Rent a car in Greenock?

Four of us are trying to decide what to do from Greenock when we are there on June 16 on the Golden Princess. One of our options is to rent a car and do our sightseeing on our own. Has anyone out there done this? If so, what are the upsides and downsides?

Greenock must be a distance from Glasgow since the bus transfer from the ship is so expensive.

Any information that anyone can share would be appreciated. We'll be in Edinburgh later in the cruise, so we don't need to drive there.

Hi there,

Greenock is about 20miles from Glasgow. The best advice I could give as a sasenach is take a ships tour.

You could try car hire from:

http://www.destination-scotland.com/carhire/town.asp?area=Greenock

I'd head towards Loch Lomond myself, its wonderful and you dont have to go near the city, unless you really want to - do you?

Scotland is beautiful, the people are great and I spend many days each year there working and having fun. But head North towards the Trossachs for some great scenery, try Stirling Castle.

Roysmith99,

Thanks for the advice. We'd been reading up on the area and had pretty much decided not to go to Glasgow. Your suggestions of Loch Lomand and Stirling sound great.

We found this rental car agency who is willing to pick us up at the ship. http://www.arnoldclarkrental.com/Locations_West.htm

They also have a good price for the day.

Any further suggestions?

Marge

As I live in Scotland I haven't rented a car here but Arnold Clark are a large Scottish car sales company who also do car rental. If the price is good I would certainly go ahead.

Have you checked if they can supply an automatic car as the standard in the UK is manual (gear shift)?

Marge,

If you do head for Loch Lommond, The Trossachs and Stirling ...here's a link to the local Tourist Board to give you some more information....

http://www.visitscottishheartlands.com/

Alan

Alan,

That website is exactly what we needed! Thanks so much for the link. We'll be off to Stirling and Loch Lomand. It looks gorgeous. Any suggestions that you might have as to a possible itinerary would be greatly appreciated. We'll be getting off the ship in Greenock around 8 a.m. and have to be back on board by 6 or 6:30. How much do you think we can see in that time?

Marge

Marge,

Itinerary suggestion:

Greenock A8/M8 ---- Erskine Bridge(Toll)----A82 Balloch----A811 Drymen

---A81 Aberfoyle ----A821 Trossachs-----Callander----A84 Stirling---M80/A80 Glasgow----M8/A8 Greenock

I've highlighted this in RED on a map of Central Scotland follow this link:

http://cruisemates.com/mbindex/PGindex.cfm

and search for gallery " Stuff " and you'll find the map.

At Balloch head for Lommond Shores and go up the Drumkinnon Tower for great views of the Loch and beyond. Check out this link:

http://www.lochlomondshores.com/ll_shores/ll_shores.asp

The road from Aberfoyle to Callander will take you through the Trossachs beautiful scenery....might be worth a stop at Loch Katerine approximately 1/2 way point. Check out this link:

http://www.scottishwater.co.uk/portal/page?_pageid=225,483659&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

From Callander head for Stirling and the Castle etc....

http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/index/properties_sites_detail?propertyID=PL_275

Then head back to Greenock via Glasgow by the motorway or alternatively you could retrace some of your steps and return via the countryside.

I hope this gives you some ideas! Feel free to e-mail me if you need any specific information.

Alan

Alan,

That's great information! Thanks for taking the time to write it all up for me. You saved me a ton of time and I probably wouldn't have picked the right things to see.

I really appreciate it, as will Jim who's driving the rental car!

Marge

Thanks Alan for the information, I just booked the same cruise that cupcake is on today and time is short for research for me.

Have a nice night!!

Logie,

I don't know if you've seen this post by Jim, but he's got some good information about the car rental in Greenock. Together with the wonderful stuff from Alan, we've got great plans for the day.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=3545477#post3545477

Hope to meet you in a couple of weeks.

Marge

As I live in Scotland I haven't rented a car here but Arnold Clark are a large Scottish car sales company who also do car rental. If the price is good I would certainly go ahead.

 

Have you checked if they can supply an automatic car as the standard in the UK is manual (gear shift)?

Would you please be able to help me with this? I also will be in Grennock this fall and I desperately want to take a rental car to see McClellan castle - my roots - which is located in KIRKCUDBRIGHT. Google has it at 2.5 hours drive. We arrive in port at 8 am, depart at 6 pm. Would you be nervous about getting a car, driving that far from the ship, seeing the castle ruins, and getting back well before 6:00 pm departure? I really can't afford to see Scotland any other way except this cruise, so it may be my only chance. Any ideas or comments appreciated. THANKS - tommytrb73@hotmail.com

It's possible but could be tight. If you can pick your car up as soon after 8am as possible and don't hit any road works or problems on the motorway you would be ok. I would leave plenty of extra time for your return journey as it gets very busy before 9.30am and after 4.30pm in Glasgow

If you got your car at 8.30am and gave yourself 3 hrs to get there that would be 11.30am and you would need to set off back no later than about 2pm.

Are you accustomed to driving in the UK? Glasgow is very busy and can be a challenge for a first timer :)

Have you considered hiring a car with driver?

If you're on B roads in Scotland (or lower) you make much slower time than you might expect to. Make sure to allow enough time to get back.

Would you please be able to help me with this? I also will be in Grennock this fall and I desperately want to take a rental car to see McClellan castle - my roots - which is located in KIRKCUDBRIGHT.

Two things -

Not a good idea to post your email on a public forum - it will attract spam.

You may well know this but the locals pronounce KIRKCUDBRIGHT - Kerrcoobrie.

Bob,

Thanks for both comments! I appreciate it.

The posted e-mail is the one I created for public use, located on a cloaked server in another country, thanks for being concerned! I do get a lot of spam on it, and enjoy most of it. As you can imagine, it's pretty creative sometimes.

Yes, both my Scots Grams had us pretty well aquainted with pronounciations, although I really can't get my tongue around some of it!

I am excited beyond words, anyway, about finally getting to visit Scotland. A dream come true.

Thank you.