EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

Exeter has two train stations , Exeter Central and St David's, the latter a little further out from the centre of town, though connected by frequent city buses. Trains from London Waterloo stop at both, as do trains on the Tarka Line to Barnstaple and those to Exmouth, though Exeter Central is not served by most other long-distance trains. Buses stop at the station on Paris Street, right across from the tourist office (July & Aug Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 10am-4pm; rest of year Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat 9am-1pm & 2-5pm; tel 01392/265700, ).

Most of Exeter's cheaper accommodation lies north of the centre, near the two stations, including two comfortable B&Bs close to each other in a quiet location, Park View Hotel , 8 Howell Rd (tel 01392/271772, ; £40-50), a listed Georgian building with peaceful, airy rooms, and Raffles , 11 Blackall Rd (tel 01392/270200; £50-60), an elegant Victorian house with rooms furnished with items from the owner's antique business, and meals prepared with organic garden produce. More centrally, Maurice , 5 Bystock Terrace (tel 01392/213079, hotel.maurice@eclipse.co.uk ; under £40), has bright, smallish rooms, all non-smoking. For an upmarket splurge, you can't do better than the Royal Clarence Hotel , superbly located right on Cathedral Yard (tel 01392/319955, ; £90-110), built in 1769 and reputedly the first inn in England to be described as a "hotel". At the opposite end of the spectrum, Globe Backpackers , 71 Holloway St (tel 01392/215521, ), is a clean and central independent hostel with good showers and an upbeat atmosphere; alternatively, Exeter YHA lies two miles south of the city centre at 47 Countess Wear Rd (tel 01392/873329, ); take minibus #K or #T from High Street or South Street, or #57 from the bus station, to the Countess Wear post office on Topsham Road, a fifteen-minute ride, plus a ten-minute walk.