chitchman

My husband and I will arrive in London (our first trip) in early July and after a few days there want to rent a car to go to Cornwall and later Scotland, returning to fly out of London (Heathrow). What is the easiest, and least intimidating, driving-wise, way to rent a car? Train out of the city somewhere first and hire there? Any suggestions? Same process on the other end, only returning from a different direction. Ideal would be a place not far from the city where we could pick up and return car to the same place, but which would not be too inconvenient (and not too much city/traffic driving) on either end. I am driving myself crazy with the logistics of this, and write these words at 2 a.m. as I lay not sleeping. All suggestions welcome with thanks.

chitchman

P.s. we will likely be staying near Lancaster gate, unless there is a better area. Our thought there was ease to and from Heathrow using the express (and not too costly).

Tulips

From Lancaster Gate it's easy to drive out of town.
There's a Europcar nearby. Just avoid rush hour in the evening from about 4 pm. I wouldn't bother getting the train first to pick up the car somewhere else; too much hassle, and driving in London is really not a problem.

There's no need to stay somewhere just for the ease of getting to the Heathrow Express at Paddington. The HEX is fast and easy, but also expensive. You could also stay somewhere near a Piccadilly Line station; South Kensington, Bloomsbury for example.

The Lancaster Gate area is fine too - the Central Line that stops there is convenient. It's just next to Hyde Park.
Nearby Connaught/Kendal Street is nice, with some good restaurants and pubs.

Ackislander

I think driving out of London is the least of your worries.

Unless you have a really long time for this trip, I would take the train from London to somewhere in the West like maybe Exeter, and then rent a car to tour Devon and Cornwall.

When it was time to go to Scotland, I would take the train to Glasgow and rent a car there to tour up toward Glencoe, then over to the East Coast to the Balmoral area and then down to Edinburgh, where I would leave the car at the airport because it is worse than useless in the city.

Finally, I would take the train to London from Edinburgh, stopping for a night perhaps at York.

Options might be flying from the West Country to Glasgow, though there are beautiful parts on the train. Another might be to fly into London and home from Edinburgh or Glasgow.

There are things you can only see from the car, but driving anywhere takes about twice as long as the same drive would take in most parts of the US, so while it is a great way to "browse" it isn't a great way to cover distances.

Just my opinion, of course.

janisj

How many weeks do you have in total for the driving tour? London to Cornwall to Scotland is a very <B>VERY</B> long ways and you would need a few weeks at least.

I would NOT stay near Lancaster Gate (not a bad area at all and I've stayed there several times) but it is pretty inconvenient from Heathrow.

I would either take the tube out to Heathrow and pick up the car there -- or MUCH easier, take the train to Cornwall and then collect a car.

chitchman

Thanks all. If we try the train to Exeter, drive around Cornwall, then drop the car back in Exeter and take the train up to Glasgow (and get another car), is it usually relatively convenient to make those types of connections? Are there often car rental places near the train stations and if so, how do I find out which ones? It is these small logistics that are making me crazy. Since I live in the western U.S. we don't have a lot of convenient mass transit (unless you are in one of the few larger cities) so it is a little intimidating. I worry about how much I need to do ahead of time vs. how much I can be free to "wing it" once we get there. I picture you all shaking your heads at my naivete, and I don't blame you. I miss the days of travel agents but it seems they are dead and gone these days. It looks like many things are quite a bit cheaper if you book ahead, but I worry about tying myself in some Gordian knot that will prove to be unworkable once we get there.

janisj

Before anyone can give you any sort of useful advice -- we need to know how long the trip is.

thursdaysd

You can always rent the car(s) from Enterprise, which will pick you up and drop you off at the train station.

Train tickets will be cheaper if bought ahead of time, but that locks you into a particular train. See seat61.com for lots of train info.

Have you already bought the plane tickets? Because if not, a multi-city (aka open jaw) itinerary, flying into London and out of Edinburgh, or vice versa, would simplify things.

Tulips

Lancaster Gate is not at all inconvenient for LHR; if you use the HEX it's by far the fastest way into London; 15 to 20 minutes depending on your terminal. Lancaster Gate is a short walk from Paddington Station.
It's just more expensive than the tube - wether it's worth it is up to you.

I like driving - but for this trip you'd need quite a bit of time. And beware of holiday traffic to Cornwall in July.

MmePerdu

The most important piece of information needed to make useful suggestions, the length of this trip, is still missing.

bilboburgler

I think you need some basic tools

seat61.com to explain the train system
http://www.traveline.info/ to allow you to get a plan together of the public system
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/statio...ions/maps.aspx the railway line organisation and its map

Just think of it like a road system just with different views in the same way as you also may thing of the American airline system.

Note that the UK also has an airline system.. I mention this as you can fly from Exeter to Glasgow for about £100 each. Flybe.com

janisj

I meant to post that Lancaster Gate is pretty inconvenient from LHR and for sightseeing being north of the parks.

Yes -- there is the HEX but it is expensive, and then there you are still north of the parks . . .

Don't get me wrong, I've stayed in the area several times and it is fine but it would never be my first (or 3rd, 5th) choice.,

Tulips

We have to agree to disagree on that. We're in Notting Hill (a bit further west than Lancaster Gate) and the people who rent our flat love the area, as do we. We lived in South Kensington and Chelsea as well - and much prefer north of the park.

janisj

Tulips: Oh, Notting Hill would be a lovely area to stay -- but just IMO not for a first trip. A first visit is usually very sightseeing-centric and less 'lovely-neighborhood centric' if that makes sense.

Once one has been and hitting the majors is no longer a top priority, but more just enjoying being in London -- then absolutely.

annhig

after a few days there want to rent a car to go to Cornwall and later Scotland, returning to fly out of London (Heathrow).>>

this rang warning bells with me, as it did with others - you definitely don't want to drive from Cornwall to Scotland.

where to hire a car and take it back depends on exactly what you want to see - one option as others have said is to take the train to Exeter and pick up a car there to tour Devon and Cornwall; you could then return it to Newquay Airport and fly from there to Glasgow or Edinburgh on Flybe.

The disadvantage of doing that is that you miss the best part of the train journey which is the bit between Exeter and Plymouth, and slightly beyond where the train crosses the Tamar; you could get round that by getting the train all the way to Penzance [the end of the line] and working your way back to Exeter and then flying to Scotland from there [Flybe's home is Exeter airport so you'd have a very good choice of flights there, I should think].

Which parts of Cornwall have you thought about visiting?

Whether you want to try to see south Devon [which you don't mention in your OP] and Cornwall depends on the time you're got for this part of the trip; I week would be the minimum IMO, 10 days - 2 weeks preferable.

chitchman

Thank you all so much. I obviously need to tell you what I do already have nailed down.

We fly into London on Sunday, July 3rd; I have rooms booked for two nights near Paddington Station. (I know that is giving London extremely short shrift, but there it is.)

We then have rooms for two nights, Tuesday the 5th and 6th, in Penzance. If it is possible (and here I'm hoping our being there on a Tuesday--Thursday will be better than a weekend), I'd like to get up the coast to Port Isaac and Tintagel.

Thursday night is open -- if we were driving up, that night was going to be somewhere en route, possibly York.

Friday and Saturday, the 8th and 9th, will be in Edinburgh, with a day trip to St. Andrews and a round of golf on Sunday at New Berwick.

Sunday the 10th to Friday the 16th we will be staying with friends in a little cottage on the west coast and going to two rounds of the British Open at Troon. At least one of us (couples) needs to have a car for that week.

Here is a dicey bit. We have tickets to the Open for Friday evening. We DID have lodging at a house in Ayr through Friday, checking out Saturday, until they realized the Open was just down the road, then they doubled the price on us after we had already reserved and paid a deposit. (We plan to post scathing reviews of this practice as soon as our trip is safely concluded.) Our lodging now is further down the coast at Ballantrae, seemingly in the middle of nowhere (but very beautiful). The bad part is that we have to check out Friday, so when we leave Troon Friday evening, likely late, we will need a place to stay. At this point our friends will go north to the Highlands and we will be returning south.

So Friday the 16th we need to get out of Troon, stay somewhere, and make our way back to London. It seemed a difficult prospect without a car, given the late hour. We fly out Mondy the 18th mid morning. Our lodging for the nights of Saturday and Sunday are also not yet arranged, although Sunday night for sure we will be in London (maybe out near the airport, depending on what we do Saturday night and whether we will have any extra time to kick around London on Sunday.

So it's really that bad driving cross-country? If we drive north,Cornwall to Edinburgh, it would be on a Thursday; but coming back south, it would be Saturday. Does that make a difference? It is difficult for us to relate to the distances being that daunting since we routinely drive hundreds of miles in a day on trips (in the western U.S.). I've never been on a car trip in the eastern U.S. so maybe it is more like that, with the denser population. My mother lives 400 miles away and I can get there in seven hours. Anyway, I need and appreciate the perspective from people who know, which is why I'm on this forum seeking input. Thank you all very much.

chitchman

So two weeks total, for those not interested in doing the math -- I wish it was longer.

janisj

London to Penzance is an enormous distance.

York to Penance is even farther. That would be an 8 hour drive without a single stop.

Sorry, but Cornwall simply doesn't fit in your plan . . . ESPECIALLY if you insist on driving.

thursdaysd

If you really want to go to Cornwall you should use this:

http://www.seat61.com/Cornwall-sleeper.htm

But there is little point in going so far for just two nights.

MmePerdu

I'm going to step in at this point and agree. With so many beautiful places to visit north of London on your way to Edinburgh, preferably by train, Cornwall makes utterly no sense given the time constraints. You would do better to just spend the days prior to Scotland in London with time to see a few good things than to spend them on the road with no time for anything but driving. Do not make the mistake of comparing driving in the UK with driving in N. America. They are simply not comparable. Where to stay on any given night is the least of your problems with this trip as currently planned.