Booked a little trip to Plymouth...suggestions?

[Freshandtasty]

For me and DH, 3 nights in July and it will be the first few days away without the adult ‘children’.

Can anyone suggest nice things to do, restaurants, bars and sightseeing for during the day?

Are the local buses good or best to use cabs? Or is the whole place quite walkable?

I’d love some suggestions please

Eden Project as a day out? You will have to book I expect.

Where are you staying. That will determine answers, but buses are very frequent.

I can tell you where to go for dirty weekends with Royal Marines but that’s probably not much help?

If you've got Tesco Clubcard vouchers, Eden project

Plenty of Tesco vouchers, we’ve not spent any for months!

We are staying at the Drake Hotel on Lockyer Street. It looks fine location wise 🤞

@Thewinterofdiscontent

I can tell you where to go for dirty weekends with Royal Marines but that’s probably not much help?

Tel me more

The area around the Barbican is nice and the Aquarium is really good .
Mount edgecome lovely

Eden Project is an hour away, and the roads into and around Cornwall will be busy in July (sod that), so could take much longer.

The Barbican and the Hoe are lovely.

Marco Pierre restaurant has stunning views.

Yes I second Mount Edgcumbe. You can take the passenger ferry over.

Best pubs - the dolphin and minerva.

Best fish - takeaway next to the dolphin, the restaurant next to the dolphin or rockfish.

Take the Cremyll ferry to Mount Edgecoombe for a wander, have a picnic or go to the pub, get the ferry back and walk through Royal William Yard.

You have to sit on the Hoe at least once. It's the law. If Smeatons tower is open, go up it, then walk downhill towards the Barbican. There's also a pub nearby that overlooks the Sound for a sunny brunch. 42nd Street (slightly further past the Dolphin) is a restaurant that's more meat oriented than fish, but the quality of ingredients is amazing, as long as you never order more than one portion of fries between you or you'll be there all night.

Walking round the barbican, the blues bar is nice.

Tour round the gin distillery.

You could do a fishing trip from the Mayflower Steps, too. One of the barbican restaurants had a deal where you could have anything you caught cooked for you.

Then if you've got a car, you could have a look over the arse end of dartmoor. It's the best bit.

Oh, buses. You need the stagecoach app to make it easiest. And if you catch the gold bus to Torquay, you get a rambling trip through loads of places - and you can catch a boat to Brixham, as its quicker than driving.

Yes, Barbican is lovely. Lots of little shops, and captain jaspers for burgers by the water. Plus the Mayflower steps. The hoe with the light house. There’s a water taxi that goes over to mount edgcumbe. The pub over there is lovely and there are lovely grounds and a stately home. The moors isn’t that far away with some lovely pubs.

Also, Princetown. They have a prison museum that is good and the pub in the village does nice food. There is also knight stone tea rooms near there but you would need to get a taxi. It is a vintage tea room with lots of World War Two memorabilia. Tavistock is close to princetown and there are some nice shops and a nice market area.

The town centre for shops isn’t brilliant. Nothing special really.

If you wanted to go a bit further afield, Buckfast abbey is lovely.

Oh, Royal William yard is nice too. Plenty of places for food and drinks and a couple of art galleries etc.

Thank you all so much. Daft question but what / where is the ‘Barbican’ I’m looking on google maps and the area called ‘Barbican’ just looks like modern office blocks?

Foot ferry from Mayflower Steps to Cawsand beach. Potter around Cawsand and Kingsand. Great pasty and ice cream shop by the beach, good pub food at The Ship. Could get ferry back from there, or walk along coast (6 miles) to Mount Edgcumbe and get ferry from there.

Don't get confused by the Barbican in Plymouth and the Barbican on London. I'm from Plymouth and people always say "isn't that London", like I don't know where I lived lol.

Sure you're not looking at the Barbican in London with its brutalist architecture? The Barbican is the historic part of Plymouth around the Harbour. Includes Elizabethan houses.

www.barbicanwaterfront.com/

See if you can book into the Barbican Kitchen, (The Tanner Brothers) for a decent meal.

Can't believe Captain Jasper's is still going! It was a favourite when I was a student at the Poly over 30 years ago!!

Ah ok yes, thanks, google maps is really deceiving, I googled it and the area that says Barbican is as shown on the pic. I can see now that it’s the area to the right of that. Looks really quaint and pretty.
I’m sure we’ll fill the 3 days easily. Thanks all!!

www.visitplymouth.co.uk/explore/areas-to-visit/the-hoe

visitdartmoor.co.uk/towns-of-dartmoor/princetown

www.visit-tavistock.co.uk/

www.mountedgcumbe.gov.uk/

www.capn-jaspers.co.uk/

I would say if you are staying in the centre of Plymouth here are a few suggestions. We live about 7 miles outside of Plymouth and I worked there for many years.

Visit the Barbican and Gin distillery (Barbican Kitchen does a nice meal and there is a cocktail bar above it) They are both above the Gin distillery.

Take a walk on the Hoe and see the iconic Smeatons tower and enjoy one of the many cafes etc overlooking the Sound.

Have a swim in the Tinside Lido if the weather is warm enough.

Visit the Aquarium or the new museum (The Box) if the weather is not great.

Catch a boat over to Cremyll and visit Mount Edgecumbe Country Park. There is a nice pub there.

Saltram is a nice National Trust property with lovely walks.

Royal William Yard has lots of restaurants.

Visit Central park and enjoy a game of miniature golf or a swim at the Plymouth Life Centre.

You could even catch a bus or drive down to Whitsand Bay or Looe/Polperro.

If you have a look on Google maps at Lockyers Quay, you'll see you are literally around the corner from the Barbican.

There's lots of little shops to look in, some nice restaurants/pubs, chippies (harbour side is my favourite). If you're coming at it from the aquarium and across the harbour bridge, you go right to the Barbican and left to go up onto the Hoe. I like to get some chips and take them and sit up in the hoe by the lighthouse looking out at sea to eat them.
There's a webcam actually on one of the buildings showing you a live view of the seafront, it wasn't working last time I looked but is easy to Google for a look at what you'll see.

It's easy to walk into the city centre from your hotel, and all the way down to Royal William yard if you don't mind a longer walk (though you can get a bus easily or park for free at devils point and walk down to it). For anywhere further you'd need to either drive or get a bus really.

Depends what you're into really. Shopping/history/drinking/walking. Lots to do but best to have some sort of idea if you're going to need a bus.