Short answer: The River Otter estuary path is flat, easy and better for birds in winter than summer. Walk the paved promenade rather than the beach — wet pebbles are genuinely treacherous.
The promenade and the Otter estuary path, both free. Budleigh is the quietest town on this coast at the best of times and close to empty between Christmas and New Year.
The beach is large smooth pebbles, and wet pebbles in December are treacherous underfoot. There is a paved promenade behind it, and that is where to walk.
The estuary path behind the beach is flat and easy, and the wetland reserve is better for birds in winter than in summer. The path upriver towards Otterton stays walkable even after rain.
Paved, level, with the red cliffs behind. The western sweep faces west, which makes it the best spot in town if the sun comes out.
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 red cliffs along this coast are actively unstable and winter rain makes rock falls more likely, not less. Keep well away from the cliff base wherever it is signed.
Bicton Park north of town has an Italian garden and Victorian glasshouses, which is the wet-day answer here in normal weeks — though check whether it opens over Christmas.
If you want to eat out, book now rather than in December. The places that do serve on Boxing Day fill weeks ahead, and the ones that do not take bookings have queues instead.
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