Traveling to the Cotswolds from London or Heathrow

Heathrow is at the edge of the London metropolitan area. If you pick up your car at the airport and head away from London, you will leave the really congested area fairly quickly. We have done this twice - one time we drove to Salisbury, the other time we went to Winchester.

If you don’t want to rent a car at Heathrow, Slough would be the closest place to pick up a car, it’s 8 miles. You take a cab there.

I picked up a rental at Heathrow and drove to the Cotswolds. On the rode ways (M40 and A40) didn’t experience “busy” traffic but I live in LA. Took all of 2 hours to get to my Cotswolds destination, Winchcombe.
You could always train to Oxford from London and secure a rental there.

Hiring a car on your first day with jet lag is not a good idea. It’s dangerous for you and the other road users. Pick it up on your second day. Where are you staying?

Heathrow is actually the best option as it offers the widest choice of vehicles (an important factor if you want an automatic) and leaving the airport you'll immediately enter a motorway (after a roundabout or two) which makes getting accustomed to driving on the left and an unfamiliar car easier. Traffic may be fast but if you keep to the inside lane you can take a more leisurely pace without having to worry about narrow roads, roundabouts, intersections, pedestrians, cyclists, children, sheep etc.

I've made my thoughts known about driving straight after a long haul flight especially if you're driving on a different side than your used to, driving whilst tired and/or jetlagged is comparable to driving whilst under the influence of alcohol and is one thing I would strongly advise against however I acknowledge that this advice often falls on deaf ears.

I would be inclined to take a National Express coach (bus) from the airport to somewhere like Cirencester which is in the Cotswolds but is a larger town (second largest town in Britain during the Roman era). I would elect to stay a night there, explore the town and pick up a car the following morning once refreshed from a nights sleep. There is an Enteprise in Cirencester and if you arrange with them prior to arrival they will often deliver the car to you rather than you trying to work out how to get to them. There are several coaches a day serving Cirencester from Heathrow with an average price of £25. The coaches are a bit better than the average Greyhound bus I've experienced. https://www.nationalexpress.com/en/help/our-coaches

We picked up our rental car at Heathrow and drove to Bath our first day. We didn't hit heavy traffic until we were 20 miles from Bath, but it was due to highway closures (construction).

Personally, I am so pumped up about our trip that driving on the left side of the highway right after a transatlantic flight is no problem. However, each person has to determine their own weaknesses and strengths.

Just get a car with a good nav system or GPS, since finding you hotel without it can be a royal pain.

I agree with others it is not a good idea to be driving right after arrival. I would consider staying in Windsor for the night and relaxing by the Thames and watching the swans. Next day you could go back to Heathrow and pick up your car, or there are probably car rentals in Windsor.

We’ve done that drive a few times after flights from Los Angeles without a problem. I can sleep on planes, though, so that makes a difference. Also, we travel in summer so we never drive in the dark. This year, we’re just going to Eton for our first two nights so we’ll be over our jet lag by the time we head for Wales. Definitely get an automatic with sat navigation. There are enough other distractions.

Also picked up the car at the airport and drove to Cheltenham; a 2.5 hours drive at most. From the airport, you quickly pick up the M4 and head west. At Chippingham, exit 17, turn north onto the A429, to the Cotswolds. The M4 is an interstate. The M40 is another route depending upon where you’re headed.

Thank you, everyone/ I think I am currently inclined to follow the advice of getting to a Cotswold village by bus, and then renting our vehicle from there. Sounds like a wise idea.

The bus ride will be three hours or a little longer. If you think taking the train (1 1/2 hr long) sounds good, look on nationalrail.co.uk for tickets, you could take a cab to Slough (15 minutes ride) train station, take the train to Moreton-in-Marsh. Just another idea for you to consider.