Consider a nice situation where there are four real solutions:
$ M2
Macaulay2, version 1.7
with packages: ConwayPolynomials, Elimination, IntegralClosure, LLLBases, PrimaryDecomposition, ReesAlgebra, TangentCone
i1 : R=QQ[x,y]
o1 = R
o1 : PolynomialRing
i2 : I=ideal(x^2+((y-2)/4)^2-1,((x-1)/9)^2+(y-2)^2-1)
2 1 2 1 3 1 2 2 2 244
o2 = ideal (x + --y - -y - -, --x + y - --x - 4y + ---)
16 4 4 81 81 81
o2 : Ideal of R
i3 : ideal gens gb I
2 2
o3 = ideal (1295y - 32x - 5180y + 3916, 1295x + 2x - 1216)
o3 : Ideal of R
In the gröbner basis there is $1295x^2+2x-1216=0$ which gives you two $x$-values to put into the other generator $1295y^2 - 32x - 5180y + 3916=0$. Now you have your four points.
As you can see the explicit solution is hard to write down even for a nice example. When the ellipses don't meet, you often need to consider projective complex geometry to get all four solutions; which means homogenising the equations with a third variable $z$. Consider concentric circles:
$ M2
Macaulay2, version 1.7
with packages: ConwayPolynomials, Elimination, IntegralClosure, LLLBases, PrimaryDecomposition, ReesAlgebra, TangentCone
i1 : R=QQ[x,y,z]
o1 = R
o1 : PolynomialRing
i2 : I=ideal(x^2+y^2-z^2,x^2+y^2-2*z^2)
2 2 2 2 2 2
o2 = ideal (x + y - z , x + y - 2z )
o2 : Ideal of R
i3 : ideal gens gb I
2 2 2
o3 = ideal (z , x + y )
where you get
the circular points at infinity
with multiplicity.