Compare Milton Keynes car hire

Once you’ve picked up your hire car, it’s pretty easy to navigate around Milton Keynes. The city is famous for its roundabouts – there are over 100 of them – but the lanes are laid out sensibly, and clear road markings make them easy to negotiate.

Around the roundabouts, the city is laid out as a grid. The road names start with a H or a V depending on whether they run horizontally or vertically through the city, so you’ll always know whether you’re travelling from north to south or east to west.

Just outside the city, the M1 can get pretty congested, especially at rush hour. If you can avoid driving during commuter hours, however, you shouldn’t encounter many queues.

On the parking front, Milton Keynes has more than 20,000 bays. There’s a multi-storey near the train station, Centre:MK is ringed by pay-and-display parking spaces, and there are dozens of pay-and-display bays near The Hub, with its bars, restaurants and yoga studio.

Most bays are colour-coded according to cost, with red zones charged at the highest rates and spaces in purple zones costing considerably less.

Oxford

Driving time: One hour

The City of Dreaming Spires is an easy drive from Milton Keynes, and there's plenty to see and do. Many colleges are partially open to the public, and you'll find several operators offering punt rides up and down the River Cherwell. The drive also takes you past Bicester Village, a fashion outlet with more than 160 shops.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour

Driving time: 45 minutes

You can weave your way through detailed Harry Potter film sets such as the Great Hall and Diagon Alley, get up close to props and costumes from the movies, learn how special effects were created, and swig a glass of butter beer at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour – The Making of Harry Potter. This world-class attraction is just down the M1 from Milton Keynes.

Waddesdon Manor

Driving time: 40 minutes

Turreted Waddesdon Manor is an odd fish: it was an attempt to recreate a 16th-century French chateau in late 19th-century Britain, and you have to admit it worked. Inside it drips with antiques, chandeliers and priceless artworks, while outside manicured gardens and rolling parkland stretch into the distance.