Is Devon a good place for a car free holiday?

[shropshirelass51]

We are a couple in our early 60's. We are looking at going on holiday for around a week in early July without a car and wondering how viable it is.
We are interested in scenery, short walks along the coastal path (4-5 miles), architecture, theatre and culture.
Open to going anywhere.
Many thanks

I would be interested in the answer to this. My interest was peaked by the sleeper trains to Penzance as I thought it would be a nice experience. However, my experience of Cornwall and I assume Devon is similar, is that they are useless without a car. We last went to Cornwall about 15 years ago (wedding which we extending to a half term holiday). I called the hotel before to see if it was feasible by train but it would have been a fag to get to and we couldn't have done the Eden project and other attractions. Having endured an 11 hour drive back to London, I swore never to repeat. Similar in the Lake District. Tourist areas make all the right sounds about discouraging cars but do bugger all to give you options if you go by train.

Hmm.
Maybe if you are happy to stay mostly in one place, pick a town with a train stations that has enough close by. If you want to travel around out of the immediate area I wouldn't be keen if it was me!
Top of my head I'd say maybe look around Paignton/Dawlish as I think they have trains, and are urban enough that buses/ taxis might be available.
Costal makes it tricky tbh, but I think South hams/South Coast is your best bet for transport. North Devon coast is less populated generally.
Can't speak for the culture side of Paignton, but you could get to Exeter from there for a day trip and there is the RAM, underground passages, cathedral, roman wall and things.

Of course! Do you mind using public transport or do you want to stay in one place for the whole trip? If you're happy to train and bus it around you could base yourself somewhere like Exeter which is pretty central. From there you could travel by train to Exmouth and you can do a nice (but not too long) coastal path walk. You can get the bus from Exeter to Sidmouth which has a lovely Victorian promenade and a beautiful beach and views from Jacobs Ladder. You can get the train to various parts of South Devon from Exeter all of which are walking distance to the beach (Dawlish, Teignmouth, Torquay). You could get the train to Plymouth or go even further into Cornwall. But I am biased as I'm Devon born and bred 😁

We went to Cornwall last year using public transport and it was brilliant. We stayed in Penzance for 5 days and Falmouth for 4 days. Our train from Penzance to Falmouth was cancelled so we went by bus which cost £2 and it was a lovely scenic stress free journey.
We used the buses to go to St Ives and to the Menai theatre. The buses were on time and generally excellent. We were hoping to find somewhere else in the UK to replicate this experience.

What about the North Norfolk coast. There are trains from Norwich to Cromer and Sheringham. A heritage railway from Sheringham to Holt. Also there is the Coast Hopper bus service from King’s Lynn along to coast to North Walsham.
This is a map of local buses
https://www.sanderscoaches.com/route-map

https://www.cartogold.co.uk/Devon/map.html#devon

On the whole, no. Devon public transport is limited but not impossible. Would suggest somewhere like Dartmouth, Kingswear. From there you can walk to or travel by steam train to Paignton.

As PP have suggested, the main line runs from Plymouth to Exeter and alongside the coast around Dawlish and Teignmouth, so if you based yourself there you'd have plenty of options: visiting the 2 cities themselves, hopping along the coast or even stopping at Ivybridge from where you can walk right up onto Dartmoor.

Or there's the North Coast around Exmoor, which has regular Exmoor Coaster buses going along the A39.

Think about:
Exmouth, Devon.
Wide sandy beach. Gets busy at peak season.
Nice long prom.
The Grove pub and a Rockfish restaurant on the prom as well as all the usual cafes, fish & chips. M&S food hall in the town nest the railway station.
Regular trains to/from Exeter.
Regular busses to Exeter & elsewhere like Budleigh Salterton and Sidmouth.
Coastal walking.
Good shopping for everyday needs.

You can get to the Eden Project by train- St Austell Station is on the main line, from whence there are plenty of buses.

Why not walk the south west coastal path and stay somewhere different every night?

I met a lady who was doing just that on my last day walk on the SWCP. She was using a company to transport her stuff from stop to stop, and to book her accommodation. This is normally an option for quite serious walkers though- she was walking from Falmouth to Plymouth in a week!

Another vote for Exmouth. It has a good beach, access to cliff and estuary walks. You can get a foot passenger ferry across the estuary. Train to Exeter and connections from there if you wanted to go other places. Good pubs, restaurants and reasonable shopping. If you bring or hire a bike the cycling is really nice.

Not sure the architecture is that amazing but you could go to Exeter for the Cathedral. There is a theatre on the sea front and a few theatres in Exeter.

This was initially our first choice as we have never been to Norfolk. Unfortunately it is quite to difficult to get to from Shropshire, 3 trains to Sherrington or Cromer. Devon is easier but have been to South Devon many times, so will give it some thought.

We stayed in Torquay for a long weekend and got local buses to Dartmouth, Brixham and there were more options had we been there longer. We were close to sea and train station, it was lovely.
I wouldn't do North Devon without a car though!

Are you wedded to the coast path part? As you can get to okehampton by train, loads of walking over dartmoor and train back to Exeter for civilisation. Or stay in Exeter and trip out for walks etc to anywhere the trains go.
There are buses from oke to Tavistock and other places but wouldn't be my idea of a fun holiday, they take ages and you are very vulnerable to cancellations. Taxis are sparse and generally need to be booked.

She said they only wanted to do 4-5 mile walks though, and Okehampton itself is a couple of miles from the start of the Moor. Ivybridge is a bit better in that respect, as the the Moor starts right.....there 👉 (plus a good bit of that 👆😆).

It's been a long held ambition of mine to get the train to Okehampton, walk to Ivybridge and get the train back....

Some local scenic bus routes

As pp have mentions I think a base in Exmouth or Exeter would work. You then have the option of train or bis travel. There are some nice walks in Budleigh and Sidmouth.

I agree with Dartmouth - stream train to Paignton , ferry to NT Agatha Christie’s House, bus or ferry to Totnes, bus to Torcross and presumably other places. My friend also had a recent break in Ilfracombe and said there were some good walks in the area.

Agree that Exeter to Exmouth should do it.

If you are in good shape there's a cycle hire place in Exeter quays so you can safely cycle all the way down the west of the River Exe, down past Powderham and to Starcross. It goes past a couple of pretty pubs. The route is essentially flat, although there isn't much of a view towards the Exe due to the riverbank being higher than the cycle path.

I went with DS without a car once. If you stay on the coast there's good coastal walking and beaches. The buses are OK but we did find it took a very long time to get anywhere.