Short answer: Westward Ho! takes the full weight of the Atlantic with nothing in the way. The pebble ridge behind the beach is a bank of cobbles the sea threw up, which tells you what it is capable of. The Pier House is glass-fronted.
Because there is nothing between this beach and the Atlantic. Two miles of exposed sand facing open ocean, and a swell that has crossed a lot of water to get here.
The enormous pebble ridge behind the beach is the evidence: a bank of cobbles thrown up by the sea doing exactly what you have come to watch.
Big and glass-fronted above the bay with window tables looking straight out to sea. The warm way to do this, and the obvious choice with anyone who does not want to stand in it.
Behind the pebble ridge rather than on the beach. The ridge itself is hard going in daylight and dangerous in a storm — do not cross it to get closer.
Across the estuary, with a visitor centre. Parts of the car park flood at high tide, so read the signs — particularly on a spring tide, which is exactly when you will be there.
This is one of the most exposed beaches on this list. In a named storm, watch from the Pier House window and leave the beach alone entirely.
A big Atlantic swell with a spring tide is the combination, and this coast gets the weather before the rest of Devon does. In a named storm the honest advice is to book a window table and stay behind glass.
The Guillemot Bar at Latitude 51 is spacious with very good accessibility and enormous portions. Parking is a flat £8 for the day whatever the weather.
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