Driving round trip from London to Edinburgh. Is it worth it?

No need for a car in either London or Edinburgh, so it comes down to the places you want to stop en route. If they are served by bus or train, that might be the best way to go. If the places are obscure out of the way locations not served by public transportation, then a rental would be best. As much as I prefer rental cars, with the limited time you have, even I would opt for the train.

I think option two is the better option. You really don’t have enough time to see London and Edinburgh and also do a long drive seeing lots of things on the way. There is a fast train from London to Edinburgh that is much faster than driving. If you want to see something on the way, take the train to York, spend a couple of days and continue on to Edinburgh. And why not fly home from Edinburgh?

Another factor to consider is rental car prices, which are pretty expensive right now. You might want to price this out before you give driving more thought. If you do decide to go with the car, driving from London and dropping the car off in Edinburgh would be much easier, but you would have to see what the charge would be for dropping the car off in a different location.

The key language to your inquiry is "stopping at various places along the way."

If you plan to spend a week or more stopping at places like York, Durham, Hadrian's Wall for example, renting a car might be advisable. Also, if you had a large party of say four persons instead to two, you might save a bit compared to rail.

Otherwise, take the train. York is the obvious place to stop (we did three nights there and loved it), However, you could still take the train.

Petrol currently near $11 a gallon
That's going to be $240 at least for the trip
Let the train take the strain..

It does depend on where you want to go in between. It's about a 7 hour drive from London to Edinburgh, that's a waste of a day if your plan is to meander up but then drive all the way back to catch your flight. Have you considered taking a train to York and staying there for a couple of days and then renting a car, or if there is nothing of interest for you between York and Edinburgh, taking another train from there? Edinburgh is also not car friendly unless you're planning on staying on the outskirts.

Probably not but it does depend on where you want to go in the north of England. You could see the Northwest of England with Liverpool and Manchester or else the the northeast, perhaps York and Durham.

I did do a hike in Lancashire last trip, definitely required a car (a local friend picked me up). But I’d try to avoid the car unless you’re set on rural areas.

I would be amazed if you manage to drive London - Edinburgh in 7 hours. Even Google is saying 7.5 hours this evening after rush hour and that’s always optimistic. Given your timescale, I would be tempted to take the train, however if there are some places that you want to see en route and take a few days with the trip, drive one way and take the train back. It’s a pity you aren’t flying open jaw to avoid a day back tracking to London.

“Door number 2 Monty.”

In other words do day trips from London, Oxford, Cambridge, Rye, Whitstable, Bletchley Park, Hampton Court, Windsor, Greenwich ….

Visit and explore differing neighborhoods. Brixton, Camden, Richmond, Putney, Hampstead.

So many things to enjoy in London and surrounding environs.

If Edinburgh is a Must, train.

Yes. My suggestion is Option 2.

First, driving in the UK is not like driving in the US. Traffic can be a nightmare, regardless of what Google Maps tells you. London to Edinburgh will largely be on the M1 or A1, both of which have sections that can look like parking lots at times. In the UK, there are very few 'fast and easy' alternative routes around traffic. Fuel is hitting that $11/gallon mark. Parking isnt cheap. Neither is the cost of the rental car these days - and if you need an automatic, expect to pay more. For me, if I am going on holiday, the last thing I want to do is sit in traffic behind the wheel of a car.

The only way I can see a car making any sort of financial sense is if you have a group of you traveling together - and even then, I would price it out. If you need train help, there are several very knowledgable members on this board who can help you out.

Hi Colleen -

While I’d normally agree about the use of the train, and largely still do, keep a close eye on the situation regarding the rail strikes in Britain. There’s a continually updated thread on this very forum, with good accurate information. The are no more strike days announced, but as the dispute hasn’t yet been settled, (as far as I’m aware), it’s safe to say there will be likely be more strikes, so keeping an eye on the situation would be sensible.

That said, our US friend paid us a visit last weekend coming to the northern wastes from Cambridge and sensibly booked travel on a ‘non strike’ day. This train was ultimately cancelled and she ended up booked on one of the few trains running on a day when, ostensibly, no trains were supposedly running. It was bang on time too! So a strike doesn’t necessarily mean no trains at all. Unless of course the signalling staff walk out in which case no trains run at all, anywhere.

All this means rental cars are at a premium. I met an American lady, also last weekend, who claimed to have ‘the last rental car in London’! But despite the rail problems I still think train is the way to go. Just keep a close eye on the situation and prepare to be as flexible as your situation will allow.

Ian

You only have 8 useful days. Have you listed out what you want to see? If you drive two days, that reduces your time to 6 full days for being anywhere. Six days is hardly enough time to see London, but you want to add London day trips, and Edinburgh. If you still want Edinburgh, you might want to consider overnight on the Caledonian Sleeper to Glasgow to save time. Then not too far for transport to Edinburgh. It earns you an extra day. So I vote for #2. Even better would be open jaws for this short period of time.

Hi Everyone,

Thank you so much for your thoughtful responses. In 2017 we rented a car in Austria and traveled from one end of the country to the other. We loved it, but we had more time on that trip (two weeks) than we do here. Flying into London and out of Edinburgh would have been ideal, but not cost effective. It was too expensive so we decided to stick with a round trip out of London. We're still considering our options, but it looks like trains might make the most sense.