Short answer: Woolacombe, Croyde, Exmouth, Bigbury-on-Sea and Blackpool Sands all have RNLI lifeguards in season plus toilets and food. Putsborough and Strete Gate have no lifeguards despite being popular, and several of the prettiest coves have no facilities at all.
Devon's coast has strong currents in places, beaches that shelve steeply, and estuary mouths where the water moves fast. Lifeguard cover is seasonal and it does not extend to every beach that gets busy — which means some of the most popular spots in this guide have no cover at all.
Putsborough, the southern end of the Woolacombe sands, has a café, shop and its own car park but no lifeguards — reviewers note this specifically. Strete Gate near Dartmouth is a long pebble beach that shelves steeply with no lifeguards, which makes it a poor choice for children to swim from despite being lovely to walk.
Saunton Sands is three miles of open sand with a kiosk, shop and surf shop, but check what cover is in place before assuming.
Several of the best-looking beaches in this guide have nothing on them. Man Sands at Brixham, Weston at Sidmouth, Compass Cove at Dartmouth, Ness Cove at Shaldon and Lee Bay near Ilfracombe all have no toilets, no café and no cover. Some have facilities at the top of the walk — Ness Cove and Weston do — but nothing on the sand.
This is the one to take seriously. Swimming near estuary mouths is genuinely unsafe in Devon. At Exmouth the currents run hard where the Exe meets the sea, and there are signs. At Shaldon the tidal currents in the Teign make it a paddling and crabbing beach rather than a swimming one. At Bigbury the causeway to Burgh Island is cut off faster than people expect.
Wildersmouth at Ilfracombe is signed against swimming on water quality grounds — treat it as a walking and paddling beach. Coryton Cove at Dawlish is specifically noted by locals as having no nearby outflow, which is part of why they rate it above the town beach.
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