North Devon or South Devon: Which Coast for a Family Day Out

Short answer: North Devon is big surf beaches and dramatic cliffs — Woolacombe, Croyde, Saunton. South Devon is sheltered estuaries, ferries and warmer calmer water — Salcombe, Dartmouth, Bigbury. With toddlers, go south. With teenagers who want waves, go north.

This is the choice Cornwall does not make you make

Devon has two coasts and they are genuinely different holidays. Cornwall has a north and a south too, but they are an hour apart and people hop between them. In Devon the two coasts are a good two hours apart across the middle of the county, so you pick one and stay with it.

North Devon: surf, scale and cliffs

The north coast faces the Atlantic and it shows. Woolacombe is three miles of west-facing sand. Croyde produces the most reliable waves in the county. Saunton Sands is three miles more, backed by Braunton Burrows, the largest dune system in England. Ilfracombe has a working harbour, and the cliffs run dramatically all the way to Exmoor at Lynton and Lynmouth.

It suits surfing, big walks, dog days out of season and anyone who wants scale. It is exposed — when the wind is up it really is up — and the beaches are often a walk from the villages behind them.

South Devon: estuaries, ferries and shelter

The south coast is a series of drowned river valleys, which changes everything. The water at Salcombe, Dartmouth and Teignmouth is sheltered, calm and comparatively warm. Instead of surf you get paddleboards, small boats and passenger ferries that are actual transport rather than a novelty.

The beaches are smaller and more tide-dependent. In exchange you get warmer swimming, prettier towns, better eating and days built around boats.

Which one with children

• Toddlers and small children: south. Sheltered water, shorter walks, calmer sea.
• Teenagers who want waves: north. Croyde and Woolacombe, with surf schools on the sand.
• Buggies and wheelchairs: Exmouth in the south has two miles of flat sand and a level promenade — the easiest beach in Devon.
• Dogs in summer: north. Saunton allows dogs all year, and Woolacombe zones its beach rather than banning them.

The tiebreaker: weather

The south is the more weatherproof half. Torquay has the caves, the model village and the dinosaurs. Exeter and Plymouth are both there. In the north a wet day means Ilfracombe's aquarium and museum, The Big Sheep or The Milky Way, and not a great deal else.

And if you cannot choose

Go inland. Dartmoor sits between the two coasts, about an hour from either, which makes the moor towns — Bovey Tracey, Tavistock, Chagford — a reasonable base for seeing both.