Renting a car at EDI and dropping in Stirling or Inverness

Posted by glasmirek on 01/20/23 03:15 AM

Hello friends,
We are taking the 8-day RS Scotland tour that originates in Inverness in September. We will be flying into Edinburgh and renting a car at the airport, since we are arriving a week before the tour in order to golf and explore some day trips around St. Andrews. When we head up to Inverness, we thought we would go first to Stirling to see the castle and spend a night there. We had hoped to drop our rental car there and take the train to Inverness, as we like to ride the train. I have not been successful in identifying a drop off spot in Stirling, so we may need to drive on to Inverness and drop our car there.

My questions:
1) am I missing a drop-off in Stirling? or somewhere else on the way to Inverness?
2) if we drive from Stirling to Inverness, what would be the best route? Since our tour will be coming south from Inverness-Speyside-Pitlochry, we had hoped for a different route north. Any ideas?

Thanks so much!

Posted by auchterless

Delaware

01/20/23 04:16 AM

1476 posts

Hi, glasmirek,

There are only three major car hire companies with offices in Stirling: Arnold Clark, Enterprise, and Europcar. If you are renting from any of the other majors, your options are to drive on to Inverness and return the car there, or head back to Edinburgh, return the car there, and take the train to Inverness.

However, you didn't say how many days you have between Stirling and Inverness. That would determine your route, as there are dozens of routes to take which avoid Speyside and Pitlochry. The A9 would be the fastest route, but you would be seeing places that you're going to see on your RS tour.

You could head for Inverness by way of Glencoe, Ballachulish, and Fort William, if you have only one day to make the journey. Or you could head up to Aberdeen and take the coast road along the Moray Firth. These are just two possibilities, but a lot of what you can see will be determined by the number of days which you have to complete your journey.

Best wishes for your travels!

Mike (Auchterless)

Posted by wasleys

Lincolnshire, UK

01/20/23 08:44 PM

2320 posts

Another option from Stirling is up the middle... Drive to Perth and then take the A93 through Blairgowrie and Braemar to Ballater. Then take the A939 through Tomintoul to Grantown on Spey From Here take A940 to Forres and then A96 along the coast to Inverness.

This takes you up through the Cairngorms and some super scenery.

Posted by glasmirek OP

01/21/23 12:31 AM

10 posts

Thanks to you both for some food for thought. We are leaving St. Andrews on a Friday morning, driving to Stirling to visit the castle, perhaps afternoon tea, overnight. We have only Saturday to get to Inverness, where we are staying Sat night in preparation for the Sunday start of RS tour. Since the tour doesn't meet up until 4 pm, we have Sunday to explore non-RS activities in Inverness. I rather like the idea of keeping the car until we get to Inverness and spending Saturday enjoying more of the lovely scenery on the drive up.

Seems like there are (at least) two good options: 1) northwest to Glencoe and up along Loch Ness to Inverness. Having watched the Scotland travelfest show on Wed, I am intrigued by Cameron's description of the Glencoe Valley; it sounds magical. This drive looks to be about 3.5-4 hours? 2) heading northeast via Perth, Balmoral all the way to Forres on the North Sea. It does seem a longer drive though (4-5 hours without stops.) Perhaps we will play it be ear and see what the weather and opportunity brings.

If anyone has any additional ideas, thoughts or corrections on my thinking, please chime in. I love hearing from those who have been in these places and driven these routes. Thank you!