Rental Car in London, travel to Windson, Bath & Stonehenge

First two questions, Jack: Have you driven in the UK previously? Have you driven in London previously? What time of day will you start? Rush hour, or later? OK, 3 questions. They are important to the advice. = - = Now, while I'm at it: What possessed you to put Windsor, Bath and Stonehenge in a day trip? Seeing that there is a bus company that does it? They don't have to worry about parking in Windsor. You would. They don't take half a day going around the castle and watching the Changing of the Guard there. You would. They don't give you the full day or so that you need to properly see Bath. You would. Can you tell that I'm not keen on the idea? However, its your holiday and I will support you and your 3 riders to the best of my ability. If you can give us an idea about the questions above I, and probably others, will try to help.

Hi Nigel, I only have 4 days in London. So, I am trying to squeeze lot's into this day. I've never driven in London or the UK, but I've driven in New York, Los Angeles and Boston. I will leave London that morning around 8:30 AM. The itinerary was based on a couple of bus tours that I saw. With 4 people it is less expensive to rent one car and pay admission at the 3 sites compared to the cost of 4 bus tours. However, I don't know how convenient it is to park a car at each location, what the cost will be and how easy it is to drive to these sites. I'm trying to decide if it makes more sense to take the bus tour or rent a car and do it on our own. Having our own car gives us a little more freedom to plan the day on our schedule and make changes if we see something interesting along the way. Since we won't get back to our hotel in London until after the rental car agency has closed, I'll also have to find a place to park the car overnight. I appreciate you taking the time to give me your perspective. Thank you!

Others will speak up about their recent experiences in parking in Windsor but I will just say that when, a couple of years ago, I tried to park my personal car in Windsor so my brother and his daughter could have a look around I found it impossible. I probably could have managed if I had looked for an out of town car park. If you have to do that you may find it slows you down. If you try to drive around Victoria at 8:30 it will be rush hour. Remember that pedestrians always have the right of way at zebra crossings. There are many traffic lights between Victoria and the dual carriageway of the A4. Only buses, taxis, bicycles and motorcycles can use bus lanes. They have cameras. The Hammersmith Flyover is in the process of falling down so there is a narrow barrier around the one lane in each direction which is now open. They have to only allow cars because of the weight so the barrier is just wide enough and high enough to allow cars through. I grew up driving in New York City, in Brooklyn down by the East River. Driving in London is tougher. Will you have an automatic? Parking in Bath may be an adventure. Happy planning...

Jack, In the same situation, you might consider travelling to Bath via National Express Coach and then taking the Mad Max afternoon tour of Stonehenge, which departs at 13:15. That tour also stops at Lacock, a National Trust Historic sight. The Buses depart from London Victoria Coach station, which is not far from the Victoria Rail station (just around the corner from Ebury Street). The earliest Bus appears to depart at 08:00, arriving Bath Spa at 11:20. You could also travel by train. From London Paddington, there are regular departures and I believe the travel time is about 1H:25M. If you departed at 07:30, that should allow some time to look around Bath prior to the Mad Max tour. Take the evening train back to London. Trying to fit three locations into the same day is going to be "challenging", so you might consider skipping Windsor and seeing that on another day. I have driven in the U.K. on a number of occasions and can tell you that in my experience, driving ALWAYS takes longer than expected! Keep in mind that you'll be driving on the "correct" side of the road, and will have to deal with things like roundabouts and shifting a manual transmission with your left hand (and of course getting "lost" occasionally). Doing that trip by car would NOT be my first choice! Happy travels!

I'm betting that you're looking at five to seven hours of road time, probably closer to the latter and maybe even more depending on the mess in the first and last five miles. I'll go with Nigel on no parking at Windsor. Two years ago, in October mind you, I had to park all the way out at the leisure center and hoof back so a buddy could see the place. I don't like Bath, but you need a couple or three hours just to decide if you do or don't. You could dash around Stonehenge in just about an hour. Windsor takes three or four. That's a darn long day. Plus, trying to find Victoria in the dark won't be a sack of grins. The good news: I'm pretty sure Victoria Station straddles the congestion zone boundary, so you should be able to escape to the west. At least that puts you up fifteen bucks or so. One more thought: I still drive in Tokyo and Cairo. I quit driving into the center of London ten or fifteen years ago.

Thanks to everyone for your insight. I'll rethink my plans based on you suggestions. Since the bus tour must also travel the same roads, I'm wondering how much time that 3 stop tour will allow us at each location. I may need to ask them that question.

Jack, that's a good idea. Don't forget to allow for the advantages the coach has over somebody who hasn't driven it before - they know the route they know the shortcuts if the traffic stops, even the counter-intuitive ones they can use bus lanes they can drive right up to the sight they are going to, drop off and park in special places they have the patter down, usually one driving and one guiding the tourists
they do it every day.