Route: From Exmouth to Lyme Regis

Overview

The South West Coast Path from Exmouth to Lyme Regis is most famous for its rugged, historic beauty - sweeping beaches, dramatic cliffs, wildlife and quiet picturesque coastal villages.

Beginning on the East Devon coast in the bustling seaside town of Exmouth this walk moves onwards but almost back in time as it enters the rugged and amazing Jurassic Coast. Leaving behind the red sandstone cliffs, stroll through lush green woodland onwards to the contrasting stunning white chalk cliffs of West Dorset.

Visit the quaint village and promenade at Budleigh Salterton; the Otter Estuary Nature Reserve; Victorian Sidmouth, described by John Betjeman as “the loveliest seaside resort in England” before discovering the pretty shingle beach and small fishing fleet at Beer.

One of the highlights is the Lyme Regis Undercliffs Nature Reserve, a unique section of the coast where the ground has broken away, leaving the cliff-tops now standing well inland creating a spectacular woodland wilderness.

Now leaving the Undercliff area you move from Devon into Dorset and towards your destination of delightful Lyme Regis with her world famous fossil sites and historic Cobb and harbour.

This walk is one of true contrasts offering fine coastal walking and experiences; sheer rugged cliffs, lush woodland, fascinating geological formations tiny smugglers coves …….with a wealth of wildlife such as roe deer, red squirrels and puffins.


Walk the Trail offers 2 itineraries along this route to cater for all levels of walker.  If, you feel that you'd like something different, just ask.


INCLUDED

All our holiday packages include:

  • Overnight accommodation staying at carefully selected B&Bs, Inns and Hotels
  • A detailed holiday pack
  • Luggage transfers
  • Transport from path to accommodations if necessary
  • Maps
  • Guidebook
  • Emergency support.

NOT INCLUDED

Our holiday packages do not include:

  • Transport to and from the start and end of the holiday, unless stated.  We can help you with your options.
  • Packed Lunches and Evening Meals
  • Travel Insurance
ROUTE PROFILE

Itinerary & Costs

Begin your journey on the coast of East Devon before going back in time entering the renowned Jurassic Coast of Dorset on a lovely and rewarding journey with ever changing scenery and contrasts.
Walk along cliff tops above rocks dating back 250 million years, explore small coves and quaint fishing villages and perhaps find your own fossil !


The Daily Itinerary

Click on a day for further information.

Day 2:
Exmouth to Sidmouth
Distance: 12.5 miles Difficulty: Moderate/Strenuous
Day 3:
Sidmouth to Beer
Distance: 8.5 miles Difficulty: Strenuous
- Day 4:
Beer to Lyme Regis (Undercliffs diversion 2024)
Distance: 9.5 miles Difficulty: Moderate

FEB 2024 update - The path at Undercliffs is no longer open due to cliff falls, so a diversion has been put in place adding 1 mile / 1.6km to the original 8.5 miles / 13.6km

Day 5: Depart
Lyme Regis
 

What's Included

  • Accommodation for the length of your holiday including the night before you start walking and the evening after your final day's walking in good quality B&Bs, Inns and small hotels. This will be en-suite wherever possible.
  • Breakfast - This may be a full cooked or continental option depending on accommodation. Evening meals can be arranged with certain accommodations for an additional charge.
  • A Personalised Holiday Pack containing maps and addresses for accommodations, pick up points and daily mileage information.
  • Luggage transfers between each accommodation. 1 bag per person up to 20 kilograms. Additional bags can be added upon request.
  • Phone line support between the hours of 0900-1900, 7 days a week for the length of your holiday.

Optional Extras

The following items are optional and can be removed to reduce the cost of your holiday.

Not Quite Right?
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Important Information

Reviews

0/5 Cheryl from Vermont, USA
I'm home from my trip and wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed it! It was wonderful to have the elves take my luggage every day and to have it show up at the next place. It was a fairly rainy week but the scenery was magnificent and I truly enjoyed the walking. Thank you for all your arrangements --- people at the B&B's were all friendly and kind. I'll go back again someday! Thank you all!
0/5 Kate from Canada
I just wanted to thank you for a wonderful two-and-a-half weeks. All of the bed and breakfasts I stayed in were friendly, comfortable and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Every day when I arrived my bag was there, like a faithful dog. All in all an excellent trip. As an aside, I would also like to say that, as a female walking alone on the SWCP I had no problems at all and always felt perfectly safe.
0/5 Kathleen from Germany
It was an unique, fantastic and unforgettable experience with hurting feet and legs in the beginning and total fitness in the end ;-). I met interesting people and saw great landscapes. I experienced the coldest spring after over 60 years but with the right clothes - everything was under control ;-). I`d like to make you a compliment for your organization, fast answers and friendliness! The luggage transfer worked really well. Almost all B&B were lovely and the people very friendly.
0/5 Julia from Germany
We are back home from our walking holiday, what a marvellous experience! Thank you for your great organisation, everything worked without any problems. It was great to arrive at the accommodation and find our luggage already there, often even in our room. All the best, we will definitely be recommending your business!
0/5 Julie from Australia
We are now home from our travels and have had time to reflect. What a fabulous holiday. Thank you very much for planning our South West coast walk. It all went very well, the B&Bs were superb, we have no complaints at all. Thanks for organising a memorable walk.
0/5 Peter from Sussex
As far as our experience with Walk the Trail was concerned you were always very helpful, you gave good advice and put together an excellent programme that included some very good accommodation along the way. We all thought the holiday was brilliant value for money and, finally, we were all delighted to see our bags had turned up at the end of each walking day without the slightest problem!! All in all we would rate the Walk the Trail experience 10 out of 10. Well done and thank you.
0/5 Joan from Australia
Would recommend your organisation to anyone, and will do so. Can't thank you enough for a trouble free adventure.
0/5 Roland & Andrea
Thank you very much for our perfectly organised walking holiday. Our baggage was always there when we arrived and all the accommodations were great.
0/5 Sasha From Cornwall
Jess (my dog) and I are back after the most wonderful experience! Thank-you all for making it so wonderful, all the B&Bs were comfortable and welcoming and all were brilliant. All in all it was brilliant and very dog friendly. Thank you again and the very best luck for the future with your wonderful company.
0/5 Carleen
There is no doubt I loved the walk, arduous at times, but wonderful scenery and always very friendly people. Certainly, I will recommend your company, especially for the convenience and your professionalism (good documents etc.). Cheers.
0/5 Gillian from Leeds
Thank you for organising such a wonderful trip for us. It was a wonderful success, we loved it all! All the accommodation was lovely. I can also safely say that all the food was great that week. We think the Jurassic Coast might be a possibility for next year!
5/5 Trusted Customer
Excellent service | Always friendly and cheerful, no queries too big or too small, very knowledgeable. Always on hand and would highly recommend their services.
5/5 Bill Beddows
Once again,very professional, helpful
5/5 Christopher Huby, Norway
Perfect short walking break. | Gave very friendly and knowledgeable advice and arranged a perfect short walking break in a way I could never have managed alone. The accommodation was high quality and friendly. The information pack made finding the way straightforward and we could concentrate on enjoying the magnificent scenery and the pubs/restaurants.
5/5 Trusted Customer
Brilliant | Everything about the trip went smoothly. I think a couple of stand outs were their help before the trip with how to most easily get down to Plymouth. Also their web site is spectacular. I had printed copies of all my maps and accomodations but it was also on-line under my personal trip. 24 hours home and already wanting to schedule another trip with them.
5/5 Jane Thompson
Excellent service!! Great care and attention was given to preparing our holiday. Nothing was too much trouble.
5/5 John G.
Every time that I communicated with them they were prompt and clear in their communication. I find I often have to ask 2 or 3 times to get my questions answered fully and with the team at Walk the Trail that wasn't the case.
5/5 Kevin Harris
Excellent customer service | We had a question about taxis one evening. Having placed a call, Mike was very quick to respond and resolve.
5/5 David Salter
Bespoke walking on South Coast | 4th holiday arranged by Walk the Trail speaks for itself. All of the accommodation was lovely and so were their owners.
5/5 Martin & Pauline, UK
Superb. With their expertise we couldn't do these trips without them! | We started the SWCP with Walk the Trail in May 2018 and this was our seventh trip with them. This trip was arranged when the country was in Covid travel restrictions, with the vast majority of people wanting to holiday in the UK and increasing cost of accommodation. The bill from WtT was in line with previous trips and with the same high standard of B&B and Hotels. They are worth every penny taking all the stress out of organising our trips through their expertise in knitting everything together. As always everything ran smoothly, as mapped out in the detailed itinerary; accommodation, transfer of luggage and taxis. They even assisted in our travel from home to the holiday as travelling between Teignmouth and Weymouth by public transport was a particular problem in getting back to our car. Having dealt with the Company for several years now we have built up a friendly relationship and always enjoy the comical banter from Linda. We can't thank them enough for what they do, they make it so easy so we can just enjoy the walking.
5/5 Trusted Customer
Friendly efficient service from start to finish. Good accommodation and they valued feedback about one B and B.
5/5 Joanne King
Highly Recommeded | Excellent customer service from Walk the Trail. Our trip was caught up in the Covid 19 restrictions meaning we had to reschedule. We were kept up to date with the situation and what our options were. When out trip went ahead it all worked very well and we were very happy with the accommodation we were provided with.
5/5 Trusted Customer
Walk The Trail know what they are doing and are good fun to deal with | Linda and Mike have been excellent in patiently finding the right mileages, accommodation and restaurants to make our next walk a great one, we hope! Also, Luggage Transfe always works perfectly
5/5 Peter Underwood
Everything was done well, you can congratulate yourselves.
5/5 Trusted Customer
They could not have been more helpful. The trip was originally arranged for a time when we were still in lockdown. WTT rearranged the trip for us - nothing was too much trouble, despite the fact some of their original accommodation partners were not open/not taking booking for our group of 10 guests I would definitely use them again and would highly recommend them to others. I have used other organisations in the past and these certainly rate amongst the best
5/5 Martin Johnson
Walk the Trail do the hard bit, all we have to do is walk and enjoy! | This booking covered the last section of the South West Costal Path and was far from straight forward. We had the Firing Ranges which are only open for walkers at certain times of the week, the mileage we needed to cover on the path would not have taken us a full week and, to some extent, involved consideration in planning the penultimate leg. It was a case of planning the two sections in tandem. With the expert help of Walk the Trail and a few suggestions from us, we arrived at a perfect arrangement. As a final treat, Walk the Trail have said they 'want to make sure we get you somewhere rather amazing for you to celebrate the completion of the Path'. This won't be the end of our association with WtT as we intend to do it all again. It's a beautiful well signposted path, ever changing scenery and landscape. With well over 600 miles it's not something one could ever get bored with!
5/5 Timothy Meyers
So far, their response time is great. They heard what I wanted. They provided just enough of humor along with the service. Nice options for things I did not know I wanted.
4/5 Trusted Customer
Excellent organisation | Excellent organisation of baggage collection, taxi services where required and accommodation. Our only niggle: We would have liked written instructions as to how to find the B&Be rather than a Google map. Also: One hotel in particular was excellent but not geared up for walkers.
5/5 Phil Maude
Well planned route , not too strenuous.
Holiday Summary

Select:

Itinerary

3 Days / 4 Nights 9.8 miles daily avg


Difficulty

Rating: 4


Walkers

Number in Group: 2


What's Included
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Cost £495 per person

Based on Two people sharing a Double or Twin Room


Total Cost £990

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