Short answer: The harbour is level and has parking right beside it, which makes it the base for a toddler day. The aquarium is small enough to hold attention without exhausting it. Watermouth Castle, ten minutes east, is aimed squarely at under-tens.
Ilfracombe climbs steeply away from the sea and parts of the high street are a genuine push. The good news is that almost everything you want with a toddler is on the flat ground round the harbour, and there is parking directly outside the aquarium on the quay.
Small is the point. Reviewers note that many visitors are through in twenty minutes — which is a criticism if you are an adult and exactly right if you are two. It is a single walk-through route from moorland stream to open sea, with all species native to Britain, and the staff will show children the crabs and starfish feeding.
One practical warning: there are no toilets inside the aquarium. The public ones next door charge and are not always clean, so plan accordingly.
Ten minutes east and the best paid day out for this age group in the area — walk-through castle rooms, a gnome village, water gardens, a maze, old arcade machines and a toboggan run. Reviewers with three and four-year-olds describe them loving it, and there is a really good park within the grounds.
Enough of it is indoors to survive a wet day, which is more than most of north Devon can offer.
Ilfracombe Beach has pay-and-display parking right alongside, which is the most straightforward approach in town. It is small and gets busy on a hot day. Combe Martin, ten minutes east, is the better toddler beach — sheltered, tidal, with excellent rock pools at low water and Kiln car park with toilets and a short path down.
Rapparee and Lee Bay are both lovely and both reached on the coast path or through fields — not pram country. The chapel walk above the harbour is a climb.
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