Short answer: There is a paid car park across the road from Sidmouth's main beach and it fills on sunny days. Jacob's Ladder beach has paid parking within about fifteen minutes' walk. Check the tide before you commit — much of Sidmouth beach is under water at high water regardless of where you park.
This is the unusual thing about Sidmouth. Much of the beach is submerged at high water, so the state of the tide matters more to your day than where you leave the car. Time it for a falling tide and pebbles give way to golden sand; time it wrong and you get a narrow strip of shingle whatever you paid to park.
There is a paid car park directly across the road from the esplanade, which is the obvious choice and gets busy accordingly. Sidmouth is a compact town, so anywhere central leaves you a short walk from the front, the independent shops and the Anchor Inn.
For the western beach below Connaught Gardens, there is paid parking within about a fifteen-minute walk. This end is worth the effort — better rock pools, a gentler shelf for swimming, and the Clock Tower café up in the gardens with sea views. The gardens themselves are free.
Weston Beach, east of town, is half a mile of empty beach reached by a twenty to thirty minute walk down from the clifftop, steep in places. One reviewer described visiting on a bank holiday when every other beach was packed and finding this one nearly empty. There are no facilities and a naturist section to the right, so go knowing that.
The red cliffs here are actively unstable and there have been repeated rock falls, with sections of Jacob's Ladder beach fenced off at times. Wherever you park, stay away from the cliff base where it is signed. There is still plenty of beach to use.
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