Short answer: Wide flat sand with an accessible ramp down, and Burgh Island directly in front. Check the tide before you plan anything involving the causeway, and bring cash — the car park app rarely loads here.
The beach, which is wide, flat and sandy with an accessible ramp down from the car park. That makes it one of the easier Boxing Day walks in the South Hams with a buggy or a wheelchair.
At low water you walk across the sandbar to Burgh Island for nothing. The tide comes in from both sides and cuts the causeway faster than people expect, and the sea tractor does not run all day in winter. Being stranded on Burgh Island on Boxing Day is not the plan.
If you cross, know when the last crossing back is.
Wide and flat, facing west with the island in front. Clear light on a cold afternoon here is as good as the south coast gets.
The viewpoint above the bay gives you the island, the grey cliffs west and the whole sweep of the bay. Short, and worth the climb.
Ring before you set off. Boxing Day hours are decided late, change year to year, and are the single thing most likely to be wrong online. A two-minute call beats a wasted drive.
The main car park pays by app and the phone signal is poor — worse in weather, and worse again when everyone else is trying to load it at once. The lower car park has a cash ticket machine and sits next to Venus Cafe.
If you want to eat out, book now rather than in December. The pubs that do serve on Boxing Day fill weeks ahead, and the ones that do not take bookings have queues instead.
See the full Bigbury on Sea guide, filtered by who's with you.
Plan your day near Bigbury on Sea →