Trains from Exeter St Davids to Falmouth change once, at Truro. The GWR or CrossCountry leg to Truro takes 2h23 with nine stops, and the branch train adds 20 minutes to Falmouth Town. Allow about three hours from station to station; the fastest journey on the weekday timetable did it in 2h44.
There were 19 departures with that single change at Truro on the weekday we checked, every 30 to 60 minutes or so from 04:37 to 20:14. The awkward spot is after lunch: after the 12:06, the next one on that pattern we found was the 14:14.
The 13:15 from Exeter sits between the two. It changes at Plymouth as well as Truro and still arrives in under three hours, about 2h50, and the 11:14 and 16:25 follow the same two-change route if they suit you better.
Later departures still get you to Falmouth, but not by rail all the way. The 20:41 and the 21:31 from Exeter finish with a bus from Truro, and those journeys took between about 3h25 and 3h40, so the 20:14 is the one to catch if you want the branch train at the end.
The two rides come to 163 minutes against a typical total of 176, so expect to spend about 13 minutes at Truro. That is a comfortable margin on a 2h23 main-line run, and because the Falmouth trains leave Truro about every half hour until early evening, a late arrival from Exeter rarely costs you more than another half hour.
By car the A30 route is 99 miles and takes around two hours, an hour less than the train, which makes driving the quicker way from Exeter by some distance. Rail travellers end at Falmouth Town, twelve minutes’ walk from Church Street.
Journey times and changes below come from the rail and bus timetables for Tuesday 1 December 2026. Weekend and holiday timetables differ, so check the day you travel.
From Exeter St Davids on the weekday we checked: every 30 to 60 minutes or so between 04:37 and 20:14.
By road it is about 99 miles from Exeter to Falmouth, mostly via the A30 — roughly 2h with clear roads. Car parks in Falmouth are listed on the Getting Here page.