Short answer: The beach is the whole point and it costs nothing. Three miles of flat sand, dog restrictions lifted since October, and almost nobody on it. Captain Jacks is one of the few places open right through the winter.
The beach. Three miles of it, free, and on Boxing Day morning you will share it with a few dozen people rather than a few thousand. The dog zoning lifted on 1 October, so the whole length is open.
That is the honest shape of Boxing Day here: the outdoors is guaranteed, and everything with a door needs checking.
Woolacombe Sands end to end and back is about three miles on hard sand at low tide — no climbing, no mud, and the tide does the work of flattening it overnight. Check the tide times; at high water the sand narrows considerably.
Up to Mortehoe and out towards Morte Point. It is a proper climb out of the village, but the headland on a clear winter morning gives you Lundy on the horizon and grey seals in the water below.
Woolacombe largely shuts for winter, so the list is short and worth knowing:
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.
Assume the beach shops, the surf hire and most cafés are closed. The Barn and the Tides Inn both reduce hours sharply out of season and may not open at all on the day.
The thing that makes Woolacombe expensive in August is irrelevant on Boxing Day — the main car parks are quiet and you will park first time. The machines still want coins.
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.
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