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Car rental return in Edinburgh

A silly question for you Scotland experts: We are returning our rental car in Edinburgh and are not sure whether it would be easier to return it to the airport or the rental office downtown at Picardy Place. We will then need to take a bus to the Portobello area where we are staying. Any thoughts? Thanks, Jenny

Posted by
518 posts

Not wanting to drive in Edinburgh, we turned in our car at the airport. It was very easy. We took a taxi to our hotel. I don't remember it being particularly expensive.

Posted by
9110 posts

If you circle around the ring road to about where the Leith Docks are, the D900 / Constitution Street sort of parallels the south / east side of the Leith and dumps you right where you want to be.

If you use the airport, go in the rental complex and get a free luggage wagon and wheel it out to your car. It's a long hump to the bus shelters / taxi rank.

If the D900 intersection is at one o'clock on the ring road, Portobello's at three. I'd drop my junk first and then slide on around to the car place.

Posted by
116 posts

Thank you both for the info. I really like the idea of driving to the b and b and dropping the bags off first then ditching the car in town. It looks like a fairly short trip into Edinburgh from there. That way we could just spend the rest of the day in town. A taxi from the airport certainly sounds easy, though a bit of a splurge. It will probably depend on how much beer money I have left at that point. Jenny

Posted by
203 posts

Depends on what you mean by "easier". We did the same and returned ours at the airport after a night in Edinburgh. After driving small country roads for several days our nerves were FRAYED after trying to navigate the busy Edinburgh streets and locate our hotel. I kind of wished we had returned it and taken a taxi into the city, but would that have been "easier"? Maybe a hassle, but less nerve wrecking. :-)