Should You Rent a Car in London? When and Where Answered
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You’re headed to London and the UK and you’re excited to see it all. From historic buildings to quaint villages and picturesque pubs, the UK is absolutely beautiful. But what’s the best way to see it all? If you want to visit both London and the countryside, should you rent a car? Yes, and no.
No, you shouldn’t rent a car in London. Driving in London is a hassle and finding parking is inconvenient. Public transportation is a much better option for exploring the city. But if you want to leave the city and explore more of the countryside, a car helps you see more. The best place to rent a car depends on where you’re traveling and in this article, we give you locations for picking up cars outside of London.
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Should You Rent a Car in London? No. Here’s why.
London is not an easy city to drive in. My husband Jordan did his driver’s license training in central London and it was a tough place to learn!
Renting a car in London is more of a hassle and a liability. You’ll need to deal with traffic as well as finding and paying for parking. Exploring the city is much easier when using public transportation or hopping in a black cab or Uber if needed. You don’t even need a car to get to London’s hidden gems.
Should you rent a car in London if you’re on a budget? Using London’s public transport will save a lot on your London vacation. Because the cost of visiting London can be pricey. You can even take a day trip to Paris without a car! Just make sure you choose a place to stay wisely so you don’t spend your whole vacation on the tub.
Tips for Getting Around London
London is an exceptionally easy city to explore without a car. While it is a sprawling city, walking the neighborhoods and jumping on public transport to get from place to place is easy and relatively inexpensive.
London is split into 8 different public transportation zones with zone 1 being most central and located within the city and zone 8 being the furthest from the city center. Almost everything you’ll want to see as a visitor is located in Zone 1, with a few things located in Zone 2. Navigating around these zones is simple.
Transport for London is London’s department of transportation. See their Tube, Bus, Congestion Charge, Cycle Hire, and other maps here: Transport for London Maps. We break down how to take the Tube in London in this article.
If you want to get nerdy on London transport, check out the London Transport Museum. It made our list of the 12 Best Museums in London!
Use Citymapper to Plan Your Route
While we are big fans of Google Maps for many things, we love the CityMapper App for navigating around cities. Type in where you’re headed and Citymapper will show you the public transportation options with live timing that is remarkably accurate.
It also gives you great instructions for when and how to transfer public transportation (switching between tube lines or buses) and it tracks your progress.
Even when I know exactly where I’m going, I use CityMapper to estimate how long it’ll take me to get somewhere or check for any disruptions on my journey.
Related London planning articles:
Pay with Contactless or Oyster Cards
If you have a little symbol that looks similar to a wifi symbol on your credit card (3 curved lines), congratulations! You can pay for your public transportation using this contactless card. When you get on a bus or get on and off the tube you can tap that card to pay for your journey. Contactless cards also work on the London overground and DSLR trains.
If you don’t have a contactless card (or don’t want to use your credit card), you can purchase an Oyster card at Tube Stations. Oyster cards cost £7 and then you add money to your card (or “top it up”) with whatever amount you want. It’s easy to top up your card at tube stations.
Hire a Black Cab with an App
London does have Uber and we use that frequently when in the city. But there’s also something wonderful about riding in a Black Cab. Not only are they larger, but the cabbies are extremely knowledgeable about how to get you to your destination as quickly as possible.
You can flag down a cab on the street or you can use an app to request service, just like you would with Uber. To get a cab, try the Freenow (not black cabs) or Gett app (black cabs). If you want to take advantage of their extensive knowledge, you can also hop in a black cab for a tour.
Renting a Car to Explore Outside of London
There are times when having a rental car in the UK will be helpful. While there are a lot of great day trips outside of London you can enjoy without a car (Cambridge! Bath! Oxford!), some places aren’t as accessible if you’re not driving. For example, a trip to the Cotswolds or the Lake District is enhanced when you have four wheels to get around.
If you decide that you need to rent a car, we have some tips that will keep you covered. We can also help you decide whether to visit the Cotswolds or Bath.
Do you need an international driver’s permit?
If you’re headed to the UK you most likely won’t need an international driver’s permit or license to rent a car. A driver’s license from your home country should enable you to rent a car. You can check your status here.
If you’re limited on time in London, check out our article on spending just one day in London.
Pick up the car outside of London
We’ve rented cars in London and headed out of the city, but we don’t recommend that because you’re still dealing with the hassle of city driving. We much prefer taking a train outside of London to get us close to our destination and renting a car from there.
There are usually car hire companies located in other cities (for example, Oxford) as well as companies that will pick you up from a train station and take you to their rental office.
You can check train schedules at the National Rail website and we’ve listed some suggested locations to take the train to to pick up a rental car.
Renting a Car to Explore Cornwall
You have several great options when visiting Cornwall. You can take the train from London Paddington to Penzance, which takes less than 6 hours. From there, you can find a Europcar rental office at the train station to pick up your car.
If you’d prefer driving in South West England, take the train to Exeter and pick up a car there. There are also local car hire options like Car Hire Cornwall which will pick you up from any Cornwall station and take you to the rental office.
Renting a Car to Get to Explore the Lake District
The Lake District does have a great bus network and train options, so a car isn’t totally necessary. But to explore a bit more, you have a few options. Take the train from London Euston to Kendal or Carlisle. In Carlisle, there is a Hertz location at the train station. In Kendal, there is an Enterprise car rental just a short distance (10-minute walk) from the train station.
Renting a Car to Explore the Cotswolds
Take the train from London Paddington to Gloucester or Oxford and from there you’ll find plenty of car rental options. Check out the best Cotswolds Villages.
You can skip a rental car altogether and head out on a Cotswolds tour from London instead!
There are a few other destinations that allow you to skip a rental car. Check out these transportation tours:
Harry Potter from London
Bath and Stonehenge from London
Know which locations are car-friendly
And which locations are better served by train? If you’re headed to Bath, it is not a car-friendly city. That trip is best done by taking a train from London right into the city center.
But if you’re headed somewhere that is less densely populated and doesn’t have great train connections, renting a car is a great option. For example, if you’re headed to Cornwall you can
Rent a car with an automatic transmission
If you haven’t driven a manual transmission car before, your vacation is not the time to learn. Standard car rentals in the UK and Europe are manual transmission. If you’d like an automatic transmission car, be sure to book that car in advance. They are more expensive, but it’s a safer bet to stick with what you know.
Check your insurance
Before you jump in a car, check with both your home primary auto insurance as well as any insurance you get from premium credit cards to cover your car. If you’re not covered — or not sufficiently insured — add on insurance when booking your car. It’s worth the peace of mind.
Avoid a rental car right off a red-eye
If you’re flying into Heathrow and you’re excited to set out right from the airport, consider delaying your car rental. You’ll probably be tired and feeling a little off and if driving on the left side of the road is not natural to you, jumping into a car straight off a red-eye might be a bad idea.
Instead, consider taking a train into London for the night and then setting out on your journey the next day. If you’re headed to the Lake District, Cornwall, or the Cotswolds, you can use the information above to help plan your trip from central London out to a town where you can easily rent a car.
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