Barnstaple centre was at nearby . The station building still exists, and can be viewed on-line from a webcam mounted on Barnstaple Civic Centre. A separate "Barnstaple" station, renamed Barnstaple (Victoria Road) in 1949, was opened to the east of the town in 1873 as the terminus of the Devon and Somerset Railway, eventually a part of the Great Western Railway. A junction was later provided to allow trains access to Barnstaple Junction and these ran through to Ilfracombe. It was closed in 1970. There are a selection of well-regarded primary and secondary state schools and a tertiary college in Barnstaple.
Barnstaple Bideford and to Bude and then further down towards Cornwall. The Barnstaple bus network is privatised and run by many bus operators including Stagecoach South West. The main bus station is located on the junction with Queen Street and Belle Meadow Drive. Following frequent bus services operate from Barnstaple: National Express services to London, Heathrow Airport, Taunton, Bristol and Birmingham also run services from Barnstaple. The nearest airport is Exeter Airport. Barnstaple railway station is the terminus of a branch line from Exeter, known as the Tarka Line after the local connection with Tarka the Otter. The station is near