Climate and clothing: Ireland and Great Britain

Beverly in California

We have booked the July 30 trip to Ireland and Great Britain. Can someone give advice about the weather/climate? Would we need a long raincoat (trench coat) or just anorak-type parka shell? For dining out on our own are there dress codes for informal restaurants? For daytime touring, we assume lightweight casual slacks and shirts would be sufficient along with a sweater. Really looking forward to this trip!

British

Hello Beverley, the quickest way to see the average temps and rainfall is to go to the page for the tour and open the Before Tou Go section and then go in further and look for weather, in preparing to go. A big difference with British weather is that, the mornings often start off cool but then later on in the day, by say 11am or noon, it can get much warmer in the summer, but then cool off in the evening, so that you might need a sweater or light jacket. As usual, the key word is 'layers' At this time of year, the days are longer than you might find in parts of the US. I live on the East coast and miss the British long light evenings of summer, especially Scotland where it can be light until 11pm in the height of summer. I would never recommend anyone to take a trench coat or even anorak parka on a four, a lightweight raincoat that packs inside itself in a zipper bag can fit in your handbag and be pulled out if you need it, oh and a tiny lightweight umbrell---otherwise you are going to have to carry a bigger coat around with you and that's a pain!
Dining out, casual, I can't believe anyone in England is going to turn away wealthy Americans who leave 20% tips, but then you never know!