Walking South Devon's Coastline
The South Hams — roughly the coastal triangle between Dartmouth, Plymouth and Totnes — contains some of the most consistently beautiful walking in Devon. The Kingsbridge Estuary and the Salcombe Ria create extraordinary walking country: one moment you're on an exposed headland with views to France on a clear day, the next you're dropping into a sheltered cove where the water is clear enough to see the sandy bottom. This is walking where the picnic and the swim are as important as the miles covered.
The South West Coast Path runs the length of the South Devon coast, connecting all the major headlands and beaches. The stretch from Salcombe to Hope Cove, and east from Start Point to Dartmouth, is among the least-walked and most rewarding in the county.
⚠️ South Devon Walking Tips
- Ferries: Several linear walks involve seasonal ferries — Salcombe to East Portlemouth, Bantham to Bigbury, Dartmouth to Kingswear. Check seasonal operation before planning
- Mud: South Devon's estuaries have deep soft mud at low tide. Never attempt to cross estuary shores on foot
- OS Map: Explorer OL20 (South Devon) covers all the South Hams coastal walks
- Parking: Hope Cove, Salcombe and Bigbury are extremely busy in summer — arrive early or use seasonal bus services
- Wildlife: Grey seals are common at Start Point and Prawle Point — Devon's most southerly accessible headlands
The Best South Devon Walks
01
Salcombe to Hope Cove
South Hams Coast · Kingsbridge Estuary · 7 miles of gold-standard SWCP
The coastal path from Salcombe south to Hope Cove — reached via the East Portlemouth ferry across the Salcombe Ria — is routinely named among the finest stretches of walking in England. The path climbs from the ferry landing through East Portlemouth village before hitting the coast, and the views that open up over the Salcombe Ria and out to Bolt Head are immediately arresting. From here the path traces the clifftops through Gara Rock, above Mill Bay and North Sands visible below, past the bold profile of Bolt Head — the southern tip of the Kingsbridge Estuary — and along the cliff to the fishing village of Hope Cove. The walking is varied and never monotonous: some sections are grassy clifftop stroll, others narrow rocky path requiring care. The day ends at the harbour at Hope Cove, where the Cottage Hotel has been serving cream teas to muddy walkers for decades.
Full Salcombe walk guide →02
Prawle Point
South Hams · East Prawle · Devon's southernmost point
Prawle Point is the southernmost point of Devon — a narrow promontory of schist rock that juts into the English Channel. The walk from East Prawle village circles the headland via the coast path, passing the old Coastguard Lookout (now a National Trust volunteer watchpoint), the WWII signal station ruins and the Gammon Head rock formation before climbing back to the village. Grey seals are almost always visible on the rocks below the point, and the spring and autumn birdwatching from the lookout is exceptional — Prawle is the best seabird and migrant watch point in Devon, particularly in September and October. The village pub at East Prawle (The Pigs Nose) is an essential finish to the walk: a genuinely old-fashioned Devon local that has changed very little since the 1970s.
Full Prawle Point walk guide →03
Start Point
South Hams · Hallsands · Lighthouse headland and a lost village
Start Point lighthouse stands at the end of a narrow, dramatic promontory east of Salcombe. The walk along the promontory to the lighthouse is short but spectacular: the ridge narrows until the sea is visible on both sides, and the rocks below are permanently white with surf on anything but the calmest days. The historic interest lies 300 metres north: the ruined village of Hallsands, which was undermined and largely destroyed by a single storm in 1917 after commercial dredging removed the protective shingle bank. The remaining cottages cling to the cliff face above the sea. A viewpoint path gives the full picture of the ruin — one of the most sobering and beautiful small pieces of Devon coastal history.
Full Start Point walk guide →04
Bigbury to Burgh Island
South Devon · Avon Estuary · Tidal island, Art Deco hotel and medieval inn
Burgh Island is one of Devon's great short excursions — a tidal island 250 metres offshore from Bigbury-on-Sea, connected to the mainland by a sand causeway at low tide and by a remarkable 1960s sea tractor at high tide. The island is dominated by the Art Deco Burgh Island Hotel (one of Agatha Christie's favourite retreats — she wrote two novels here) and the medieval Pilchard Inn, which has been serving drinks to fishermen and smugglers since 1336. The walk itself is short: over the causeway, around the island path to the Huer's Hut on the cliff above, and back. But the setting — with the Avon estuary to the east, Bantham surf beach to the west and Bigbury's own beach below — is as beautiful as any in South Devon. Time it for low tide to walk the causeway.
Bigbury-on-Sea beach guide →05
Dartmouth Castle to Kingswear
Dart Estuary · Dartmouth · Castle, coast and a historic ferry crossing
The walk from Dartmouth Castle along the east bank of the Dart Estuary to Kingswear is one of the finest estuary coastal walks in Devon — and one of the least known. From the 15th-century castle at the mouth of the estuary, the coast path climbs to the cliffs above Blackstone Point, with views back to the castle and across to Kingswear Castle on the far bank. The path follows the estuary north through mixed woodland and open clifftop, passing the Inner Froward Point wartime gun battery, before dropping to Kingswear village and the Lower Ferry crossing to Dartmouth. On the ferry, the full beauty of the town — a perfect Georgian quayside rising steeply from the river — is revealed at once. The Dartmouth Steam Railway runs from Kingswear if you want to extend the day towards Paignton.
South Devon guide →06
Slapton Sands and Torcross
Start Bay · Torcross · A remarkable barrier beach and Second World War history
Slapton Sands is one of the geological wonders of South Devon — a three-mile barrier beach that separates the sea from the freshwater Slapton Ley nature reserve behind it. The walk north from Torcross along the beach and the quiet lane behind the ley gives a sense of the extraordinary thinness of this natural dam: the road is often within a few metres of both sea and freshwater simultaneously. Torcross has a Sherman tank in the car park — recovered from Start Bay in 1984 — a reminder that this beach was the scene of Exercise Tiger in 1944, when a German E-boat attack on practice D-Day landings killed nearly 1,000 American troops. The ley is excellent for birdwatching year-round, and the beach walk in winter, with the whole strand empty and the sea grey and heavy, is as dramatic as Devon gets in the colder months.
Slapton Sands beach guide →🎒 South Devon Walking Kit
- OS Explorer OL20 — covers the whole South Hams coast from Dartmouth to Plymouth
- Ferry timetables — download or screenshot before you go. Salcombe, Bantham and Dartmouth ferries are essential for many linear walks
- Tide tables — Start Bay and the Avon estuary have significant tidal range. Beach walks can disappear fast
- Sunscreen — South Devon faces south and east. Summer walking here is genuinely warm and exposed
- Binoculars — seals, dolphins (offshore), seabirds and the distant French coast on very clear days
- Swim kit — every good South Devon walk ends at a beach. You will want to swim
Getting to South Devon
The South Hams is reached via the A38 Devon Expressway from Exeter (take junction for A384 Totnes then A381 for Salcombe/Kingsbridge, or A3122 for Dartmouth). From Plymouth, the A379 coast road runs through Modbury and into the South Hams. There is no railway directly to the South Hams, though the Dartmouth Steam Railway connects Paignton with Kingswear, from where the ferry reaches Dartmouth. The Tally Ho! bus connects Totnes with Kingsbridge and Salcombe.
🚌 Getting There Without a Car
South Devon is harder to reach by public transport than other parts of Devon, but not impossible. The 164 bus runs from Plymouth to Kingsbridge and Salcombe. From Totnes (served by GWR trains from Exeter and London) the Tally Ho! 164 connects to Kingsbridge. Dartmouth is reached from Paignton by the Dartmouth Steam Railway to Kingswear plus the Lower Ferry. For Bigbury, the 93 bus from Kingsbridge runs seasonally. Start Point and Prawle have almost no public transport — these are effectively car-access walks.