Totnes Hotels: Where to Stay in Devon

Hotels in Totnes are few, and most are small. This Devon market town sits on the River Dart and draws visitors to its castle, its museum and its independent shops. We checked every lodging named in our old guide and dropped three we could not verify. What remains is a short list of real places to stay, with sourced details and plain notes on what to confirm by phone.

Compare Totnes, Devon, England hotels on Expedia

Where to Stay in Totnes, Devon

Royal Seven Stars Hotel, Hotels in Totnes Town Centre

The Royal Seven Stars Hotel sits on The Plains, Totnes, TQ9 5DD. The building is a former coaching inn at the foot of the main shopping street. The Campaign for Real Ale lists 21 en suite rooms, a restaurant and two function rooms. The pub listing also says St Austell Brewery bought the hotel in February 2020. Cask ale, including Proper Job and Tribute, is on sale in the bar. The phone number on the listing is 01803 862125. Call to confirm room types and current bar hours before you book.

A booking site lists check-in from 3:00 pm to 10:00 pm and check-out at 10:30 am. Guests must be 18 or older to check in. The same listing shows free Wi-Fi, a terrace, a 24 hour front desk and limited parking. Pets are welcome in specific rooms only, so ask first if you travel with a dog. Parking spaces are few, so ask when you reserve.

Historic England records the building as a late 17th century courtyard inn. The writer Daniel Defoe is said to have stayed here. The old listing description is also on the British Listed Buildings site. Grade details differ between sources, so we do not quote one. Booking sites place the Elizabethan House Museum about a three minute walk away and Totnes Castle about eight minutes on foot. They also give a 12 minute walk to Totnes station. We have not walked these routes ourselves, so treat the times as a guide.

The Old Forge, Bed and Breakfast Near Totnes Town Centre

The Old Forge stands on Seymour Place, Totnes, TQ9 5AY. The Visit Totnes website describes a 600 year old stone building with a walled garden and its own car park. The same page says the guesthouse is about a five minute walk from the town centre, close to the River Dart. The phone number is 01803 862174.

Visit Totnes lists two family rooms, six doubles, one twin and a ground floor cottage suite. Some rooms have a private garden or patio. Every room is en suite. Guests get free Wi-Fi, tea and coffee facilities and a buffet breakfast. The breakfast menu covers vegetarian and special diets. You can eat in the dining room, the garden conservatory or the walled garden. Children are welcome and the property is open all year. Pets are not allowed according to the listing.

One warning applies. A local news report from March 2023 said the owners had put the property up for sale because of retirement. We could not find out whether a sale went through. We also found no check-in or check-out times. Call 01803 862174 or visit oldforgetotnes.com to confirm the guesthouse still takes guests and to ask about breakfast. One guest review on a booking site noted breakfast was not included in the room rate, so ask what your booking covers.

Dartington Hall, Where to Stay Near Totnes in the Countryside

Dartington Hall sits on the Dartington Estate, Totnes, TQ9 6EL, which spreads across about 1,200 acres of parkland. The estate runs the hotel itself and gives the number 01803 847000. Sources differ on the room count. The estate says 49 bedrooms and a hotel guide says 50. Rooms are arranged around a medieval courtyard and some look onto the gardens. Choose a room type when you book, because the list runs from singles to suites with both en suite and shared bathroom options.

The White Hart pub and restaurant is close to the rooms. A full English breakfast is served in the medieval White Hart feasting hall. The Green Table cafe serves coffee, cake and lunch. Guests also get free entry to the Grade 2 star listed gardens. The Barn Cinema, a converted barn, shows films all year. Deer park trails and riverside walks start on the estate. Booking sites and hotel guides list Wi-Fi, parking, children welcome and open all year. One guide says pets are not allowed, so confirm by phone if you bring an animal.

We found no check-in or check-out times in the official pages. Phone the hotel to confirm them. The estate is a short drive from the town centre. One listing calls the walk into Totnes a stroll, but we did not find a sourced distance. Check the route and the time before you plan to walk.

Steam Packet Inn, a Riverside Inn in Totnes

The Steam Packet Inn is on St Peters Quay, Totnes, TQ9 5EW, beside the river. A booking site lists six rooms, a restaurant and a bar. Check-in runs from 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm and check-out is at 10:00 am. Guests must be 18 or older to check in. Free Wi-Fi in public areas and free parking are listed. Breakfast is available for an extra charge. Pets are not allowed and the building has no lift.

The same listing gives walking times of about 6 minutes to the Elizabethan House Museum and 11 to 14 minutes to Totnes Castle, depending on the page. A second hotel directory also lists the inn as a traditional riverside inn with a restaurant. We could not reach the inn’s own website, so call to confirm rooms, breakfast and food service before you rely on them.

Bay Horse Inn, a Pub with Rooms at the Top of Town

The Bay Horse Inn is at 8 Cistern Street, Totnes, TQ9 5SP. Visit Totnes describes a real ale pub at the top of the historic centre, about two minutes from the Narrows and Market Square. The pub offers two double rooms and a holiday apartment with a king size bed and a sofa bed. The phone number is 01803 862088.

The pub holds regular jazz, folk and open mic nights, so expect music on some evenings. Visit Totnes says guests can bring their own food from nearby takeaways. Opening hours on the page contradict each other, so check them if you plan to drink there. Light sleepers should ask which room faces the street and which night has live music.

Self-Catering and Holiday Lets in Totnes, Devon

If you want a kitchen, the Visit Totnes website lists several holiday lets. Aish Cross Holiday Cottages offers three cottages, The Coach House for six guests and The Stable and The Hayloft for four each. Leechwell House is a listed townhouse near the station, river and shops, and sleeps five. The Bathing House at Sharpham Estate is a secluded retreat beside the river. Bow Creek Glamping offers a shepherd’s hut with views of the Dart Valley.

Letting agencies such as Helpful Holidays, Coast and Country Cottages and Toad Hall Cottages also list South Devon homes. Their stock changes often. Read the booking terms, ask about parking and confirm the exact address before you pay.

Places We Dropped from the Old Guide

Our earlier guide named the Totnes Elizabethan House Hotel, the Bull Hotel and the Durant House Hotel. We searched booking sites, tourism pages and pub directories and found no lodging by those names in Totnes. The Elizabethan House in town is a museum. Visit Totnes lists a Bull Inn under eating and drinking and gives no room details. We removed all three hotels because we could not verify rooms.

The Dartington Hall entry stays, but we rewrote the entry with sourced detail. Our old text also said the estate hosts a School of Arts. We could not verify this wording, so we dropped the claim.

Things to Do Near Totnes Castle and the River Dart

Totnes Castle is a Norman motte and bailey with a later stone shell keep. English Heritage runs the site. The page says the castle is open daily from 10 am to 4 pm, with last entry at 3:30 pm. The page lists a wall walk, a moat walk and a children’s trail. English Heritage gives no seasonal dates on the page we read, so check before you go. The castle stands at the highest point of the town and overlooks the rooftops, the river and Dartmoor.

Totnes Museum fills an Elizabethan merchant’s house at 70 Fore Street, built in 1575. Its collection holds more than 10,000 objects across twelve galleries, plus a courtyard and herb garden. Entry is free and donations are welcome. The museum closes for winter. The museum site said the house stayed shut until April 2026, so confirm the current season. Wheelchair access is limited to the ground floor.

Other sights include the late medieval St Mary’s church, the Butterwalk, the Leechwell spring and the Eastgate arch. Totnes Riverside station is the southern end of the South Devon Railway, which runs steam trains up the Dart toward Buckfastleigh. Check the railway’s own timetable because services change by season.

Getting to Totnes and Getting Around

Totnes station is on the Exeter to Plymouth line, with direct trains to London Paddington, Plymouth and Penzance. The A38 passes about seven miles west of the town. The A384 links to Buckfastleigh, the A385 to Paignton and the A381 to Newton Abbot and Salcombe. Stagecoach South West, Tally Ho Coaches and County Bus serve the town, and Bob the Bus runs a town minibus.

The town centre is on a hill above the river, so expect a steep walk between the station and Fore Street. Guests with limited mobility should ask each property about stairs. The Steam Packet Inn has no lift. The Old Forge lists some ground floor rooms, but not all disabled facilities.

How to Choose Hotels in Totnes

Start with your plans. Pick the Royal Seven Stars for a central base near the shops, the museum and the station. Choose the Old Forge for a garden and breakfast, once you confirm the guesthouse still operates. The Steam Packet Inn suits a riverside stay. The Bay Horse Inn suits those who like a pub with live music. Dartington Hall suits gardens, walks and quiet.

Totnes has few hotels, so book early for summer weekends and festival dates. Ask each property about parking. Several town centre addresses have limited or no on-site spaces. Compare the cancellation terms on the booking site. Look for free cancellation if your plans may change. We deliberately do not quote room rates, because they change with the season and the day of the week.

What We Checked and What We Could Not Confirm

We checked each property against at least two independent sources, such as Visit Totnes, the Campaign for Real Ale, the Dartington Hall website, hotel guides and booking sites. Several official websites would not load, so some details come from booking listings. We confirmed addresses and phone numbers where a listing gave them. We could not confirm current room counts at the Steam Packet Inn, check-in times at the Old Forge or Dartington Hall, or whether the Old Forge sold after 2023.

Walking times come from booking sites and not our own walks. We did not confirm any prices. Call each property to verify the details you care about most.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

The best hotels in Totnes are small and personal. Use the Royal Seven Stars for a town centre base, the Old Forge or the Steam Packet Inn for a quiet stay, and Dartington Hall for gardens and space. Call ahead to confirm rooms, times and parking, and compare options on Expedia above.

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