Short answer: Dawlish is the best storm watching in Devon and it costs nothing. Waves break clean over Brunel's sea wall with the trains passing behind them, and the station sits on the seafront so you can watch from shelter.
Because the railway runs along the beach on a sea wall, which means a big swell produces something you cannot see anywhere else in England: water going clean over the wall as a train comes through it.
People drive a long way for this. It is free, and in a proper storm it is genuinely spectacular.
Dawlish station sits right on the seafront, which makes it the one place on this coast where you can watch a storm from under cover. If it turns properly foul, you step back onto the platform.
The promenade well back from the wall, or from a parked car on the seafront. Both give you the view without putting you in reach of the water.
The Smugglers Inn on the hill towards Teignmouth has views over fields to the sea and a large car park — the warm, dry version.
In a severe storm the sea wall and promenade are closed, and sections of the line are shut. If it is taped off, that is not a suggestion.
Aim for the hour either side of high water on a spring tide with a big swell running, which is when the wall takes the most. Dawlish gets talked about nationally when a storm hits, so you will usually have a few days' notice.
The Smugglers Inn has a large car park and a daily carvery in normal weeks. Sola Bar & Kitchen at Dawlish Warren does freshly made food and the best pizzas around. The Wild Swan Brasserie on the Strand is the most interesting cooking in town.
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