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Windsor Castle, Cotswold Rental Car Question

Hi all,

I am working on my trip with my young adult daughters for early-March. We would like to take a train from London to the Cotswolds and rent a car for a few days. None of us feels super comfortable driving in the UK (including my 26-year old who lives there now - haha!) Can someone tell me about the drive from Oxford and Cheltenham to Stow-on-the-Wold?

There is an Enterprise Car Rental in Oxford and Cheltenham. One thought was to take the 2-hour GWR train to Cheltenham, grab a car then make our way about 30 minutes to our hotel in Stow-on-the-Wold. It seems like it is mostly quiet backroads so easy to navigate. The train tickets are 78 euro/pp for a return.

The other idea is to take a GWR train to Oxford and rent a car from Enterprise there. It looks like almost an hour drive from there to Stow-on-the-Wold on bigger, busier highways. It is a much cheaper train ticket at 24 euro/pp for a return ticket and the train trip is less than an hour.

Last, is it possible for us to start or end this Cotswolds journey with a tour of Windsor Castle? Or is that adding too much on a "travel" day? We can save Windsor Castle for another visit to London.

Thanks for any thoughts!

Posted by
36256 posts

is this a rejig of the summer trip to the Cotswolds for Sunday Roast, or another second trip?

Will you be in London the night before? What part of town?

I have a couple of thoughts, depending...

Posted by
5626 posts

Another option to Oxford would be Didcot. A bit further away on the driving but Enterprise is located much more conveniently: it is further along on Station Road and pretty much in eyesight from the station. Three main options on driving routes with different balances between main and country roads.

Posted by
1041 posts

Hi Nigel, Yes, we are going to be in London for several days before and after staying at my daughter's.