The Granite city sits in a geographically remote corner of the UK, but once you get there, can you get around easily using public transport, or is a car essential?

Why rent a car in Aberdeen?

• Remoteness — although you will have no problem getting around the city itself, public transport routes starts to thin out massively once beyond the central city area.
• Limited train routes — Aberdeen is right at the end of the East Coast route from London via Edinburgh, and the only other train service is a limited frequency (one train every two hours) route to Inverness. Whereas even Inverness by comparison is a rail hub, with routes fanning out on each of the major compass points, Aberdeen really isn’t a great base for exploration by train.
• Limited attractions — there are relatively few points of interest in Aberdeen itself, whereas the surrounding countryside offers plenty of places to visit, including the famous Balmoral Castle. Without a car, these places are difficult to get to.
• Not so scenic: Even if you are intending on heading towards Inverness by train, this route is much less scenic than any of the other rail links in and out of Inverness.

Why not?

• There are very few reasons not to hire a car for a visit to Aberdeen, unless you’re making a very brief stay in the city itself, and aren’t planning on venturing very far beyond city limits.
• Balmoral by bus: Hardy public transport users can go by bus to Balmoral Castle, which is just next to the village of Crathie on the A93 – allow around 2 hours, upto 8 buses each way per day.
• Orkney and Shetland — Aberdeen offers both onward flights and ferry services to the Orkney and Shetland Islands. You can take a hire car onto the ferry services, but is much cheaper to go as a foot passenger, and take advantage of local bus services, where you are also likely to pick up a good deal of local knowledge from fellow passengers.
• Scenic coastal rail route — the train route from Edinburgh up to Aberdeen has a number of particularly scenic stretches, especially as it hugs the coast for much of the route. Flying into Aberdeen and out through Edinburgh would be one way to enjoy this route, although the availability of flights there is generally much better than it is to Aberdeen anyway, so another option is just to pick return flights to Edinburgh and take the train in both directions. If you are flying in and out of Aberdeen, then this train route is still worth exploring at least down to Stonehaven, where it goes inland.
• Start at Dyce: A shuttle bus is available from Aberdeen Airport to nearby Dyce station, from where most trains heading south start. Dyce is also the best place to board trains heading to Inverness, as this avoids going into Aberdeen city centre and back out again.

Verdict

As Scottish cities go, when it comes to train networks, Aberdeen is certainly the weakest link, so to get to other places you would almost certainly end up needing to go by bus. This is not our view of travel enjoyment — buses should be there to supplement train journeys, not as a preferred method of transport in their own right. For this reason, Aberdeen gets our strongest verdict of all Scottish cities that a car is necessary to get the best out of your trip.

YES (very strong yes)

File under: Aberdeen car hire advice - yes or no?, Aberdeen airport car rental.