We arrive in London from US and have changed our itinerary, We now want to take train out of London and do our car rental somewhere like Newcastle as we will drive then onto Kircudbright, for family visit. Is Newcastle the best place to disembark train and get car rental or is somewhere else easier. We do not want to be driving in extremely busy areas , especially at first. We then will do driving the rest of our trip , eventually ending in Edinburgh and any suggestion where to leave a car as we are staying in center city. I see Arnold Clark drop offs seem real close to city and wondering if there are other options ! Thank you if any suggestions !
Posted by
Lake District, England
5748 posts
Why go up the East Coast and then drive 60 miles across the A69?
Train up the West Coast to Carlisle. Car Rental from Arnold Clark at Carlisle- they are out on the Kingstown Trading Estate (a short and frequent city bus ride from the station), from there you are straight out onto the A7 or the M6, then the A75 to Kirkcudbright, which by passes Gretna, Annan and Dumfries, so super easy.
Drop the car at Edinburgh Airport and take the tram or airlink bus into the city.
You could change train at Carlisle, go to Dumfries then rent from Hertz at the station. It's not far out of the town from there. But honestly I think you'd find Carlisle easier.
Posted by
Lincolnshire, UK
1835 posts
I'd also echo Carlisle too rather than Newcastle. to pick up a hire car. Its a smaller city and less far to drive. Have you thought about catching the Leeds Settle and Carlisle line from Leeds rather the West Coast line? Thus takes you across the roof of the Pennines and is one of the best rail jounreys in the country! It will take longer but is definitely worth it if train times work out.
Posted by
17 posts
We are just back from Scotland. We picked up our car from the Arnold Clark Sighthill location (https://www.arnoldclarkrental.com/car-hire/scotland/edinburgh-sighthill), which was a very convenient tram ride from Princes Street in Edinburgh. They were very helpful at this location. Our booking for the car was made through Celtic Legend, which provided some added benefits. Check out their website if interested: https://www.celticlegend.co.uk
All the best with your travels!