Lynton and Lynmouth

Lynton and Lynmouth sit one above the other on the north Devon coast, joined by a nearly 900-foot cliff face and, since 1890, by a water-powered funicular railway that remains the simplest way to move between them. Lynton occupies the clifftop, a compact Victorian town of stone terraces and small hotels built for the tourists who arrived once the railway from the outside world reached Barnstaple in the 1870s. Lynmouth sits at sea level where the East and West Lyn rivers meet the Bristol Channel, a working harbour village of thatched and slate-hung cottages squeezed into a narrow gorge mouth.

The pairing is sometimes called 'Little Switzerland', a Victorian marketing flourish that nonetheless captures something real: this stretch of Exmoor National Park rises more steeply from the sea than almost anywhere else in England, and the villages exist because that drama drew visitors even before proper roads did. Robert Southey, Percy and Mary Shelley, and later the poet laureate himself all passed through and wrote about it, and the coastline they described - oak-hung combes, heather moorland breaking off into cliff, a river gorge cutting down through it all - is largely unchanged.

Lynmouth's history includes tragedy as well as romance. In August 1952 a flash flood swept down the Lyn valleys after a cloudburst on the moor above, destroying much of the lower village and killing 34 people. The village was rebuilt, and a small exhibition near the harbour tells that story alongside the more cheerful business of crabbing off the harbour wall, ice creams, and boat trips along the coast. Lynton above retains the quieter, more residential feel of a town that never fully returned to its Edwardian holiday peak, which is part of its appeal to visitors now: little traffic, long views, and a slower pace than the Devon coast further south.

Top things to do in Lynton and Lynmouth

Between the two villages and the surrounding stretch of Exmoor there is enough to fill several days without a single wet-weather fallback needed.

• Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway - the world's highest and steepest fully water-powered railway, opened in 1890 and still running on the counterbalanced system its Victorian engineers designed, with two cars linked by cable that pass each other halfway up the 862-foot track.
• Valley of the Rocks - a dry valley immediately west of Lynton where wind and ice have carved jagged tors above the coast path; feral goats graze the slopes and Castle Rock gives one of the best views on the whole North Devon coast.
• Watersmeet - a National Trust-owned wooded gorge a couple of miles east of Lynmouth where the East Lyn River meets Hoar Oak Water; a former Victorian fishing lodge here is now a tea garden reached by a riverside path.
• Glen Lyn Gorge - a privately run gorge and waterfall walk beside the harbour in Lynmouth, with a hydroelectricity exhibition explaining how the same water that devastated the village in 1952 now generates its power.
• Lynmouth Harbour and Flood Memorial Hall - the working heart of the lower village, with the small exhibition on the 1952 flood a short walk from the harbour wall itself.
• Doone Valley and Brendon - inland from Lynton, the setting for R.D. Blackmore's novel Lorna Doone, reachable on foot or by a scenic drive through Exmoor's high moor.
• Lynton Cinema - reputedly the smallest purpose-built cinema in the country, a single-screen picture house that has shown films continuously since the 1920s.
• The South West Coast Path - Lynton and Lynmouth sit on one of the path's most dramatic sections, with day walks in both directions along cliffs that rank among the highest in England.

Getting to Lynton and Lynmouth

There is no railway station in Lynton or Lynmouth today - the original line closed in 1935 - so the practical rail option is to reach Barnstaple, which has a branch line service from Exeter St Davids (around 75 minutes, with connections from London Paddington via Exeter or Taunton taking roughly 4 hours in total). From Barnstaple, buses run to Lynton and Lynmouth in around 45 minutes to an hour, though services are infrequent, so checking timetables in advance matters. Tiverton Parkway, on the main line from London Paddington, is a further alternative if hiring a car from there, with the drive taking about an hour.

By road, the most direct route from the M5 is to leave at junction 27 for Tiverton and follow the A361 and A399 through South Molton and Combe Martin, or to approach from the Taunton direction via the A39 across Exmoor, which is the more scenic but slower option with several steep gradients and tight bends, including the notorious Countisbury and Porlock hills. Sat-nav routes that send visitors over the high moor in poor weather or in a larger vehicle are best treated with caution locally.

Both villages have public car parks - the main one in Lynton is at the top of the town near the Town Hall, and Lynmouth has car parks by the harbour and river - but spaces fill quickly in summer, and many hotels and B&Bs offer their own private parking, which is worth checking when booking given how narrow the streets become.

Best time to visit Lynton and Lynmouth

Spring brings the Valley of the Rocks and surrounding combes into leaf, with bluebells in the wooded gorges around Watersmeet from April, and the moorland lambs and foals of Exmoor's farms visible from the coast road. Crowds are thin and accommodation easier to find, though some seasonal attractions and cafes may not yet be open.

Summer is the village's busiest season, with both the cliff railway and Glen Lyn Gorge running full hours, the harbour at Lynmouth at its liveliest, and long evenings well suited to the coast path walks towards Woody Bay or Countisbury. Parking pressure and coach traffic are the trade-off, particularly through August.

Autumn turns the oak woods above both villages a deep gold, and Exmoor's heather moorland further inland colours through September. The stag rutting season on the moor from late September into October draws a smaller, specifically nature-focused crowd, and sea mists off the Bristol Channel can add real atmosphere to the gorge walks.

Winter is quiet, with some attractions and smaller guest houses closing for the season, but the cliff railway and several hotels stay open, and the combination of storm-driven seas below and bare, exposed moor above gives the coastline a different, starker character that regular visitors often prefer.

Where to stay in Lynton and Lynmouth

Lynton itself, on the clifftop, suits visitors who want to be near shops, the cinema, and the start of coast path walks towards the Valley of the Rocks, with most of the town's guest houses set along Lee Road or on the terraces just below it, many with sea views over the rooftops of Lynmouth.

Lynmouth, down by the harbour, suits anyone who wants to be close to the water, the crabbing wall, and the evening pub and restaurant scene, though roads here are narrower and parking more limited, and the village floor is more exposed to the crowds that arrive by coach in summer.

Barbrook and Countisbury, just outside the two villages on the roads towards Simonsbath and Porlock respectively, offer a quieter farmhouse and campsite base for anyone with a car who wants easy access to the wider Exmoor moor as well as the coast, generally at lower cost than accommodation in the villages themselves.

Food and drink in Lynton and Lynmouth

Lynmouth's harbour trade means crab and lobster feature on menus throughout the village, often landed within the day, alongside the West Country staples of clotted cream teas and local cider. The Rising Sun, a fourteenth-century thatched inn on the harbourside, serves game and seafood in an oak-panelled dining room and has built a reputation well beyond the village. The Bath Hotel, overlooking the same harbour, has been run by the same family since the 1950s and keeps a straightforward, well-priced kitchen going through the season.

Up in Lynton, cafes along Lee Road and Castle Hill serve the cream teas and light lunches that fuel a day on the coast path, while the Valley of the Rocks Hotel and several of the town's guest houses offer evening meals to residents. Farm shops on the roads out towards Barbrook and Countisbury sell Exmoor lamb, local cheeses, and preserves, and the honesty-box stalls that appear outside farms on the Porlock road are worth a stop for fruit and eggs in season. A small weekly market and occasional food fairs run through the summer in Lynton's town hall, though the villages' food scene overall stays proudly unfussy: fresh, local, and built around what the harbour and the moor actually produce.