Planning a trip to Scotland in September 2025. We'd love to visit Glencoe, but do not want to drive ourselves (we'd likely be coming from Islay). We plan to bus/ferry to Glencoe, but need to know if it's possible to rent or hire cars while IN Glencoe?
I'm only finding info on renting/picking up in places like Edinburgh and Glasgow, then driving TO Glencoe. But that's not what we need.
Glencoe is tiny village. You will certainly not find car rental there. If you are getting the bus to Glencoe then I'm not entirely sure why you'd want a car once there. It's a hiking area, with one road through it - the A82. Your best bet might be to look at a small bus tour from someone like Rabbies starting in Glasgow or Edinburgh if you don't want to drive there yourself.
Stay on the bus to Fort William (about another 16 miles) and hire a car from there and go back to Glencoe. You will probably have to drop the car back off in Fort Willaim though, as this is a small family owned local firm. .
The nearest car hire companies are in Fort William, if you do think that you'll need a car.
They are Fort William Car Hire
https://www.fortwilliamcarhire.co.uk/
and Easydrive Car Hire
https://www.easydrivescotland.co.uk/
Both are small companies, so they may have a limited number of vehicles with automatic transmission, if that's your preference.
You may be able to hire a private guide for the time that you're in Glencoe. There are a few of them out there. Most of them are likely hiking or mountaineering guides, but if you just want someone to drive you about Glencoe and Glen Etive, and explain the history and geography of the area, that shouldn't be a problem.
Good luck!
Mike (Auchterless)
Thank you all, this was helpful.
Manual transmission is not a problem, but a manual transmission with the gear-shift on the left might be (:
We'll consider all of this when finalizing our plans.
