Plymouth is unusually generous for a city of its size. Some of its best experiences — a national museum, a mile of clifftop views, a working Elizabethan harbour — cost nothing at all.
The Hoe is the city's front room. This wide grassy clifftop looks out over Plymouth Sound, and on a clear day you can see the breakwater, Drake's Island, Mount Edgcumbe across the water in Cornwall, and the Mewstone beyond Wembury. It costs nothing to walk it, and the benches along the promenade are among the best free seats in the South West. Come at sunset in summer, or on a big-swell winter afternoon when the waves break over the foreshore.
Plymouth's flagship museum and gallery opened in 2020 and remains free to enter. The permanent displays cover the city's maritime history, natural history and archives, and the temporary exhibition programme is genuinely ambitious for a regional museum. The suspended ships' figureheads in the main hall are worth the visit on their own. Allow two hours; more if there's a major exhibition on.
The oldest part of the city, and the bit most visitors fall for. Cobbled streets, Tudor and Jacobean buildings that survived the Blitz, working fishing boats, and the Mayflower Steps where the Pilgrims departed in 1620. Wander the lanes off Southside Street, watch the lock gates operate, and pick up chips to eat on the harbour wall.
Firestone Bay and Devil's Point sit below Royal William Yard with clear water and views across to Cornwall. Further east, Jennycliff offers a shingle beach, woodland walks and one of the best panoramas of the Sound. The South West Coast Path runs through the city, so you can walk from the Barbican to Jennycliff in about an hour.
Central Park is the largest, with woodland, playing fields and the Life Centre at its edge. Devonport Park has Victorian bones and sea views. Saltram's parkland (National Trust) charges for the house but the wider estate walks are free to access from Plympton.
Plymouth runs an unusually strong free events programme: the British Firework Championships in August draws tens of thousands to the Hoe at no charge, Seafest fills the Barbican in September, the West End Carnival takes over the city centre, and the Christmas Market is free to browse through late November and December.
Plymouth's events calendar is updated every morning — see what's on in Plymouth today, browse this weekend's events, or find free events across the city.
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