Your quick travel guide to Bradford

Car Hire in Bradford: Your Film City Base to the Yorkshire Dales

Bradford is perhaps most well known today for its sister-city status with Leeds and the conveniently located Leeds-Bradford International Airport (LBA). Whether you are visiting West Yorkshire for business or pleasure, Bradford makes a great base for your travels, complete with numerous car hire locations. As UNESCO’s first city of film, Bradford offers plenty of sights and experiences to her visitors. Use this guide to find convenient and cheap rental cars in Bradford and then drive out into the countryside to explore West Yorkshire at its fullest.

Left-Hand Driving

  • When you pick up your rental car in Bradford, remember that traffic drives on the left-hand side of the road.

Tips for Cheap Car Hire in Bradford

Rental cars in Bradford are available in three locations: Bradford North, South, and downtown. In order to ensure that you receive the best price on auto hire in Bradford, it is recommended that you check the prices at each location for your required rental period. You are likely to find that prices fluctuate on car hire in Bradford depending on the season in and location from which you book your car.

If you are flying into the Leeds-Bradford International Airport, consider booking your car hire directly from the airport itself. Car hire at the Leeds-Bradford International Airport starts as low as €13 a day!

Key Things to Remember When You Rent a Car in Bradford

Speed limits in Bradford:

  • Speed limits are being reduced throughout the United Kingdom to avoid collisions, including in Bradford. Even if you are familiar with the city, keep an eye out for changing speed limits. For instance, sections of Huddersfield Road and Whitehall Road are being lowered from 40 to 30 miles per hour (from 64 to 48 kilometres per hour).
  • You can expect that most streets throughout the city of Bradford will have a speed limit of 30 miles per hour (48 kilometres per hour).
  • Outside of the city, you can expect most highways or motorways to have a speed limit of 60 to 70 miles per hour (96 to 112 kilometres per hour).

Parking in Bradford:

  • Street parking is regulated by time and fee throughout central Bradford from 8 am to 6 pm Monday through Saturday. The typical charge is between 70 and 80 pence an hour. On Sundays, you can park for free on numerous streets throughout the city, including North Parade, Rawson Road, Godwin Street, and Darley Street. However, some streets require payment of £1 to park between 11 am and 5 pm on Sundays.
  • If you need to leave your rental car in Bradford for longer than 2 hours, which is the typical time limit for street parking, take advantage of numerous car parks throughout the city. At the parking garage on Captain Street, for instance, you can park for as low as 50 pence an hour. The closer you drive to central Bradford, the more expensive parking in a car park will become.

There are no tolled roads or bridges in the direct vicinity of Bradford.

Top Road-Trip Destinations with Your Bradford Car Hire

Whether you visit the Bradford area for business or pleasure, consider taking a road trip to make yourself more acquainted with West Yorkshire. Drive, for instance, to:

  1. Saltaire, a UNESCO world heritage site and 19th-century industrial town, located just 3 miles north of Bradford city centre.
  2. Yorkshire Dales: this national park begins just 20 miles north of Bradford and is an excellent area to explore by foot and by car in order to provide you some natural relief from city life. The region around the Upper Wensleydale waterfalls, located about 50 miles north of Bradford, is particularly recommended for a day-long (or more!) visit.
  3. Consider stopping at the Harrogate Turkish baths on your way back from the Yorkshire Dales—or simply as a day-long spa adventure. Harrogate is located an easy 20-mile drive northeast of Bradford.