Short answer: Totnes is the nearest mainline station to Salcombe, with buses on via Kingsbridge. That route also solves the worst thing about Salcombe — its parking, which is cash-only in places and full by lunchtime in season.
Totnes, on the mainline between Exeter and Plymouth. From there buses run south through Kingsbridge and on to Salcombe. There is no railway anywhere in the South Hams — the branch line to Kingsbridge closed in 1963.
Salcombe's parking is the town's weak point: narrow approach lanes, car parks that fill by lunchtime in season, and a machine at North Sands that takes coins with patchy signal for the alternatives. Arriving by bus removes all of it.
Plenty of visitors do a version of this already — park in Kingsbridge, which has a long-stay car park by the quay, and take the bus down.
Salcombe works well on foot. The passenger ferry crosses to East Portlemouth for Mill Bay and Sunny Cove — the best beaches, and a forty-five minute drive round by road, so the ferry is the sensible route whether or not you have a car.
Be honest about this: Slapton Ley, Start Point, Bolberry Down and East Soar are car territory. Small car parks, limited or no bus service. If those are the plan, the train will not get you there.
Train times and fares change, and Devon's branch lines thin out on Sundays and in winter. Check National Rail or GWR for the day you are travelling.
A market town at the head of the Dart with an independent High Street, a Norman castle and river boats down to Dartmouth. If you are changing there anyway, build in an hour.
Pick a town and plan the day around who's with you.
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