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Car Hire Advice - Birmingham

Posted by (USA) on

Hello! My wife and I are looking forward to spending some time in England this fall. After landing at Heathrow, we will go to York to begin the trip, and then spend a couple nights in the Cotswolds (Shipston-On-Stour) before wrapping up in London.

For the journey from York to the Cotswolds, I'm having some difficulty determining the best option. We want to rent a car for exploring the Cotswolds, and the best combination of car availability, prices, and convenient trains from York appear to point to Birmingham. Other options I've looked at are Oxford, Cheltenham, and back to Heathrow, but Birmingham seems best to me.

If we go the Birmingham route, would it be best to hire a car near the Birmingham New Street station or hop over from New Street to the Birmingham airport via train (assuming that's an option) and pick up a car? I understand Birmingham is a large, busy city so figured driving out of the airport might be easier for a couple Americans than navigating from the city center.

Any other ideas/advice would be greatly appreciated. For further context, we plan to purchase Britrail passes for our trip and don't mind transferring trains if it isn't terribly inconvenient. Also the order of our trip is relatively set in stone now, though I'm now realizing starting in the Cotswolds might have been the better option. 🙃

Thanks in advance!

Posted by
81 posts

It's an easy enough train to Birmingham New Street from York - they vary from about 1h50 to 2h30 so try to link in with a quicker one.

You will find some car hire places near there but will also find plenty by the airport so might be as well getting a quick train out there.

I have to say (admittedly as a UK driver) that of all the bigger UK cities I have always found Birmingham one of the easier ones to drive in. But the airport option does have the M42 very close by so is certainly very easy.

I would expect you to get a better array of hire options at either Birmingham location over Oxford and Cheltenham. And for Heathrow you would have to go in and out of London so that makes that a pain.

What do you plan to do after The Cotswolds though? It might be worth looking at pick up at Birmingham and drop off at Heathrow. Most of the big companies allow this. They will charge but sometimes it's not that bad, especially when the places are relatively close as these two are. It can often be better than having to double back.

Posted by
33991 posts

an easy change and just either 9 or 10 minutes on the second train will get you to Birmingham International Airport station at Birmingham Airport (the train station still has the word "International" in the name but the airport has dropped it) where a really easy, free, and extremely frequent cable car on rails takes you right into the terminal where the desks are. From there it is really easy (mind the speed limits - there are lots of cameras) run up onto the M42 and towards the Cotswolds.

I know driving in Birmingham city centre well, having worked there, and between all the pedestrians, buses, trams and traffic getting a car I don't know in Birmingham isn't something I'd relish.

Posted by
2 posts

Thanks to everyone so far for the responses and advice. Definitely leaning towards picking up the car at the Birmingham airport based on this info. Thanks again!

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