Car Rental - easier at Glasgow or Edinburgh airports

You need to remember where both airports are.

Edinburgh International is directly on the A8 west of Edinburgh, Glasgow Int'l on the M8 south west of Glasgow.

It really depends on where you are going. Glasgow does have a much busier network because it is a much bigger city and conurbation.

I thought I'd try to catch one of the Highland games on Aug 26, several of which seem to be north of Stirling. I could then loop around the highlands counterclockwise ( up to Inverness, isle of Skye, Oban, back to Edinburgh- more or less) It doesn't seem very efficient to train over to Glasgow just to get a car.

I do want to try to avoid city driving or in highly congested areas.

We picked up our car in Edinburgh and headed to the Highlands to Blair Atholl and it was as easy as driving on the left can be!! Also, the gears were backwards to the way they were in the car we rented in Ireland. You sit on the right side of car, shift with your left hand and the gears are first, down to second, to the left (away from you) and up for third and down for fourth! I also remember a roundabout, returning to the airport, that almost got us clipped but we managed to avoid making contact with another vehicle.

If you rent in Glasgow, be sure to ask the rental agent exactly which signs to follow at the roundabouts leaving the airport. It is NOT self-explanatory, except if you want to head into Glasgow itself. (The airport is a few miles north of the city.)

I'd like them to try and build the airport north of the city ;-) The Highlands start there and two of the poshest suburbs of Glasgow are to the north!

If you can pronounce Milngavie properly, you get a brownie point!

You are over thinking this. Pick up the car at the airport where you are arriving. The only reason to NOT do this is if you are planning on staying in Edinburgh or Glasgow to tour either of these cities. Then, you'll want to wait and rent a car when you are ready to head out into the countryside.

Pam

Ditto to what Pamela says.

If you are tired off a transatlantic flight and you are a nervous driver, you maybe jet lagged, so you shouldn't be hiring a car the day that you arrive and driving much distance in it.

Hire from Edinburgh, as it is well connected to the major road network and presumably this is where you would be returning it? Otherwise you will incur a one way drop fee.

@Jennifer - We are staying in Edinburgh a couple of nights when we arrive. We have tickets to the Tattoo. At the end of our trip we plan to spend a couple more nights in Edinburgh to do some additional sightseeing after the Fringe is over (and hopefully fewer crowds). The one- way drop fee did cross my mind as well.

I've rented a car and driven from both airports. In Edinburgh, it is out of town a bit so you don't have to drive in town if you don't want to. I did miss the exit on one of the roundabouts so ended up going slightly out of our way. So someone mentioned being sure you find out which exits on each roundabout you want to be taking before getting in the car! That was a while back - now I go over any routes on Google maps ahead of time that may be intimidating so everything looks familiar when I get there. It was easy to remember to stay to the left and I loved driving in Scotland.

I've rented cars in Inverness and dropped them off in Edinburgh and vice versa. The fee was not that bad. They have people going back and forth all the time. What you would NOT want to do is rent a car on the mainland and drop it off on an island! Also, I too have rented cars in Edinburg and in Glasgow. Both airports are outside the city. If you are driving from Glasgow to Edinburgh, you will drive past Glasgow as the airport is on the west side. Edinburgh's airport is on the west side of Edinburgh. If you are spending time in either city, wait to rent your car until you are ready to leave the city. Both cities have easy transportation to the airport where you can pick up your car as you head of town. It's easy to get between the two cities by train.

Pam