Ok, slightly different question. We are arriving at Gatwick and would like to get to Bath to pick up a car rental. How much will a one-way ticket be, and would it be just as cost effective for four adults with luggage to hire a driver? (and if the driver is a better option, any ideas on where to find one?) Thanks!!!

Melanie: My question is WHY do you want to rent the car in Bath? It is a simple thing to rent a car at Gatwick and drive to Bath. All of the major car hire firms are located at LGW. <BR>

I agree with janis: driving from Gatwick TO Bath is easier than driving IN Bath!<BR><BR>If you decide to hire a driver, contact London Transfers at www.london-transfers.com

I think this "rent a car in Bath" phenomenom is a Rick Steves cult thing. A few years ago he advised going to Bath to rent a car and now it has become conventional wisdom with many Americans who seem to slavishly follow his suggestions. It pops up on this board every few days.<BR><BR>Making a journey to Bath to pick up a hire car makes very little sense.

IIRC, Rick actually recommended staying a few days in Bath, THEN renting the car, not going to Bath in order to rent a car! The theory behind visiting Bath first had something to do with trains and something to do with getting over jet lag in a calmer setting than London.

Melanie: Please clarify, is your plan to rent a car when you leave Bath or to have in Bath?

The idea is, as Suzy suggested and also suggested by my travel agent (who actually has been of little help since finding out that we aren't going to stay in top-dollar high-comission places), is to avoid any problems with getting off a plane after a long flight and immediately having to drive in a strange place with different driving customs. We would pick up the car in Bath (since that is closest to where we are staying) but otherwise, we weren't really planning on much time in Bath. And actually, we want to return the car at Gatwick after tooling around Britain for a week and a half. <BR>

Melanie-<BR>I just used Ray Skinner of London Transfers to carry my wife and I (and our luggage) to Bath. The cost was 150 or 175 pounds. We stayed in Bath, but we rented a car to drive through the Cotswolds. Cars are EXPENSIVE as is gas. The car we rented was a SUV (don't ask) and I think it was about 225 pounds per day. We did get full insurance due to the, umm, unusualness of the driving set-up there.

Melanie - WHERE are you staying? "closest to Bath" doesn't tell us much. believe me, getting used to driving will be a LOT easier on the M4 from Gatwick to Bath than IN Bath. <BR><BR>Are you staying N/S/E or W of Bath the first night? Give us more info and maybe we can provide useful suggestions.

Suzy - That MAY have been Rick's reasoning - but almost every day on this board someone asks the best way to get to Bath to pick up a car. No mention of staying there - simply picking up a car. Getting to Bath from either major London airport is a great deal more difficult than getting into London. His whole premise is flawed.

Sorry this isn't an answer to your question, but rather a suggestion. If you are still flexible in your plans once in England, you might consider making Bath your last stop prior to London. We drove to Bath, stopped to drop off our luggage and immediately returned the car. We then took the train from Bath to London.

This is a couple years ago. We were in London, in mid-June. We arrived on a Friday & bought train tickets at that time for Sunday return to Bath, for the 4 of us (2 adults & 2 children). If I remeber correctly, it ended up being something like 40 - 50 British pounds, total, for all 4 of us. But Ben's info is probably more current. But the Sunday we went, there were quite a few people in Bath, but not as many as we have encounterd on previous trips. No problem getting the train there, (Warning)but on the way back, Sunday evening, we had to stand for atleast half the trip, if not more -- we didn't have reservations. The train was packed. not necessarily people from Bath but from further down the line. It was hard to stand on the train that long, after walking through Bath all day long.

Would just like to say I live in Bath, and I wouldn't say it is dead on a Sunday, you will find it quite lively, especially in the summer. Weekends are when the street entertainers are out. Saturday is the busiest day, butI try to avoid going into the city then, as its too much for me! but the atmosphere is nice.<BR>As for a day trip, you will definitely find the trains packed from Bath to London on a Sunday evening as everyone is returning from weekends away.<BR>Bath is a fantastic city, have fun!<BR><BR>Emma

You have had a lot of information and will have correctly assumed that train travel in the UK can be difficult, not least booking tickets. <BR>So, when you get here call 08457 222333 from a call box (or a hotel if you can work out their pricing) and ask for the cheapest tickets for your journey. <BR>prepared to postpone the time of departure for the cheaper tickets. Call as soon as you get here to get the Apex. Ask about routes other than Paddington-Bath to see if they are cheaper. If that fails, go to Paddington Station and book for the next day. You should be able to collect the tickets booked on the phone at the station, but get there in good time. 0845 numbers are local-rate so it should not cost more than &pound;1 in a call-box. You could even try to book beforehand on www.thetrainline.com or via the phone number for international customers given somewhere on the site, and get them to deliver to your hotel (get full address with postcode and notify the manager).