private drivers in Iceland / England (or anywhere in Europe)

[CloudBee]

Years ago someone on here recommended a lovely gentleman to drive us all over the countryside outside Dublin. It made for the perfect experience, as were didn't want to rent a car. We're now looking for the same in Iceland and / or England. Maybe France or Scandinavia. 

Also curious if someone can recommend a small town with a walkable downtown area outside London or Reykjavik. Stockholm, even? Copenhagen? We would prefer direct flights into major cities (from NYC), but aren't looking to immerse ourselves in the city. Rather, we would like to hop in for day trips. In the end, we may very well stay on the outskirts of Reykjavik as it's not a bustling city. But London? DS (10) would like to see the cities, but much prefers slower vacations in the country. Low key, slow pace. Visiting old churches, and long walks in the park or on beaches are his jam.

Any other countries where you could recommend small walkable towns with a LOT to see, yet close enough to cities for day trips to the main historical attractions?

Or drivers you would recommend in European countries not listed above?

Thank you!

[dutchgirl678]

Anywhere in the Netherlands outside of the big cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam. If you want to do a city you could do The Hague and visit the nearby beach in Scheveningen. You can travel by tram to Delft or Scheveningen and by train to other cities nearby. For a more outdoorsy vacation I would suggest checking out Zeeland (south-west corner of the Netherlands), near Vlissingen or Domburg. Or you could go to Haarlem and the beach in Zandvoort.

Edinburgh would be really fun too. There is a lot to see and do and the downtown area is still very walkable. Antwerp might be an option too but you'd fly in to Brussels.

I don't have any recommendations for drivers though. We just went to Iceland this summer but rented a car. But if you can't drive yourself, I would see about asking this question on the Tripadvisor forums for the countries you are intending to visit.

[dcrunnergirl52]

I don't have any specific driver recommendations but I have had really good luck booking drivers in Europe through mydaytrip.com/about. They are really easy to work with and you can customize the drives.

[orval]

I know this isn't the countries you were looking for but we used Mike in Prague. He was fantastic. We booked him to drive us from Prague to Munich. We had him stop at Cesky Krumlov along the way for a couple hours. He would have done whatever we asked. Prague is a great location for daytrips. Using Mike was really one of the best vacation decisions we ever made.

mike-chauffeur.cz/

[CloudBee]

Sept 18, 2023 14:33:49 GMT -5 dutchgirl678 said:

I don't have any recommendations for drivers though. We just went to Iceland this summer but rented a car. But if you can't drive yourself, I would see about asking this question on the Tripadvisor forums for the countries you are intending to visit.

Neither of us can drive stick, and I've heard a lot of stories of people paying a premium to reserve automatics, only to arrive and be given a stick shift.

What did you rent?

[dutchgirl678]

Sept 19, 2023 14:26:42 GMT -5 CloudBee said:

Sept 18, 2023 14:33:49 GMT -5 dutchgirl678 said:

I don't have any recommendations for drivers though. We just went to Iceland this summer but rented a car. But if you can't drive yourself, I would see about asking this question on the Tripadvisor forums for the countries you are intending to visit.

Neither of us can drive stick, and I've heard a lot of stories of people paying a premium to reserve automatics, only to arrive and be given a stick shift.

What did you rent?

We rented a Nissan Qashqai which was an automatic. We rented through Blue car rental which I highly recommend. Their fleet also shows you which cars are manual and which are automatic: www.bluecarrental.is/our-cars/

We got the car that we reserved. A day before arrival they sent an email with a code to open a lock box in their airport location to grab the key. Their office was walking distance to the airport or you could take a shuttle bus. Drop-off was also super easy. We rented a portable wifi unit with them as well so we could use our phone for navigation. Driving around Iceland was super relaxed. We only stayed in Reykjavik for the last two nights of our trip but stayed near Borgarnes to see the Snaefellsnes peninsula and the Golden Circle and near Skogafoss to see the south coast. We were there for almost two weeks though. If you want to see the south coast, which I highly recommend, and want to go all the way to Diamond Beach and Jokulsarlon, I would suggest you find a place to stay on the coast, so you don't have to drive all the way from Reykjavik and back in one day.

[gardengal]

Except maybe for the car aspect, Lyme Regis isDorset is awesome. Beaches, fossil hunting, charming town, & daytrips to castle ruins, Portsmouth ship museum, etc.

And you’re so well traveled so maybe you’ve been but Edinburgh is like a tiny London. It felt much lower key. Or maybe Stirling? And Troassachs NP is nearby.

[majesty318]

Spain has a ton of small cute towns well-connected to big cities.

[mrsukyankee]

Honestly, I'd just take trains for small areas outside of London. You could go to a bunch of places via trains or the National Coach service. I don't know any private drivers. I am very happy to recommend areas/places to see.