Short answer: Dawlish improves in winter. Waves break clean over Brunel's sea wall as the trains pass a few feet away, and it is free to watch. The Smugglers Inn has a large car park and a carvery in three portion sizes.
Most Devon seaside towns shrink between November and March. Dawlish gets better, because what people come for is the railway running along the beach — and in a winter swell the waves break clean over the wall as the trains come through.
It costs nothing, the promenade is level, and it holds the attention of people with no interest in trains whatsoever.
Dawlish station sits on the seafront, so you can step back onto the platform if it turns unpleasant. Few places on this coast let you watch a storm from shelter.
Stay behind the wall rather than on top of it, and never turn your back on the sea. Waves are not evenly sized and the big ones arrive without warning. In a severe storm, watch from the station or from further back.
Coryton Cove, half a mile south along the sea wall, is sandy and sheltered by cliffs — and empty in winter. Dawlish Warren two miles north is a long sandy spit where the stretch towards the nature reserve sees almost nobody.
Still on the stream through the middle of town, as they have been for decades. A two-minute diversion that works in any weather.
Winter opening is where online listings are least reliable. Ring before you drive — several places here show as closed on Google and answer the phone perfectly happily.
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