Exeter is one of the steadier stops in this guide for travel insurance purposes, but it is still worth carrying, particularly once Dartmoor becomes part of the itinerary rather than the city itself. Devon's cathedral city has good local hospital care by UK standards, so the case for coverage leans toward cost, trip disruption, and onward moorland activity rather than any unusual medical danger in Exeter proper.
Whether your own health cover applies in the UK depends entirely on your country of residence and specific plan, and this page cannot answer that for you; check whether your existing cover extends to the UK before you travel, since the rules for visitors differ by nationality and by whether the trip is personal or work-related. A standalone travel policy remains the simpler option for most visitors regardless of what a home plan might technically include.
Dartmoor, reachable from Exeter within an easy drive, draws hikers onto open moorland with fast-changing weather, patchy phone signal, and genuinely disorienting fog in poor conditions; this is where a routine city trip picks up real activity risk. Confirm your policy covers hiking and mountain-rescue-style response on open moorland before heading out, and treat trekking poles and a proper map as risk reduction rather than a substitute for cover that pays if something goes wrong far from a road, since mobile signal across the open moor is genuinely patchy at best.
Anything beyond Exeter's own hospital capacity is typically handled through referral to Bristol or, for the most complex cases, London, so confirm your policy covers transfer between UK facilities rather than assuming local care alone is enough. Keep any clinic paperwork, mountain-rescue incident reports, and receipts for delayed travel, and check your policy's claims-notification timeline before you travel rather than assuming automatic reimbursement afterward once you are home.