Car Rental - Exeter

Car rental in Exeter will help you discover the best of an old English cathedral city with a British bohemian side. Drive to seaside villages, country pubs and stately homes with absolute freedom.

We have a number of rental car pick-up points across the city, including at Exeter Airport. Most cars in the UK are manual drive (stick shift), but we have automatic rental options in Exeter for your comfort and convenience too. Choose your perfect car online in advance and we’ll have it waiting for you at your preferred pick-up point as soon as you arrive. Select from spacious SUVs perfect for families, compact cars ideal for nipping in and out of cities and even sporty vehicles for a road trip with style.

With no hidden extras to pay, our friendly staff aim to get you on the road as smoothly as possible when you rent a car in Exeter. 

Exeter is a curious place. It’s a city, yes, but it feels like a market town. It has retained an elegance and charm and is a lovely place to explore. It’s also the perfect base for a road trip with a car rental around the beautiful south-west of England and the gorgeous counties of both Devon and Cornwall. 

Discover the City 

Make for the heart of Exeter and you can combine a day of shopping in the quaint boutique stores with exploring the ancient side of the city. Park up your car rental and enjoy some retail therapy.

Head to the magnificent central cathedral, which towers over the city. Get up close to the impressive Gothic architecture with a trip to the top. Theintricate details of the spires are a joy to behold, as is the panoramic view across the houses and out into the Devon hills.

Stop in at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, a pink-bricked Gothic masterpiece with white fringes. Inside, a collection that spans centuries, continents and all kinds of subjects will keep kids and adults engrossed for hours. From an Egyptian tomb to an important collection of starfish, it contains a fascinating variety of exhibits.

The Freshest of Fish

The south coast of England is famed for its seafood. If you’re feeling peckish when driving your car rental, Exeter is a great place to try some of it - whether it’s juicy mussels or freshly caught fish from the Devon ports. From street food to grand old restaurants, they’ll all deliver a taste of the sea. Try The Galley at Topsham – the focus on fish here is so intense that they don’t open on the days when the boats aren’t landing a catch – Sundays and Mondays. The menu changes frequently, but you may be lucky enough to get 12 hour cured trout with pickled shallot or seafood bouillabaisse with sea bream.

See How the Other Half Lived

Get the ultimate English stately home experience at Powderham Castle, the perfect rental car day trip from Exeter. Take a guided tour behind the scenes of this sprawling mansion - the ‘upstairs downstairs’ tour focuses on the stories of the servants and the family they served. Kids will love the huge gardens, where red deer roam, and the farm featuring baby goats and sheep.

For stunning views across the Devon countryside head to Haldon Belvedere (Lawrence Castle). The grand apartment in the tower of this fairytale castle is available to stay in and the grounds are open daily. Snap the perfect picture of this bone-white castle looking out over the forested hills.

The Great Outdoors

Drive down the river to the charming village of Topsham, stuffed with cozy pubs and restaurants. Colorful houses snake down narrow roads to quiet harbors where the River Exe meets the River Clyst.

Make time for the wild moorlands and ancient rock formations of Dartmoor National Park, right on Exeter’s doorstep. A scenic drive through the national parkland takes you from Bovey Tracey to Princetown, through wild moorland where ponies graze. Princetown offers a range of walking and cycling trails along disused railways and field tracks. Pick up a map at the High Moorland Visitor Center in the middle of town. Renting a car means you’re free from using Exeter’s public transport. Your ride, in your time.

On a sunny day spend some time by the ocean. Sandy Bay near Exmouth is close by. Surreal, terracotta rock formations and a sweep of sandy beach make up this part of the Devon coast.

Here in the west country, you can get a real feel for the English landscape and way of life, and car rental in Exeter will let you head out to the surrounding sights in delightful Devon.  

Set in the heart of Devon on the banks of the River Exe, this city has an ancient heart and is a great base for various outdoor activities, hikes or heading out to see wonderful coastal vistas. Park up your Exeter car rental and explore the surrounding areas of natural beauty and sprawling national parkland at your own pace.

Exeter is a compact city and some streets in the center are one-way or pedestrianized. On-street parking is available throughout the city for your holiday or business car rental, but spaces are limited. However, there are a number of parking lots to choose from within easy walking distance to the main streets.  

If you’re basing yourself in Exeter to explore the nearby countryside, the comprehensive road links make day trips simple. Also, renting a car in Exeter makes it easier to traverse the scenic landscape. Get to the harbor village of Topsham by following the A315 south along the River Exe. Head into the enormous Dartmoor National Park by taking Topsham Road out of the city, following the A379 and joining the Devon Expressway.

You can also explore the enthralling south-west of England with a Hertz rental car. The M5 freeway begins at Exeter and leads north to Bristol. The A38 takes you to Plymouth, a port city with connections to the east coast of France via ferry. Follow the A30 into Cornwall and Penzance, the very south-west tip of England, for a surfers’ paradise and idyllic coastal villages.

While in the UK, you’ll be driving on the left-hand side of the road and overtaking on the right. Speed limits are in miles per hour and distances on signs in miles. It’s important to note that in the UK – and Europe as a whole – you can’t turn right on a red light at a junction.