I am going to book the Britain&IrelandHighlights Tour and I was wondering about the optionals.There doesn't seem to be that many listed.The ones I chose were the Cardiff castle tour and the private cruise on Lake Windermere.Are thes any good/worth the money etc.?Are there any other worth while tours.Also some one posted some time ago an extensive description of this tour and what they did,but I am unable to find it.I need the answers to these questions so I can finish planning the trip of a lifetime.Thanks for all your help.

Hi Beefeater
I did a Best of Britain tour and both of those optionals are worth doing. If you click on tour tales, there is a heading near the top called "Where are all the tales". You'll find a tale of your tour listed there.

Hi Beefeater,
We did this trip earlier this year - from memory without looking up my documents these are the optionals we were offered:

Lake Windermere - we did this and it was very enjoyable even though is was raining.
Burns Night - a great evening was held by all - try the hagis.
Dublin Dinner and Cabaret - we did not do this as my husband grew up with Irish dancing in the family - elected to have a dinner at a local pub and watch the soccer finals.
Glendalough - did not do this as preferred to spend a whole day exploring Dublin.
Waterford Walk - we did this - a great walking tour with a fabulous tour guide.
Cardiff Castle - we did not this this as we preferred to do our own tour of the millenium stadium (we do like rugby league)and I got to hold the Aus V Wales cup.
We thoroughly enjoyed our tour and if you have any further questions just ask.

quote:

Originally posted by beefeater:
I am going to book the Britain&IrelandHighlights Tour and I was wondering about the optionals.There doesn't seem to be that many listed.The ones I chose were the Cardiff castle tour and the private cruise on Lake Windermere.Are thes any good/worth the money etc.?Are there any other worth while tours.Also some one posted some time ago an extensive description of this tour and what they did,but I am unable to find it.I need the answers to these questions so I can finish planning the trip of a lifetime.Thanks for all your help.

beefeater, The BIHI is an excellent tour, and very popular among our clients, but be warned - it is a VERY fast paced tour - 5 countries in eight days!! - that is probably why few optionals are offered - no time!
There are two two-night stopovers, Glasgow (visit Edinburgh) and Dublin.

Depending on the time (and finance) available, you may wish to consider longer, and therefore, more leisurly tours, such as the BIBI (12 days), BPAN (16 days) or BIGT (20 days), all of which cover most of the ground of the BIHI, plus much more besides.

Happy planning