Croydon to Exeter train

Trains from Croydon to Exeter start at €34.99 and take 2h 48m at their fastest.

CroydonCroydonExeterExeter

The Trains from Croydon to Exeter starts at €34.99 and takes 2h 48m door to door, run by 1 operator over 288 km, with around 5 departures a day. Fares bottom out about 60 days before departure.

Checked September 9, 2026Priced for September 23, 2026One passenger, all fees included

  • 2h 48mDoor to door
  • 2h 4mMoving
  • €34.99From
  • 9.5 kgCO2
Real services

The cheapest and the fastest on September 23, 2026

Two journeys we can sell today, with the service number each operator files them under.

Cheapest€34.99
  1. South Western Railway SW527807:3054m08:24Oxted railway stationSouthampton Central
  2. South Western Railway SW579609:271h 11m10:38Southampton CentralExeter Central

Changes at Southampton, with 63 minutes between services and a walk of about 5 minutes.

Door to door 3h 52mCO2 9.2 kgChanges 1Refundable

Fastest€41.59
  1. South Western Railway SW661406:222h 4m08:26Oxted railway stationExeter Central

Door to door 2h 48mCO2 9.5 kgChanges 0Refundable

Lowest CO2€35.53
  1. Great Western Railway GW856807:3035m08:05Oxted railway stationReading Station
  2. South Western Railway SW794109:221h 31m10:53Reading StationExeter Central

Changes at Reading, with 77 minutes between services and a walk of about 5 minutes.

Door to door 4h 7mCO2 9.1 kgChanges 1Refundable

Carriers

Rail operators

Speed, flexibility and what is on board. Nothing here is a rating, because we have not earned one.

Every operator we sell on this corridor. Speed is the carrier's own typical cruising speed, not the average over this route.
OperatorFromFastestTypical speedFlexibilityOn board
South Western Railway€35.542h 44m140 km/hRefundablePower outlets, Wi-Fi
  • South Western Railway

The train gets you into Exeter. It does not get you a bed, and neither do we.

A hotel room

Where to stay in Exeter

Sort by distance from Exeter Central and you can see which places are ten minutes on foot and which are not.

Partner links. We do not sell accommodation. We earn a commission when a booking completes, and it never changes what you pay.

Booking window

When to book Croydon to Exeter

The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.

  1. €33.3490 days
  2. €30.5960 days
  3. €37.1945 days
  4. €32.7930 days
  5. €37.1921 days
  6. €34.9914 days
  7. €44.897 days
  8. €69.093 days
  9. €93.291 days
Cheapest lead time
Fares bottom out around 60 days ahead, at €30.59.
How much it moves
The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 205 percent. The most expensive point is €93.29, 1 days out.
What that means
Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 60 days before departure. Waiting from here has usually cost money on this corridor rather than saved it.
Day of the week

Which departure day costs least

Median cheapest fare for each weekday, taken across the next three weeks of real prices.

  1. €45.99Sun
  2. €38.84Mon
  3. €38.29Tue
  4. €37.19Wed
  5. €61.39Thu
  6. €59.74Fri
  7. €48.19Sat
Terminals

Where you leave from and where you arrive

The stations, airports and ports each mode on this corridor actually uses.

Croydon

Rail
  • Oxted railway station
  • Woldingham railway station
  • Hurst Green railway station

Exeter

Rail
  • Exeter Central
  • Exeter Central railway station
  • Exeter St Davids railway station
The journey

What the journey actually looks like

Direct or connecting, how far the route really runs, and what happens when a connection is missed.

Direct or connecting
20% of the services we sell on this corridor run through without a change. The remaining 80% involve one connection.
How far it really runs
The route covers 288 km against 251 km in a straight line, a detour of 15 percent. Track and road geometry account for the difference.
Where the change is
Connections are made at Bournemouth, Poole, Southampton, Reading. The gap between arriving and leaving is 53 minutes, of which about 5 is walking.
If the connection is missed
The tightest connection we sell here has a 18 percent chance of not being made on the timetable alone. Part of this journey is a self transfer between separate tickets, so leave more time than the minimum and expect to check in again.
First and last departure
The first service of the day leaves Croydon at 06:22 and the last at 07:30, across 5 departures. The return direction keeps its own timetable, so the times back are not these times reversed.

Questions about Croydon to Exeter

The questions people actually ask about this trip, answered from the same prices and times the page above is built on rather than written once and left to go stale.

How long does the Train from Croydon to Exeter take?

The Train from Croydon to Exeter takes 2h 48m door to door, of which 2h 4m is spent moving. The route runs 288 km. The difference between the two times is reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end, which every time on this page includes.

How much does the Train from Croydon to Exeter cost?

The Train from Croydon to Exeter starts at €34.99 for one passenger, checked on September 23, 2026. A typical fare is €36.64. Both are the total including taxes, supplier fees and our service fee, so the price here is the price at checkout.

Who runs the Train from Croydon to Exeter?

1 operators run the Train from Croydon to Exeter: South Western Railway. Between them they file around 5 departures a day. The operator table on this page compares them on fare, journey time, cruising speed, fare conditions and what is provided on board.

Which terminal does the Train from Croydon to Exeter use?

The Train from Croydon to Exeter leaves from Oxted railway station and arrives at Exeter Central. Allow about 44m for reaching the departure terminal and leaving the arrival one. That time is already inside every door to door figure quoted on this page.

When should I book the Train from Croydon to Exeter?

Fares for the Train from Croydon to Exeter bottom out around 60 days ahead, at €30.59. The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time across the window is 205 percent, measured on September 23, 2026. Booking inside the final week has consistently cost more.

How much CO2 does the Train from Croydon to Exeter produce?

The Train from Croydon to Exeter produces about 9.5 kg of CO2 per passenger over 288 km, which works out at roughly 33 grams per passenger kilometer. That figure is for the whole journey and for one traveler, not for the vehicle.

What is provided on board the Train from Croydon to Exeter?

Operators on the Train from Croydon to Exeter publish Power outlets, Wi-Fi. That is what 1 carriers on this corridor state about their own fleets, across a journey of 2h 48m door to door. Where a carrier publishes nothing, this page lists nothing for it.

Where these numbers come from

Derived from service area No carrier record names this exact pair. The operators listed publish a service area covering both places at a distance their mode plausibly carries people, which is evidence that the corridor is served and not evidence of a specific service. Pages state which, because presenting the two as the same thing would be dishonest.

Schedules, seat counts and fares are generated by our own model until the supplier contracts are signed. Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance are real. We would rather say that on every page than let a modeled number pass for a filed one.

Defined in full at Door to door, Fares, The booking window, Carbon

On this page
Every figure above was computed for Croydon to Exeter on September 9, 2026: 288 km of route against 251 km in a straight line, 5 services a day, 1 operators, a cheapest fare of €34.99, and 2h 48m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.

Related journeys

The train is the simple part. What you do once you are in Exeter is somebody else's catalog.

A guided tour group

Things to do in Exeter

Day trips that leave Exeter in the morning and cover a good part of United Kingdom by evening.

Partner links. We do not sell tours or tickets. We earn a commission on a booking, and it never changes the price.

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