Most popular locations to hire a car in Scotland
Guide to renting a car in Scotland
1. Drive on the Left
Scotland and the entire UK drive on the left hand side of the road. A ‘keep left’ campaign was launched in 2019 to educate foreign drivers to keep left and avoid accidents.
2. What are the best car rental brands?
Choose between class-leading rental agents such as Alamo (8.5/10), Budget (7.9/10), Enterprise (8.9/10) and Sixt (7.8/10) as rated by over 1,000 real customers.
3. Best time of year to rent a car?
Scotland doesn’t suffer from high seasonal car hire prices like many tourist destinations, prices remain stable throughout the year. It is best to book car hire early for the best deals with lowest prices in October and November
4. Where can you hire a car in Scotland?
There are over 35 locations to hire a car in Scotland including all international airport and rail station locations. You can also collect rental cars across city centre locations in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
5. Alcohol limits to drive
The legal limit for drinking and driving in Scotland is 0.05% BAC, lower than the 0.08% in England and the rest of the UK.
Renting a car in Scotland
Whether you are travelling to Edinburgh or Glasgow on business or taking a holiday in the Highlands, hiring a car in Scotland is the easiest and most comfortable way of getting around this beautiful country. There are many car hire locations dotted all over Scotland where you can collect a rental car as well as all the main airports such as Glasgow Airport, Aberdeen Airport and Edinburgh Airport.
Scotland Mini Guide
Scotland covers an area which makes up over one third of Great Britain; it is part of the UK with borders to England in the south, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west and the North Sea to the east. The capital city of Scotland is Edinburgh, which is one of the largest financial centres to be found in Europe. Although Scotland is part of the United Kingdom, it has its own government; the Kingdom of Scotland was formed in 1707, making Scotland an Independent state.
There are five international airports in Scotland these being Inverness Airport, Glasgow Prestwick Airport, Aberdeen Airport, Edinburgh Airport and Glasgow International Airport. Scotland is also gifted with a great road system, featuring motorways and major trunk roads into almost every area of the country, along with an expansive rail system.
The largest city to be found in Scotland is Glasgow; it is also the third most highly populated city in the UK. Shortly after the Industrial Revolution, Glasgow became a world centre for shipbuilding and heavy engineering and during Victorian times Glasgow was recognised as being the second most important industrial city in the entire British Empire.
Glasgow makes a great choice of location from which to explore the rest of Scotland, especially if you choose to rent your own vehicle as the weather in Scotland can be extreme even in summer months. There are a host of interesting sites and points of interest to be found within a days drive of Glasgow, making it a great place from which to take day trips or excursions.
Possibly the most well-known place close to Glasgow is Loch Lomond. This is the largest natural lake to be found anywhere in the British Isles, being 24 miles long and half a mile across at its widest point. In recent years Loch Lomond has been incorporated into the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, and in a recent survey of the UK it was named the 6th greatest natural feature of Great Britain.
Loch Lomond has a whole host of activities available to the visitor; the famous Loch Lomond Golf Club hosts many national and international events each year including the Scottish Open. Due to its incredible scenery and outstanding natural beauty,
Loch Lomond has become a favourite boating area; the lake is available for use for all kinds of boating from kayaking through to inland cruising. In recent years the National Park Authority has attempted to reach some form of equilibrium with regards to balanced use of Loch Lomond between land-based tourism and water users, the result of this has been that in many areas of Loch Lomond a speed limit has been imposed of no more than 10 km per hour, in other areas of the Lake this speed limit raises to 90 km per hour.
One of the major sporting events in the Scottish calendar is the Scottish Rally; this popular event has taken place within Dumfries in south-west Scotland for the last 12 years. The rally forms one of the rounds of the Scottish Rally Championships with its headquarters at Dumfries Ice Bowl. Several other major international and national rallies take place in Scotland each year including the Five of Clubs Championship, the Brick and Steel Ecosse 205 Championship and the Scottish Borders Rally Championship.
Scotland Factfile
- Scotland is part of the United Kingdom and approximately 5.2 million people live there
- The climate is changeable and the lowest ever temperature recorded was -27.2 °C
- The national flower in Scotland is the thistle
- A tradional Scottish dish is haggis which is meat (usually offal such as liver and heart) minced with onion, suet, oatmeal and spices then traditionally cooked in the animal's stomach
- The national day is St Andrew's Day which is celebrated on 30th November