Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Credit & Debit Cards
Visa and MasterCard credit cards, and debit cards such as Maestro, are widely accepted, but some of the region's smal-
ler businesses, such as B&Bs or pubs, only take cash or cheque.
Most supermarkets and village shops have a cash-back system: if you spend more than £5 on your debit card, they
also allow you to withdraw a small amount of cash, which is added to your bill.
Opening Hours
For details of opening hours of banks, museums, post offices, pubs, restaurants, cafes and shops,
Click here
.
PRACTICALITIES
»
Regional newspaper
The daily,
Western Morning News.
»
Local BBC stations
Featuring local news, weather and travel information, plus surf conditions and tide times:
BBC Radio Devon (103.4 and 95.7FM) and BBC Radio Cornwall (95.2 and 103.9FM).
»
Independent radio
Includes music-focused Pirate FM in Cornwall (102.2 and 102.8FM;
www.piratefm.co.uk
)
and the networked Heart stations (
www.heart.co.uk
).
»
BBC websites
Local news and information on
www.bbc.co.uk/devon
and
www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall
.
»
Regional TV
Spotlight
(BBC1 6.30pm weekdays; early evening weekends) and
The West Country Tonight
(ITV1 6pm weekdays; early evening weekends).
Telephone
Mobile phone coverage in the region's towns and cities is good, as are signals in many, but not all, rural and coastal
areas. Geography also means different networks have different zones where they provide poor or no reception - depend-
ing on the location and your provider, you could find your phone will not work. A few moorland or coastal areas have
no signal at all. Payphones are common in towns and cities, with a reasonable number in rural areas.
Phones in the UK use GSM 900/1800, which is compatible with Europe and Australia but not with North America or
Japan, although phones that work globally are increasingly common.
Useful Numbers & Codes
Lonely Planet lists the usual area codes (eg 01752 for Plymouth) separated from the local number by a hyphen; only the
local number needs to be dialled from the same area. Useful numbers include:
International access code
00 to dial out of the UK
International direct dial code
44 to dial into the UK
International directory enquiries
118 505
Local directory enquiries
118 118, 118 500
Operator
100
