Hello -
I have been eagerly reading your comments on this website for years, and benefited many times from your advice. Lately I've been searching on the logistics of getting to/from the Cotswolds, and I've learned the following:
1. Rent a car
2. Some recommend renting at Heathrow, others recommend training out somewhere and renting from a smaller city (Oxford, Bath, Swindon)
3. Some people found cheaper rates if returning to the same depot, but today's search on autoeurope doesn't yield significant price differences
4. Avoid driving in London at rush hour; avoid driving in Oxford at any time

So with those things in mind, I'm trying to work out how best to connect these 3 legs of our trip:
1. London, staying near Bayswater tube
2. Stow-on-the-wold, rental car, exploring Cotswolds, Oxford, Warwick
3. Dingle, Ireland, rental car, exploring western part of the country up to Galway

We've been to London before and are quite comfortable riding the tube everywhere; our train experience is limited to previous daytrips to Bath and Windsor. We have never driven on the other side of the road and require an automatic. The flight options to Dingle are Luton to Kerry (only 1hr drive to Dingle) or Birmingham to Cork (2.5hrs to Dingle).

With all that background, here are my questions:
1. Where should we pick up the car? London, Heathrow, Slough, Oxford, Swindon?
2. Which is easier for the transfer to Ireland: driving 1hr to B'ham and 2.5hrs from Cork to Dingle, or 2hrs to Luton and 1hr from Kerry to Dingle?
3. Given the flight chosen in #2, should we drop off the car at the chosen airport or somewhere else and bus/train to the airport?

Thanks so much for your help. There's only so much I can figure out from a map and travel books; the experience of people who've actually made these trips is so much more valuable!

Some people found cheaper rates if returning to the same depot, but today's search on autoeurope doesn't yield significant price differences>

I think this turned out to be a fallacy if I remember the post and reaction to it - except for airports where you return to the same company at least should not make much a difference - that is what has been said anyway.

From the Cotswolds -- definitely Birmingham over Luton. And just return the car at the airport.

From Bayswater You can either collect the car at Marble Arch, at LHR (will probably cost a bit more due to airport surcharges but is pretty convenient), or train to Oxford and get the car there.

Avoid Slough and Swindon.

It depends whether you regard driving on the proper side of the road as a trivial change from your normal routine or as an opportunity for indulging in self-obsessed whining most American posters here seem to see it as.

If the former, it's a straight, almost all dual carriageway route from Marble Arch to Woodstock, a couple of miles before the first "Cotswolds start here" sign. However, you have to drive onto a busy road immediately you leave the tightly-packed parking space (don't listen to this claptrap about rush-hour London, by the way. No different from London any other time, except that the traffic's slower - and only a bit anyway. If anything, even more novice friendly than London usually is. Driving in London, BTW, is dead easy and other drivers are immensely disciplined. The problem is navigating)

If that concerns you, the easiest solution is to get the train to Oxford, a taxi to Hertz Kidlington office, a couple of miles away in a very quiet suburb with a big car park. Get used to the car's layout, where the windscreen wipers are etc, in the calm of an empty carpark, drive a few hundred yards along untrafficked semi-rural streets, then debouche onto the westbound A44. You've then got a few hundred yards dual carriageway to Woodstock, a tiny town with few challenges to even the worrywortest, then 15 miles of empty, theoretically 50 mph limited (but we've turned the cameras off at present) rural road with nothing to worry you till you hit Chipping Norton.

Alternatively, collect at LHR where you've got 50 miles of dual carriageway to get used to the car and the driving before hitting Woodstock.

There's no cut and dried "best" choice: depends on how comfortable you are. The least uncomfortable option, if getting used to the driving concerns you, is LHR

Flanneruk is correct, though I would be least likely to pick up at LHR.

I've picked up a car in Central London and driven to Oxford. It isn't awful. Staying on the proper side of the road is easy. All you are doing is what everyone else is doing, and the routes are well marked.

I have found three issues driving in England:

1. speed and the slow lane on the motorway. Your instinct will put you in the fast lane when you want to be in the slow lane.

2. roundabouts. In the rare absence of other cars going in your direction, you will feel that you should turn in what is the wrong direction.

3. intersections ditto, plus remaining in the correct lane on a right turn.

The best (the most interesting) roads in the Cotswolds are likely to be a good preparation for Ireland since they are the one land roads that link tiny and scenic villages.

As you are coming from Bayswater , I would say that it is as easy to hop on a train to Oxford from there (Paddington) as it is to go out to the airport so definitely less of a hassle to pick up in Oxford, unless you are burdened with tons of luggage. Plus, the drive from London to Oxford is uninteresting and something to be avoided if possible as you never know how long you are going to take to get out of London in traffic. You will definitely be quicker by train.

It is a nice drive to Stow from Oxford and well signed. A bit of dual carriageway to start with and then a good main road. Watch out for the speed limit between Woodstock and Chipping Norton (mostly 50mph but there is one tiny bit which drops to 40 - blink and you miss it but the cameras might not) and the well monitored cameras in Woodstock and Enstone (30 mph in towns) which have caught lots of people I know.

As Janisj says, definitely Birmingham and leave the car there (It is a nightmare to get from Stow to the airport by public transport). The Hertz drop off point is only about 4 minutes walk from the terminals. It is a horrible cross country drive to Luton. Granted, you will have a longer drive to Dingle but this is presumably part of your holiday, seeing places along the way and the drive through Cork and Kerry will be lovely.

I live near the Cotswolds and would echo the above comments to take the train to Oxford from Paddington. Oxford to Stow is a lovely drive and easy to navigate. Birmingham airport to fly to Ireland esp as you have Warwick on your itinerary. You are within 30-40 mins of the airport via M40/M42.

Thanks so much for your prompt responses! I feel much more confident about picking up a car in either Marble Arch or Oxford and driving on the left to the Cotswolds

One more question: There's also a flight from Bristol to Cork; the disadvantage is that it arrives late in Ireland (1830, followed by a 3hr drive to Dingle). Is there any reason to choose an afternoon flight out of Bristol over early morning from Birmingham, such as the opportunity to see south Wales or something?

and one more option: we could drive up to Manchester for a flight that arrives in Kerry at 1300. Thoughts Birmingham vs. Bristol vs. Manchester, arriving early or late in day?

"Is there any reason to choose an afternoon flight out of Bristol"

IMHO, none whatsoever.

You've got to get across/round Bristol from most of the Cotswolds which is no fun, whereas to BHX it's a straight country drive.

(incidehtally, the drive to Luton is getting an unfair rap. Driving across country IS a horror, but, depending where you're starting from, driving A44/M40/M25/M1 instead, or to Bham airport then M6/M1 is often actually quicker to Dingle, via Kerry, than arriving at Cork, navigating its southern ring road then fighting your way across country. Cork ring rd to Dingle is just as horrid, IMHO, than Moreton on Marsh to Luton cross counytry. The real issue is which rush hour you hit, and how early you're happy getting up).

South Wales is mostly pretty iffy till you get to Cardiff, then norh and west it gets great. And I absolutely wouldn';t, except around St John's (midsummer to the English) day, start a three hour drive from Cork to Kerry at 8.30 pm