Short answer: Park in Salcombe town and take the passenger ferry to the East Portlemouth beaches rather than driving round — the lanes take forty-five minutes and the National Trust car park fills by eleven. The North Sands machine does not take cards and the phone signal for the app is unreliable, so bring coins.
The single most repeated complaint about parking in Salcombe is the payment. The North Sands car park machine takes cash or the app, the app needs a phone signal, and the signal down there is poor. People turn up with cards and no change and end up stuck. Bring coins and the problem disappears.
This is the trick that makes a Salcombe day work. The best beaches — Mill Bay and Sunny Cove — are on the East Portlemouth side of the estuary. Driving round means about forty-five minutes of single-track lanes with tight passing places, and then a National Trust car park that fills by about eleven in season.
The passenger ferry from town takes a few minutes and drops you on the sand. Park once in Salcombe, walk on, and the whole day gets easier. There is alternative parking about a mile from Mill Bay at around £5 a day if you are set on driving, but it is a twenty-minute walk at the end of it.
South Sands has a car park opposite the beach, but the road down is very narrow and it is usually full before three. There is free parking further up that road, and plenty of it — the catch is a steep climb back up at the end of the day with beach kit and tired children. The sea tractor and ferry link back into town from here, which is often the better plan.
Worth a specific warning. The National Trust garden above South Sands has very limited parking at the house itself, and the overflow car park is a mile and a half away with a windy walk in. Sturdy shoes, and do not assume you will get a space at the top.
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