British Isles: Ireland, Scotland & Isle of Man 12 Day Expedition Cruise

Your cruise end in the UK’s only island city and the world’s oldest dry dock. With easy access by rail and road from airports in London and Southampton, Portsmouth has a long and proud naval heritage. Boarding your boutique ship, you’ll be following in the footsteps of the likes of Admiral Nelson and Henry VIII as you settle in for your voyage. If time permits, the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is definitely worth a visit. The attraction is home to a wonderful collection of famous historical ships including Lord Nelson’s HMS Victory, Queen Victoria’s HMS Warrior and the only surviving ship from the First World War’s Gallipoli campaign, the HMS M.33. A very fitting way to begin your sea faring adventure.

Cobbled streets, dockside taverns and picturesque harbour give this, Cornwall’s westernmost major town, a piratical feel – the 17th-century Admiral Benbow is said to be the inspiration for the pub in Treasure Island. Along the coast, the castle-topped isle of St Michael’s Mount is a low-tide stroll across a causeway. There’s more: the art deco Jubilee Pool, a seawater swimming lido, grand 19th-century promenade and even grander Penlee gallery devoted to the feted Newlyn school of art.

Reach one of Britain’s most peaceful and beautiful places today. The Isles of Scilly are a low-lying archipelago that lies 45 kilometres off Cornwall. The Gulf Stream provides a mild climate in which flowers and other flora thrive and the Isles’ white-sand beaches and lapping translucent green sea could easily be mistaken for the Caribbean. From the world-famous Tresco Abbey Garden with its 20,000 species from all over the globe and Elizabethan castles to fortresses to Bronze age sites and illuminating lighthouses, the Isles of Scilly boasts several outstanding attractions to be enjoyed.

Amid the headlands and islands of Ireland’s southwest, Bantry is a charming harbour town on Bantry Bay, The town is surrounded by ancient history. Kealkill megalithic stone circle and standing stones, 6th-century Kilnaruane Pillar Stone and 16th-century Carraiganass Castle, all in prime walking territory. More recent is grandiose early 18th-century Bantry House with its Italianate gardens pouring down to the water’s edge. The bay’s Garinish Island is a garden paradise while Seal Island is busy with the friendly mammals.

One of Ireland’s westernmost ports, on Dingle Peninsula, Dingle is a place of craggy cliffs, crashing waves and hidden beaches. The historic fishing village sits on a lake-like estuary, its narrow mouth guarded by its Victorian lighthouse, reachable by a 6 km return coastal walk rich in viewpoints. Other hikes take in everything from mountain ridges to deserted beaches. Plenty of historic sites: medieval Garfinny Bridge over the Garfinny river, 15th-century Gallarus Castle and Reask monastic site, parts dating back to the 6th century.

A harbour city on Ireland’s west coast, Galway has the air of Dublin, centred on 18th-century Eyre Square, with its elegant university and other stylish architecture, whether the playful design of the 1960s cathedral or widespread medieval creations. Head out for a world of walks, many exploring pristine stretches of coast. Galway Atlantaquaria, the National Aquarium of Ireland, sits on the waterfront and boasts more than 1,00 species from the Atlantic and its lakes and rivers.

Disembark in the small Northern Ireland town of Portrush (Port Rois), which is located in County Antrim. It’s one of the island of Ireland’s most popular staycation destinations – indeed, generations have happy memories of visiting this peninsula, with its family-friendly amusements, attractions and beaches. It is also the gateway to the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast. Flanked by the Atlantic and towering cliffs, the Giant’s Causeway is Northern Ireland’s number-one attraction. Visit and decide for yourself if the basalt formations are the handiwork of prehistoric volcanic activity – or two legendary Celtic giants.

Gateway to Scotland’s Isle of Mull, a wild, wonderful place that has the fairytale feel of a desert island, ringed by beaches, from little white-sand Calgary to the wide-open swathe of Laggan Sands. Tiny Tobermory with its brightly painted houses is the island’s picture book capital, lovely to wander in. There are six castles in splendid spots, two brochs (drystone Iron Age shelters) and Lochbuie, a Bronze Age standing stone circle and magnificent walks taking in mountains, cliffs and shoreline.

One of Britain’s most beautiful stretches of water, between Mull and the Scottish mainland, cruising here is a dream with beaches, cliffs and ancient fortifications always on view. The waterway takes in distant peaks often wreathed in mist. Three lighthouses stand guard and a number of wrecks sit on the seabed.

Sail to Stornoway, the capital of the most populous island in the Outer Hebrides. Lewis is a windswept, rugged place that’s famed for its weavers, who make world-famous Harris Tweed. Named after the neighbouring island – despite the majority of registered weavers living and working on Lewis – Harris Tweed is the only fabric guarded and protected by an Act of Parliament. Discover the spellbinding Callanish Stones (or Calanais Stones) on the island’s west coast, a collection of standing stones in a cruciform pattern with a central stone circle. Erected in 3,000 BCE, this ritualistic site is thought to have been built some 500 years before Stonehenge making this circle and the one on Orkney, the UK’s oldest. No one knows the purpose of these circles, but there’s new evidence that a massive lightning strike may have inspired the ancient island dwellers to build the stone circles.

A sheltered deep water loch, Loch Ewe in the Scottish Highlands has a big Naval history. During World War II the Home Fleet stayed here, it was a base for Arctic convoys – and a post-war depot for captured German U-boats. NATO still has a base here for submarine servicing. The loch, with low-lying Ewe Island in the middle, is a beauty spot with Inverewe, a Victorian garden rich in exotic plants, sitting on the banks.

Portree is the largest town on, and capital of, the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It is the location for the only secondary school on the island, Portree High School. Public transport services are limited to buses. Portree has a harbour, fringed by cliffs, with a pier designed by Thomas Telford. Attractions in the town include the Aros centre which celebrates the island's Gaelic heritage. Further arts provision is made through arts organisation ATLAS Arts, a Creative Scotland regularly-funded organisation.

Your cruise comes to an end today in Dublin, the Republic of Ireland’s capital. It’s at times gritty and in places, gorgeous – Georgian squares, hidden parks and tree-lined canals. It’s lively, complex, cosmopolitan and eminently walkable. So bid farewell to Vega and start exploring, if time allows before your flight home. Come full circle and visit The Long Room in the Old Library in stately Trinity College to inspect the Book of Kells, which was produced on Iona. The Long Room itself is much lauded for its beauty – it’s a stunning, two-storey, barrel-vaulted space that houses 200,000 of Trinity’s oldest books and manuscripts. Elsewhere the new Museum of Literature Ireland, the National Museum of Ireland, Christ Church and St Patrick’s Cathedrals, the Guinness Storehouse, Kilmainham Gaol, Glasnevin Cemetery entice visitors – just be sure to stop into a snug somewhere for a pint.

Located in the Irish Sea, the Isle of Man is a self-governing possession of the British Crown and is not part of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, or an Overseas Territory. The quirky town of Douglas is its capital and has been a popular seaside holiday resort since the beginning of the 19th century. In 2016 the Isle of Man became a designated UNESCO biosphere reserve and is considered one of the most beautiful natural areas in the British Isles. From Douglas, we make our way north through the Inner Hebrides to the isle of Iona. Barely 100 people reside in the spot where St Columba brought Christianity to Scotland, so it’s mostly untouched and untamed. Iona is famed for its abbey, which was founded by Columba and his Irish followers in 563 CE. It was in these contemplative cloisters that the sacred treasure, the Book of Kells, was created. The illuminated manuscript was taken to Ireland in 807 CE in an attempt to keep it safe from marauding Vikings.