Glasgow car hire/ public transport

michelefauk

I wonder if anyone could give me some advice.
Myself and my partner are travelling to a wedding at The Lodge Loch Lomond where we are also staying over night. We fly in to Glasgow airport on 15th July at about 10 am and need to get to the wedding venue by lunchtime. We are returning the following day, our flight is 1 pm. I have looked at car hire, the cheapest being about 78 pounds, it still seems a lot of money when the car is just going to be sitting outside our hotel for 24 hours! Does anyone have any local knowledge of public transport and whether it is do-able at all?
Thanks so much

Hintza

Well public transport is not really a starter (normally have to go to Glasgow) the only caveat you might find a bus running to Paisley from Dumbarton/Balloch. But for me as a local it would be too much hassle.

So that leaves you the hire car or the taxi option. Airport taxis would be expensive so here are the ones from Alexandria which is the nearest town (to the venue):-

http://www.britinfo.net/taxis/TABLP28050.htm

Hiring a car from Paisley and not the airport might work out cheaper:-

http://www.thomsonlocal.com/Europcar-UK-Ltd/0303270802101400000/review/companyinfo.html


You can search yourself too use the key words (Paisley, Linwood and Phoenix (Ind Estate))

Hope that helps

PS Since the bombing pick up and drop offs at Glasgow Airport have become a bit trickier so take advice from the taxi firm on where they will meet you.

Getting into Paisley to collect a car might be a pain (extra expense).

All options will be a compromise between time, hassle and expense.

colino

Loch Lomond is surprisingly close to Glasgow Airport, and if you are only up for the wedding and not doing any touring, I'd get a quote from the Taxi co's (especially as it is a Scottish wedding) and let them do the driving.

missile

Arriving at 10, you have not left much time to get to the venue for "lunch time". It can take a while to get your bags, register for hire car, then you need to find the venue without getting lost. Taxi would seem to be your only hope.

PS: I hope all goes well and you enjoy the wedding.

flyingscotno1

Try a local Paisley taxi rather than any at the airport. When I arrive at the airport I use Paisley Cabs 01418870505 as they are cheaper than airport cars and being local can be there in quickly- used to pick up at the short stay multi-storey. If going far get them to name price upfront. Saying this friends from London thought the airport ones were cheap!:rotfl:

Edit- There are direct buses past Loch Lomond to the Airport by Citylink but not regularly as Loch Lomond is sparsely populated. Whilst the Citylink stuff is great if you are going touring up West 'highlands meeting folk etc, I wouldn't think it appropriate in this case, equally getting buses and trains from Paisley and Glasgow is a great way to see the place you'd spend hours doing that instead of 35mins in a taxi.

lucylucky

A taxi from the airport to the hotel would be in the region of £40 to £50.

You can hire a Ford Ka or similar for £42 through holiday autos.

(Other hire companies are available - don't forget quidco)

It is approximately a 45 minute drive to the hotel from the airport.

So if flight was on time you could be in the car by 1100ish and at the hotel for 1200.

colino

The Lodge on Loch Lomond is about 25 miles from the Airport and as you are straight on the Motorway, down to the Erskine Bridge then on the main A82, you'd have to be stuck behind a lot ot lazy caravanners to take more than 20-30 minutes door-to-door.

jamesbrownontheroad

Arriving at 10h00? You might just make the 10h20 Citylink 915 service from Glasgow Airport to Fort William & Uig (departs Glasgow Buchanan at 10h00) which runs along the A82 past the hotel you're going to:

Timetable : http://www.citylink.co.uk/timetables/Summer10/Glas2Skye(v2).pdf

There is no return service that would make your flight though. So you could take the bus up there and save your £££ for cab back. That would be the best option anyway, because it would be cheaper to take a local cab from anywhere else to Glasgow Airport rather than the painfully expensive airport taxis from the airport (I never use these... I usually call Hampden who have a couple of cars waiting off airport most of the time, and they pick me up in the drop-off / pick-up zone).

michelefauk

Thank you all for your suggestions, am going to do some more research and try and make a decision!

michelefauk

Hi
I just wanted to thank FlyingScotNo1 for recommending Paisley Cabs, we have just come back from our trip to Loch Lomond and they were fantastic, we had the same driver there and back, who was fab, friendly, chatty and very proud to point out lots of places of interest en route, he was waiting when we got to the airport and was bang on time collecting us from the hotel, and the best bit..it was £30 each way, so much cheaper than hiring a car and a lot less hassle, so a big thank you, and I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone else.