Short answer: Connaught Gardens are free and the Clock Tower café inside them is the best-value stop in Sidmouth. The beach costs nothing beyond parking. Weston Beach, a walk east of town, is free and almost always empty. Sidmouth has no expensive paid attractions to blow the budget on.
There are no big paid attractions here — no theme park, no aquarium, no arcades to speak of. That is precisely what people like about it, and it means the budget stays intact. The costs are parking, food and nothing else.
Connaught Gardens on the clifftop above Jacob's Ladder are well kept and free to walk around, with sea views and a genteel Regency feel. The Clock Tower café inside them has sea views from the tables, home-made cakes and garden seating, and is the best-value stop in town. Dogs allowed downstairs. Closed Tuesdays.
The main beach and Jacob's Ladder are both free once you have parked. Check the tide before you plan the day — much of the beach is under water at high water, and on a falling tide golden sand appears below the pebbles. Jacob's Ladder has the better rock pools and a gentler shelf for swimming.
Weston Beach, east of town, is the free one nobody uses. Half a mile of beach reached by a twenty to thirty minute walk down from the clifftop, steep in places, and genuinely deserted when everywhere else is packed. No facilities, and a naturist section to the right.
Milsons Point on the High Street does the best breakfast and brunch in town with a cream tea for three coming in at just under thirty pounds — good value for what it is, and dog friendly. Book at weekends.
The Anchor Inn is the pub, with generous portions at fair prices and a beer garden that stays cooler than the seafront. The fish pie and fishcakes are what to order. The Pea Green Boat's set two-course lunch is good value for a seafront position.
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