First trip to UK with husband and two older teen boys. Planning to rent car in Edinburgh and drive to Portree, Inverness, Loch Ness, and Oban. Would like to return car and ferry across to Belfast. Problem finding rental car return close to Cairnryan/Stranraer where we'll board ferry. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Closest I can find is going to Glasgow and bussing to ferry or back to Edinburgh. Thank you in advance for your help!
Posted by
Delaware
1376 posts
Hi, thesixws,
There are no car hire returns near Stranraer/Cairnryan any more. I believe that the closest drop off would be in Dumfries, but that would depend on your original rental company. From what I can determine, Enterprise is the only rental company operating out of Dumfries. You'd still need to get to the ferry terminal, however.
Hannon Coaches currently operate from the Buchanan Street Bus Terminal in Glasgow to the Europa Bus Terminal in Belfast. Currently the one way fare is 39 pounds. That includes the ferry, so it's a really good deal. It's definitely cheaper than flying, and it's from city centre to city centre. Baggage allowance is more generous than flying, as well. The trip time is about six hours, and depending on the day of the week, there are either one or two scheduled departures.
If you're returning your rental car in Edinburgh, you'd need to take the train or bus to Glasgow, but that is not expensive. If your rental company charges a one way drop off fee, you could balance that against the cost of four one way fares from Edinburgh to Glasgow plus getting from the Edinburgh drop off point to the bus terminal or train station..
Best wishes,
Mike (Auchterless)
Posted by
Royaume-Uni nul points, pas plus
2512 posts
return the car to Edinburgh and fly to Belfast. Maybe not what you want but it's the best solution
Posted by
Lake District, England
5868 posts
You wouldn't want to drop the car at Dumfries. It's 2 1/2 hours by bus 500 from there to Stranraer, then a quick change at Port Rodie onto the 58/60 to the Stena Terminal, 10 minutes up the road. It won't be much faster by train/ferry link coach through Kilmarnock/Ayr. It'll be getting on for a £100 taxi ride.
I'm only 70 miles from Dumfries and am bemused by lack of car hire in D and G. I could have sworn there was one on the Whitesands in Dumfries for starters but can't trace it through googling.
I am round there for Guid Nychburris in June and will make some in person enquiries at that time.
This keeps cropping up, so an unmet demand clearly exists. The other option I don't think we have thought of is Prestwick Airport- there must be rental desks there.
But for now, if the OP prefers to ferry, rather than fly then Glasgow is clearly the best option.