East Devon Beaches — The Jurassic Coast Complete Guide

Beach 01

Exmouth — East Devon's Seaside Capital

EX8 1AQ  ·  Sandy  ·  2 miles of beach  ·  All facilities

Exmouth holds a proud place as one of Devon's great seaside towns. Two miles of broad, firm golden sand stretch along the Esplanade, backed by Victorian terraces and a lively promenade. At its best on a summer morning, before the crowds arrive and the kitesurfers fill the estuary mouth with colour, Exmouth beach is simply magnificent.

The beach is divided in character. The main Esplanade stretch is well-facilitated — cafés, deckchair hire, amusements — with RNLI lifeguards patrolling late May through September. The northern end opens onto the wide mouth of the Exe Estuary, one of the best watersports venues in Devon.

Maer Beach — The Quieter End

At the northern end of Exmouth, past the funfair and amusements, lies Maer Beach — technically a continuation of the same sands but with a distinctly different, quieter atmosphere. Dogs are welcome year-round with no seasonal restrictions. The backdrop of the Maer Nature Reserve adds a wilder feeling, and on calm days the swimming is excellent.

Exe Estuary Watersports

The wide mouth of the Exe Estuary, sheltered from the open Atlantic swell, is one of Devon's premier watersports venues. Kitesurfing is particularly popular here — on windy afternoons the sky fills with kites. Local operators offer paddleboard and kayak hire, and the estuary's bird-rich mudflats make a rewarding paddle even in winter.

Beach 02

Budleigh Salterton — The Pebbled Retreat

EX9 6NT  ·  Pebble  ·  Dogs year-round  ·  1.5 miles

Budleigh Salterton is Devon's most genteel beach town — and its beach reflects that character entirely. The long, clean pebble beach curves gently beneath red Triassic cliffs, and on a summer afternoon the scene is one of unhurried, timeless English seaside life. There are no arcades, no funfairs — just a clean beach, good air, and the distant sound of pebbles shifting in the surf.

The pebbles here are remarkable: smooth, rounded quartzite cobbles of the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds, deposited by ancient river systems draining what is now Brittany more than 240 million years ago. You'll find them nowhere else on the English coast, and their distinctive shape and colour make Budleigh's beach immediately recognisable.

The Boyhood of Raleigh

The beach at Budleigh Salterton is immortalised in one of Victorian painting's most beloved works — Sir John Everett Millais' 1870 canvas The Boyhood of Raleigh, in which a young Walter Raleigh sits rapt as a sailor spins tales of distant seas. Millais painted it here, using the distinctive red pebble beach as his setting. The original hangs in Tate Britain. Raleigh was born at Hayes Barton farmhouse just a few miles inland.

Otter Estuary — Birdwatching Paradise

At the western end of the beach, the River Otter meets the sea at a small but important estuary nature reserve. Avocets, egrets, curlew and oystercatchers make this one of the most rewarding short birdwatching spots in East Devon. The estuary is also one of the first English sites for the rewilded European beaver — a remarkable ecological success story.

Beach 03

Ladram Bay — Sea Stacks & Fossils

EX9 7BX  ·  Shingle & sand  ·  Jurassic Coast sea stacks  ·  Sheltered

Ladram Bay is one of the most photographed spots on the entire Jurassic Coast — and with good reason. The beach is flanked by extraordinary rust-red Triassic sandstone sea stacks, rising vertically from the sea, their faces streaked with the mineral colours of 240-million-year-old desert sediments. At golden hour or in low winter light, they are breathtaking.

The beach itself is a sheltered, coarse-sand-and-shingle cove. At low tide a reasonable spread of sand is exposed, and the rock pools around the base of the stacks are among the best in East Devon — full of anemones, crabs, blennies and occasionally small octopus. The water in the cove, sheltered on both sides by high cliffs, tends to be calm and warm in summer.

The red Mercia Mudstone cliffs at Ladram Bay are Triassic in age — around 240 million years old — and the beach below regularly yields fossil fragments after storms. Always collect from the beach, never from the cliffs — the soft red rock is notoriously unstable.

Beach 04

Sidmouth — Victorian Elegance on the Jurassic Coast

EX10 8EG  ·  Shingle & sand  ·  Regency seafront  ·  Dogs on Jacob's Ladder

Few English seaside towns make as immediate and favourable an impression as Sidmouth. The red sandstone cliffs that frame the bay, the coloured beach huts lining the Esplanade, the elegant white-fronted Regency hotels, the blue-green sea — this is a town that has resisted the worst impulses of coastal development and preserved something genuinely beautiful.

The beach is mainly shingle, with sand exposed at low tide, and stretches between dramatic red Jurassic cliffs at both ends. Swimming is good in calm conditions. The town behind is exceptionally well-stocked with independent shops, galleries, cafés and pubs. Every August, Sidmouth hosts one of England's most beloved folk festivals — a week-long celebration that has taken place since 1955.

Jacob's Ladder Beach

At the western end of the Esplanade, a historic water-powered cliff lift (one of only two remaining in the country) descends to Jacob's Ladder Beach. This end is quieter, less developed, and dogs are welcome year-round. The cliffs above are particularly dramatic, and it's the best spot from which to appreciate the sheer geological theatre of Sidmouth's setting.

High Peak & Peak Hill

The hills rising behind Sidmouth offer the best viewpoints in East Devon. High Peak at 157 metres gives a sweeping panorama from Exmouth to Portland Bill on a clear day. The climb from the town takes about 45 minutes and the coast path east toward Branscombe from here is outstanding.

Beach 05

Branscombe Beach — Wild & Unspoilt

EX12 3DP  ·  Shingle  ·  National Trust  ·  No facilities on beach

Branscombe is where the coast starts to feel genuinely remote. The beach sits at the foot of a deep, wooded valley, accessible by a 2-mile walk from Branscombe village or a shorter descent from the National Trust car park. Either way, you earn it — and the reward is one of the least-spoilt beaches on the South West coast.

The beach is shingle, and the sea here has a quality you notice immediately: clear, wild, deep-coloured, and somehow louder than on more developed stretches of coast. The surroundings are entirely National Trust land — steep valley sides covered in ancient woodland, thatched farmsteads, and high chalk and flint cliffs above. There are no facilities on the beach itself — bring everything you need.

Branscombe Village

The village of Branscombe, strung along a mile-long valley behind the beach, is one of the most characterful in Devon. The National Trust owns much of the valley, including a working forge that has operated for centuries and the village bakery — thought to be the last traditional bake house in the county. The Masons Arms, a thatched 14th-century inn, is widely considered one of the best pubs in East Devon.

Beach 06

Beer Beach — The Working Fishermen's Cove

EX12 3ET  ·  Shingle & sand  ·  Working beach  ·  Sheltered cove

Beer is arguably the most charming village on the East Devon coast — a crescent of cream-coloured cottages built from local Beer Stone (used in Exeter Cathedral and Westminster Abbey), clustered around a sheltered cove where fishing boats are still winched up the beach each day. The village has been a fishing settlement for over a thousand years.

The beach sits in a natural harbour formed by high chalk cliffs on both sides, giving Beer some of the calmest water in East Devon. The swell that batters exposed Jurassic Coast beaches rarely penetrates here, resulting in excellent swimming conditions — a clear-water cove that warms quickly and feels genuinely Mediterranean on fine days.

Fresh Fish & Fishing Heritage

Beer's fishing fleet is one of the last working beach-launched fisheries in Devon. Lobster, crab, mackerel and sea bass are landed here daily in season, and fresh fish is sold directly from the beach. It's one of those quietly special experiences that reminds you the South West coast is still, in places, an authentically working coastline.

Beer Quarry Caves

Half a mile above the village, the Beer Quarry Caves offer one of the most unusual attractions in Devon. Quarried from Roman times until 1920, these vast underground caverns provided the pale cream Beer Stone used in Exeter Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London. Guided tours take you through cathedral-like chambers explaining two thousand years of quarrying history. Genuinely remarkable.

Beach 07

Seaton Beach — Gateway to the Axe Valley

EX12 2SD  ·  Pebble & shingle  ·  Dogs year-round  ·  Estuary town

Seaton is the easternmost of East Devon's significant beach towns, sitting at the mouth of the Axe Valley where the River Axe meets the sea. A lower-key resort than Exmouth or Sidmouth — quieter, less polished, but with excellent natural attractions that make it well worth a visit, particularly for families and birdwatchers.

The beach is a long, broad pebble and shingle shore — clean, open, and dogs welcome year-round with no seasonal restrictions. The Axe Estuary to the west is one of the most important wetland bird reserves in the South West, managed by the RSPB — avocets breed here in summer, one of the very few Devon sites.

Seaton Tramway

The Seaton Tramway is one of Devon's most delightful transport experiences — a narrow-gauge electric tram running 3 miles through the Axe Valley from Seaton to Colyton, passing through the heart of the wetlands. Open-sided trams run spring to autumn, with the route offering excellent views of avocets, herons and egrets. About 30 minutes each way — excellent for families.