Car Rental - Lake District

There actually is an Enterprise depot at Penrith- on Haweswater Road- I would argue within walking distance of Penrith station, but a very short taxi ride anyway and there are always taxis waiting outside the station.
From Haweswater Road you are more or less straight on to the A66 for Keswick- 20 minutes drive to Keswick.

There is a half hourly bus from straight outside Penrith station to Keswick- the X4 or X5 (either on every half hour, takes slightly different routes). Assuming you are not here between the start of November and the week before Easter you can get to everywhere a tourist would want to get to easily by bus from Keswick (services thin out in Winter, but are still good, but for instance the Buttermere bus can't run in winter due to snow on the passes).

If coming from London Manchester would be well off route.

Kendal (from Oxenholme) is the other car hire town for the Lake District- Avis and Enterprise.

The same two companies are in Lancaster- there Avis is closer to the station but then you have to cope with Lancaster's infamous one way system, from Enterprise you are straight out of town.

Thank you! That is exactly what i needed to know. I know using the local buses would be ok too, but I love the freedom of exploring in a car and stopping where I want to. Appreciate the help.

Several years ago, I took the train from London to Oxenholme, then to Kendal and rented a car from there, then drove to my B&B in Keswick. It was very convenient.

Haven't used the Penrith rental location, but Enterprise has been good to work with in the U.K. on several trips.

All the best,

Raymond

Just rented a car from Enterprise in Kendal and drove through the Yorkshire Dales, dropping it off at York. It was VERY expensive, though...more than $300 for a one-day rental. Also, they had no automatics but fortunately we could drive a manual transmission.

Just checked Enterprise's web site and a 3 day rental from Kendal ranged from a total of £102 - £295 (for a really large vehicle).

A one day rental with a drop off in York ranges from £118 - £300 (for a large people carrier 9 people, 8 bags).

Many of the cars will be manual, so it is important to check on that before reserving if you can't drive a manual.

At my last UK pick-up, the young man joked, "It's an automatic, can you drive that?" So I responded, "I'm used to manuals, but I think I can adjust." We chatted about how many Americans did need automatics, which are becoming more common in the UK.

All the best,

We're actually coming from Hereford. Looks like we'll be changing trains in Manchester and I see there is a direct train from Manchester to Windermere. Would that be better? Looking at the map though, I don't see any car rental places near the train station in Windermere.

I see there is a direct train from Manchester to Windermere. Would that be better? Looking at the map though, I don't see any car rental places near the train station in Windermere.

I don't see one in Windermere, but you can easily get to Kendal from Windermere by train in about 20+ minutes. Just take the train from Manchester and then book a separate ticket to Windermere. Then train to Kendal and pick up your car at the Enterprise office there.

If you are coming from Hereford the most obvious rail route is to change for Oxenholme or Penrith at Crewe. Manchester will always be a slower route, and normally more expensive.
There is no car hire in Windermere, it's Kendal where you will find the car hire.
Enterprise should pick you up at Oxenholme Station to take you to their hard at Mintsfeet, but otherwise it's a 3 mile taxi ride down the hill.
Kendal is before Windermere on the same train line so you wouldn't go to Windermere first, then the 8 miles back to Kendal.
Normally the change at Crewe is same platform or cross platform.
The cheapest way to book that is Hereford to Crewe, then a separate ticket Crewe to Oxenholme or Kendal.
You should get Advance train specific cheap fares for each leg.
You aren't travelling on Scotrail, but their website is the best place to find such fares, not the National Rail website.

PS- I keep meaning to mention that there is a way to rent a car at Windermere station. I'm not convinced it is any cheaper than traditional car hire, but it is a kind of shared ownership scheme- a bit like uber bikes or similar in a city.

In particular getting an automatic could be problematic, I suspect.

You can see the details on co-wheels.org.uk

The scheme is open to anyone, even visitors, although I think it would be a bit convoluted for an overseas licence holder to set up an account.

However, for the sake of completeness, I might as well put the information out there.

There is also rainbow camper hire in Keswick, who rent vintage VW camper vans. As a local I can get 10 % off them if I was interested.

Thanks so much for all the information. It's very helpful. I was also wondering about the train tickets. :-)

Just would like to note that our car rental in Kendal, dropped off in York cost more than 300GBP for the day. It was a manual Volkswagen Tiguan. Good on you if you get a lower price...maybe we were ripped off? Be careful.

Terri, car rental with a drop off in a different location than pick up can be expensive in general, compared to returning it to the same location. Costs vary, based on behind-the-scenes factors, and I have to decide what is acceptable based on my budget and available time. Ripped off would be if you were misled about the cost upfront.

In thinking about it, I realized that we opted for 100% insurance -- didn't want to rely on our credit card coverage. That was probably part of it.