Short answer: Roadside parking is free entirely outside the summer dates, which includes 1 January. The Valley of Rocks is free and spectacular under a hard winter sky, with an easy level path as well as the higher routes.
Worth knowing before anything else. Roadside parking in designated bays is free for two hours between 10am and 6pm from Good Friday to 31 October — and outside those dates and hours there are no restrictions at all. On 1 January it is simply free.
A dry valley of dramatic rock formations with wild goats and sweeping sea views. There is an easy level path as well as the higher routes, so it suits a mixed group on a morning when nobody is at their sharpest.
A wooded gorge where two rivers meet, sheltered by trees and at its best after rain. The walk down is easy; the climb back up is the part people underestimate.
Exmoor was Europe's first International Dark Sky Reserve. On a clear 1 January evening, twenty minutes away from the village lights shows the Milky Way to the naked eye — and the nights are long enough that you do not have to stay up for it.
Almost everywhere opens later than usual on New Year's Day, and some places do not open at all. Ring in the morning rather than assuming.
Several places up here are cash only with patchy signal, and the nearest machine is in Lynton. The cliff railway has reduced winter operating days — check, because the alternative is the steep hairpin road between the two villages.
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