Short answer: Exeter is a city, so central parking is the most expensive in Devon. Park and ride is cheaper and quicker on a busy Saturday, and the rail hub means you often need not drive at all.
Exeter is the only place in this guide where the parking advice is: try not to. It is Devon's county city, the centre is busy, and the multi-storeys fill on Saturdays and through December. Park and ride sites on the edge of the city are cheaper and usually faster door to door.
Exeter is the rail hub for the whole county. Lines run to Exmouth, Barnstaple, Okehampton, Plymouth and along the coast through Dawlish and Teignmouth. If you are coming from anywhere else in Devon, the train is almost always easier than the car park.
The cathedral, with the longest uninterrupted Gothic vaulted ceiling in England. The Underground Passages, medieval water tunnels explored on a guided tour with a hard hat. The free Red Coat guided tours, which are volunteer-led and genuinely good. And the Custom House Visitor Centre on the quay, which is free.
Riverside Valley Park runs south from the quay with meadows and river paths, and the Belmont Sensory Garden is believed to be the oldest public sensory garden in the world. Neither charges anything.
Canonteign Falls is twenty minutes west towards Dartmoor, with its own parking — England's highest man-made waterfall, a fern garden and lakes.
Charges are reviewed every year and seasonal tariffs change in March and November. Treat any price here as a guide and check the machine on the day.
See the full Exeter guide, filtered by who's with you.
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