Renting a car from London to Cotswolds

2 nights in the Cotswolds = 1 full day. I wouldn't want to worry about navigating and wasting time trying to drive in London. It makes more sense to go back to LHR or perhaps Oxford to pick up and drop off your car.

6 nights in the UK and you want to spend 2 in the Cotswolds and one at the airport seems like madness to me.
If you must go to the Cotswolds (and why they should be so important to North Americans is completely beyond me) then take a train to Moreton in Marsh for a day tour. Personally I would stay in London and have a day in Greenwich.

I rented a car at LHR for a 10-days car trip,. right in the middle of "rush hour" traffic on the M25. It was a nightmare, dealing with driving on the "wrong" side of the road, rear view mirrors in the "wrong" place, cars and lorries flashing by at 85 miles an hour, and a traveling companion who couldn't red a map (ages ago). My advise is don't rent a car for such a short outing. Take the train to Bath, Oxford, Cambridge, Canterbury, etc. If I were to rent a car for a longer period of time, I'd do it at a quaint market or university town.

Lots and lots to see and do in London and no driving needed. Cotswolds will have little interest for the kids, IMO.

I will accept that your kids are good travelers... But you are allotting 2 full days in London and 1 full day in the Cotswolds on a seven day trip. June 12 - shot with jet lag; June 13-14 tour London; June 15 Train/Car to Cotwolds; June 16 in Cotswolds; June 17 Cotswolds and drive back to LHR' June18 fly out.

Pick a spot, any spot, for 6 nights. Let the kids pick their top spots for several days, pick your top spots for several days. Find a fun pub, see some sights, have fun. Good Luck. Promise them they can come back.

If you rent a car I’d pick it up at Heathrow. If going to the southern Cotswolds you’ll be on the M4 in about 5 minutes. If going to northern Cotswolds villages you’ll be on the M25 a few more miles before picking up the M40.

The Cotswolds is a large area so you need to do your homework to determine which villages are most important to you. With about 1.5 days worth of time to see villages, you could conceivably see, for example, Bourton On The Water, Stow On Wold, Lower Slaughter, and Stratford Upon Avon. They are fairly close together.

On our last trip passing through that area we stayed at The Arden Hotel in Stratford Upon Avon. It had free parking. It’s about 1.5 hours from Heathrow. For that day after you leave the Cotswolds you could stay in Duxford and visit the Imperial War Museum there if you and the children are into aircraft. It’s about 1.5 hours from Heathrow. A little closer in is Royston Cave. It has ties to the Knights Templar. If you’re a fan of the UK series Midsomer Murders, Wallingford is used as Causton.

If you decided not to rent a car, possible day trips by train could include Bath, York, Oxford, Cambridge, Hampton Court, or Windsor. You have plenty of options.

Thanks for the replies.

We (including the kids) have traveled extensively. We do prefer the countryside over cities in general.
By no means do we expect to see all of London in 2.5 days. We have a direct flight in business so that
should minimize the jet lag. We expect to return to London many times in the future.

I have added a 3rd night to the Cotswolds. We absolutely love the Irish countryside so we are expecting the same of this area.
We will have 1/2 day, 2 full days, then another 1/2 for the area.

I rented a car in Oxford...train there from London headed to Bourton-on-the-Water...after my Morse Oxford tour! Helll yes I'm a tourist! I can't wait to sit outside at a pub on the river and enjoy a pint or two in an idyllic village! Let the scoffers scoff!

Hi from Wisconsin,
I agree with so many, skip the Cotswolds. They are an over gentrified, London weekender owned, crowded, tourist filled, no place to park...I could go on. Yes the houses are pretty. You have to stay until after 5PM to see things without your view being blocked by people. Gosh, I must be some kind of curmudgeon. Really nothing real like a laundry or stores.

As for the 'M' roads. Yes, they resemble our interstate highways. Except they have permanently mounted electric signs extending over the roadway giving up dates as to how many hours delay you should expect. Just because you have made it onto an M road doesn't mean clear sailing. Tine of day considerations, day of the week considerations, is it a bank holiday questions.

London has so much to offer. Book a place near a Tube station on the Circle Route for 6 days and settle in. You could spend an hour in the British Museum each day concentrating on something of interest for your kids.

Yes, a good pub. Not a tourist attraction fake put up in the last 20 years.

When I was young, I went to A Clockwork Orange in London. On the one hand, what a waste ,on the other I will never forget it.

wayne iNWI

I visit the Cotswolds frequently not as a tourist but because that is my heritage. Family all over the place, or at least they were when they were still alive. Yes, certain towns can become busy, I have never had to hunt for a car parking space very hard, and there is a degree of beauty and difference from the usual American developments. Never see a lorry at 85mph - they are electronically limited to 59. Pretty rare to see cars over 80 or so unless they are crims.

If you want to see houses built of stone, with thatch on many, lots of flowers, beautiful gardens, and can look past your fellow tourists many parts of the Cotswolds are beautiful and well worth a visit.

Are there other parts of England also beautiful? You bet. Here there and everywhere. Even where I live in Northamptonshire there are beautiful places.

The Cotswolds however have retained a great deal all their old feel, and the very rural nature of the area enhances that. There is a reason that the lanes are so narrow, when they were built they didn't need to be any bigger!

Make your decision, don't be swayed by others who don't have good memories, nor by me.

Well said, Nigel. I'm looking forward to our visit very much.

Thanks for that Nigel! I am really looking forward to our time there.

Except they have permanently mounted electric signs extending over the roadway giving up dates as to how many hours delay

Surely this means minutes. Hours of delays would only occur if there was a major accident or a weather related incident. Or as I once had a suspected terrorist bomb on a bridge over the M1 leading to motorway closure for many hours. Even that was only about a one hour delay.

Even then 'hours' would be exceptional, you'd be very unlucky to encounter that.