Exeter to London trains: 2h02 fastest, £20,000 a year

Exeter is not a commuter town, and the fares say so plainly. There are two ways to reach London by train from the city, they take very different amounts of time, and they cost very different amounts of money. This page sets out what the journey actually takes, what each route costs, and which station you want.

How long the journey takes

The fastest booked journey from Exeter St Davids to London Paddington is 2 hours 2 minutes: the 07:52, arriving at 09:54, on a Monday timetable checked against National Rail data. Nothing else in the day beats it.

A realistic picture of the morning, taken from the same source for a Monday:

The pattern to notice is that consecutive departures are not comparable. The 06:52 does the trip in 2 hours 7 minutes; the 07:44, leaving less than an hour later, takes 2 hours 45 minutes because it stops at everything down the line. Off-peak, the standard fast timing settles at 2 hours 14 minutes, and it is remarkably consistent: the 10:15, 11:15, 12:15, 14:15 and 15:15 all do exactly that. Check the individual train rather than the hour.

All of these are Great Western Railway services on the route through Taunton and Reading. GWR also manages Exeter St Davids.

The other route, and why it is slower but cheaper

There is a second line to London, run by South Western Railway through Honiton and Salisbury into London Waterloo. It is a genuinely different proposition: the 08:00 from Exeter Central reaches Waterloo at 11:49, a direct journey of 3 hours 49 minutes, nearly twice the fast Paddington timing.

What it buys you is a much cheaper ticket. Fares restricted to the Honiton route undercut the any-route fares on every ticket type:

The Anytime line is the one worth staring at. A peak-time open return to London costs £299.00 on the fast route and £193.00 if you accept the Honiton line, a difference of £106 for a journey that takes about an hour and three quarters longer each way. The gap on a single is wider still: £149.50 against £96.50. Advance singles, if your times are fixed, were selling from £53.50 on South Western Railway and from £60.50 on GWR on the days checked.

What a season ticket costs

If you are moving to Exeter and planning to commute, this is the number that decides it.

An annual season valid on any permitted route, which is the one that lets you use the fast Paddington trains, costs £20,000. That works out at £500 a week or £1,920 a month. Restrict yourself to the Honiton line and the same annual season is £12,844, or £321.10 a week and £1,233.10 a month. Adding a zones 1 to 6 Travelcard takes those to £22,060 and £14,128 respectively.

Set against the walk-up fares, a £20,000 season pays for itself at about 67 Anytime returns a year, which is roughly a day and a half a week in a London office for a full year. Below that, walk-up and advance tickets win. Very few people in Exeter buy the annual season, and the arithmetic explains why: it costs more than a year of the average Exeter rent, which was £1,317 a month in June 2026.

Which station: St Davids or Central

Exeter has two city-centre stations and one of them is not for London.

Exeter St Davids (EX4 4NT), at the bottom of the hill on St Davids Hill, is the main line station. Every fast London train uses it, and it is also where the Waterloo trains, the Plymouth and Cornwall services, the Barnstaple branch and the Exmouth line all meet.

Exeter Central (EX4 3SB) sits in the middle of town off Queen Street, which makes it far more convenient on foot. It is on the Waterloo line, so it is genuinely useful for the slow route to London, and for Exmouth and Honiton. It is no use at all for a fast Paddington train. If you are catching one, you want St Davids.

The two are about a mile apart, uphill from St Davids to Central, and local trains run between them.

Getting to the station

St Davids has a station car park and sits on several bus routes, but for a day trip the cheaper move is often the park and ride at Honiton Road, Sowton or Matford, where parking is free and an all-day bus ticket is £5.50. Full car park tariffs and the current roadworks are on our roadworks and travel page.

Frequently asked questions

How long does the train from Exeter to London take?

The fastest booked journey is 2 hours 2 minutes to London Paddington, on the 07:52. Off-peak fast trains take 2 hours 14 minutes, and stopping services run to 2 hours 45 minutes.

How much is a season ticket from Exeter to London?

An annual season valid on any permitted route costs £20,000, or £500 a week. A cheaper annual season restricted to the Honiton route costs £12,844, or £321.10 a week. Adding a zones 1 to 6 Travelcard takes them to £22,060 and £14,128.

Is there a direct train from Exeter to London Waterloo?

Yes. South Western Railway runs direct trains via Honiton and Salisbury. The 08:00 from Exeter Central reaches Waterloo at 11:49, a journey of 3 hours 49 minutes, against about 2 hours 15 minutes to Paddington.

Which Exeter station should I use for London?

Exeter St Davids for the fast Paddington trains, which do not call at Exeter Central. Central is on the Waterloo line and is the more convenient of the two on foot from the city centre.

What is the cheapest way to get to London from Exeter?

An advance single, from £53.50 on South Western Railway and £60.50 on GWR on the days checked. On walk-up fares, tickets restricted via Honiton are consistently cheaper: an Anytime Open Return is £193.00 that way against £299.00 on any route.

Sources

• traintimes.org.uk, Exeter St Davids to London Paddington for journey times and walk-up fares, National Rail Enquiries data.
• Trainline season tickets, Exeter St Davids to London for weekly, monthly and annual season prices and the route restrictions.
• National Rail station information, Exeter St Davids and Exeter Central for operators and station detail.

Times and fares were checked in August 2026. Rail fares normally change in March, and timetables change in May and December, so confirm against the operator before you travel.