Driving time

[miclane001]

:confused: How long does it take to make your way around the island? We're renting a car while we're there and wondering what the size of the island really is. Is it possible to drive all the way around the island in the approximately 6 hours we'll have to be there? Would we even want to do that? Our primary goal is to check out the scenery and spend some time at a nice beach or two.

[vossjemi]

Not sure about the west side. But we did the east side last year and had plenty of time. We left georgetown and drove the long way around the east side and ended up at rum point about an hour and a half later. We went on a stingray excursion from there, and when we left rum point, we took the short route across which took about 45 minutes to get back to georgetown. As we didn't do the west side, i don't know about that part of your question.

[Deep68]

Just came back yesterday from our cruise and we were in Grand Cayman last week. We rented a car from Budget - I would not recommend then as they were not at all helpful or friendly. They picked us up from the tender dock

 

Anyway we started at the airport area around 9:40 and were in Rum Point by 10:stayed in Rum Point until about 1:30 then headed off to 7 Mile Beach.

We were in 7 mile beach by 2:30. We were going to head up to Hell but decided to stay on the beach for a bit longer. I would think adding another 30 mins onto our trip would mean you could circumvent the island. It just depends on how much time you want to spend at each stop.

We headed back to the airport to drop the car off at around 3:30 then they dropped up back off in George Town.

[vossjemi]

We used cico avis through the www.grandcaymancruiseexcursions.com link, and they were great. In fact, we booked the cheapest car, which they ran out of, and they gave us a free upgrade to a jeep!!!:D We plan to use them again this jan.

[miclane001]

I'm thinking of using Cico Avis too. Glad to hear everything went well with them.

[Deep68]

Avis was in the same plaza as the Budget we rented from. They had a lot of people renting from them & their shop was very busy. It seemed about 15-20 people were in the Avis shop at the same time (2 small bus loads) and it was taking a while to process the customers. I overhead someone saying it may take them 40+ mins to get their car.

 

I am sure they had more customers because of better service.

Just thought I would warn you though as if time is of the essense for you it may take you a while to get on the road.

It only took us about 5 mins to complete the paperwork and be on the road, but the staff were just unhelpful and virtually ignored you.

The one thing I did like was that Budget had an all inclusive package for cruise passengers which included Cayman drivers permit, gas and full comprehensive insurance it was $40 for a standard car and $49 for a Jeep.

[vossjemi]

Hmmm..40 minutes? We certainly didn't have that problem. We were on a little mini van with like 6-8 other people, so about 3 or 4 groups. We were in the back of the bus, so last to get off and last in line. Took us about 15 minutes. But, it was worth the wait as the people in front of us got the cheap cars and we got the jeep!!!:D Also, we paid $45 total for permit, rental, full insurance, and unlimited gas which we did not have to refill!! Great bargain in my book!