigy and CIE Tours. I hope we will have more chances to travel with them.

Travelled with six family members and all had fun (ages 21 to 58). Great stops, Belfast Titanic Museum well worth the trip, St AndrewsÆ cathedral and castle remains great stop. Victor the driver was awesome!!!! Dublin stops fantastic especially Guinness tour and canal dinner cruise. Sorry to see it end!

This was our very first bus tour and I wasn't really looking forward to it because it was a bus tour! But from the very first day to the last was an absolute blast. John our tour guide on the Scottish leg was very knowledgeable and friendly but Eammon our guide/bus driver on the Irish leg was the best. He made the tour truly memorable. He had us all ...read more in fits of laughter with his Irish accent and his charming demeanour. As was stated it was only a taste of both countries but very rewarding. I would recommend this tour to anyone. The scenery in both countries is magnificent and not be missed. Please say a big HELLO to Eammon for us if you do see him on your tour.

We just came back from a wonderful trip through Scotland and Ireland! The scenery, music, food, hotels, everything was superb! Thank you so much for an unforgettable vacation that wouldn't be complete without the drivers skills, care and humour of our driver/guide Collm.

We had a great time on our Taste of Scotland and Ireland. Our Coach Driver John Greene was FANTASTIC, best driver ever, extremely knowledgeable and a great, funny guy. Everyone in Scotland and Ireland are extremely nice people the trip was nicely planned out we got to see a ton of places that we would of never have seen on our own. Great Trip!

We had 43 people on our tour. Pat Prendergast did an outstanding job as our guide!!! He went above and beyond to make us all feel welcomed. He was so knowledgeable and witty!! By the time our tour ended, everyone felt like family. I travelled with Globus but CIE seemed much better! We will definitely do it again! Thank you Pat!!