Adventures around Torquaywith PlusBus
The English Riviera (aka Torbay) is a beautiful area, packed with scenic bus rides and walking routes, things to visit, places to eat… A PlusBus ticket for Newton Abbot, Paignton or Torquay means you can make as many bus journeys as you want all round these towns and Brixham too. Here are just three of the adventures you could have around Torquay.
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1. Have a boat trip and a harbourside meal
Arriving in by train in Torquay, you’ll find Torre Abbey and the nearest beach both less than five minutes’ walk from the station. But the centre of town and Torquay Harbour are a little further away so it makes sense to start by hopping on a bus. If you don’t yet have your bargain PlusBus ticket, pop into the station ticket office and buy one.
- How do I get to Torquay Harbour by bus? From Torquay station, head downhill towards the sea and a few steps left towards the seafront main road to find the Grand Hotel bus stop. Hop on bus 22, which runs every 20 minutes (hourly on Sunday). Near the bus stop, look out for the fabulous Grade II-listed entrance gates of the Recreation Ground.
- Get off at the bus stop called Torquay Harbour Strand near the clock tower. The journey takes less than ten minutes. There are lots of great places to eat and things to see around the harbour.
- One suitably-maritime way to explore the Torquay area is to take a boat trip. Here are a couple of very different boat trips you could take from Torquay Harbour. The Western Lady Ferry to Brixham costs just £6 one way (you could get bus 22 back, or it’s £10 for a return).
- For a very different kind of boat trip, try the Torquay Coastal RIB Seafari, which flies over the waves to Paignton and along the Torbay coast past secret coves, hidden caves and natural limestone arches. Look out for seabirds like cormorants, spreading their wings in the sun, or turnstones running under Torquay’s oyster-crusted harbourside parades. If you’re very lucky you might even see dolphins and, whatever, the weather, you’ll see some grey seals hauled out by Brixham harbour.
- When you get back to Torquay Harbour, head to Number Seven on Beacon Hill to eat fresh seafood caught in Brixham. Every day is different, depending on what the boats bring back, but you could try scallops or dover sole, skate-wing or gurnard, cuttlefish, crab or lobster. All perfectly cooked in a range of styles with great sides and puddings too. Number Seven has a wine bar upstairs, open in the evenings, so if you’re there from 5pm, you could start with a glass of wine of a local G&T and a sunset view across the harbour. When you’re travelling by bus and train, there’s no need to worry about having a drink.
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2. Kent's Cavern
One of Europe’s most significant neolithic sites, Kent’s Cavern was home to ancient people and ice age animals. Some extraordinary stone age finds have been unearthed in this prehistoric cave system under Torquay.
- The jawbone of a modern human was dug up here in 1927 and later confirmed by 21st-century dating techniques as more than 41,000 years old. This makes it the oldest known fragment of a human skeleton in NW Europe. Pioneering Victorian archaeologist William Pengelly first excavated Kent’s Cavern, finding stone tools, animal bones and more.
- There are guided tours of the caves throughout the day, which will take you through a wooden door straight into the rocky passages and onto an entertaining hike through stalagmites and stalactites, ancient inscriptions, flowstone walls and animal dens. An exhibition tells you more about the people who first lived here and the excavators who explored the caves.
- How do I get to Kent’s Cavern by bus? Hourly bus 64 stops on Victoria Parade by Torquay Harbour near Jack’s Waterfront diner. Get off at the stop called Ilsham House as soon as the bus forks left up Asheldon Road. Walk a few steps back down and turn sharp left along Ilsham Road and you’ll soon see Kent’s Cavern on your right. For a more frequent service, you can simply hop back on bus 22, which stops a short walk away (see 3 below).
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3. Torquay Museum
Agatha Christie’s fur coat, Poirot’s walking stick (well, the one David Suchet used to play him), family photographs, TV costumes, lurid early editions of the great crime writer’s novels… The Agatha Christie gallery in Torquay Museum pays tribute to the town’s biggest celebrity, the bestselling novelist of all time, who was born in Torquay in 1890.
- There’s lots more on show too: natural history, Egyptian artefacts and prehistoric treasures … Arthur Ogilvie, Curator of Torquay Museum, excavated Kent’s Cavern in 1927 and unearthed the piece of human jawbone that changed our understanding of where prehistoric people were living around the world.
- You can also find what might be Britain’s oldest axes along with the locally-unearthed bones of all kinds of animals: mammoth, woolly rhino, cave bears, lions, hyenas and giant deer.
- How do I get to Torquay Museum by bus? Regular bus 22 stops outside every 20 minutes. If you’re coming from the railway station, get on at the Grand Hotel (see 1 above). If you’re coming from Kent’s Cavern, stroll up Ilsham Road to The Kent’s pub, turn right up the steps near the elegant memorial fountain opposite and right again to the bus stop. Get off opposite the museum five minutes later.
- Among the other collections in the family-friendly Torquay Museum, you will find examples of Torquay marble including a colourful goldfinch platter, which belonged to Queen Victoria. It was created by Woodley’s Marble Works in 1852.
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For more car-free adventures in Devon…
See our earlier guides to Torquay and to the Exeter area by bus and by train. You can also explore the Plymouth area by train and bus and reach attractions like Wembury Beach, Saltram and the National Marine Aquarium.
