Short answer: Lynton sits five hundred feet directly above Lynmouth harbour, which makes it the best high vantage point on this coast — you watch the sea from well above it. Parking is free outside the summer dates.
Height. Lynton sits five hundred feet above the harbour at Lynmouth, which means you can watch a serious sea from a position the water cannot reach. Very few places on this coast offer that.
Exmoor behind gives the whole thing a scale the resort towns do not have.
Lynmouth's history with water is not a light subject. The village was devastated by flooding in 1952 with significant loss of life, and the rivers here can rise very fast after heavy rain on Exmoor.
That is the reason to take river levels as seriously as the sea. If the East Lyn is in spate, keep well away from the banks and the bridges.
From the clifftop, five hundred feet up, looking down on the harbour and out across the Bristol Channel. The safest and the best.
East of Lynmouth, for height along the coast. The Blue Ball Inn is up here with thick walls and plenty of parking.
The esplanade and harbour are at sea level and take the full force. In heavy weather, go up.
Roadside parking is free entirely outside the summer dates, which covers the whole storm season. The cliff railway has reduced winter operating days — check, because the alternative is the steep hairpin road. Bring cash: several places up here are cash only and the signal is patchy.
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