Short answer: Budleigh Salterton is the quiet one — a long crescent of large smooth pebbles under red cliffs, a High Street of good cafés, and the River Otter estuary behind the beach. Bring beach shoes: the pebbles are beautiful and awkward.
Budleigh Salterton sits between Exmouth and Sidmouth and is quieter than both. No arcades, no big car parks full of day-trippers, and a pace that suits people who want a gentle day by the sea.
The beach is a long crescent of large smooth pebbles under red sandstone cliffs. They are beautiful and genuinely awkward to walk on — bring beach shoes. A paved promenade runs behind the beach for the easier walking.
The other half of a day here. The estuary and the wetland nature reserve behind the beach are excellent for birds, and the path upriver to Otterton is flat and easy.
The western sweep of the beach faces west, which makes it the best sunset spot in town — and it fills with paddleboarders on warm evenings.
Bicton Park is north of town — sixty-odd acres of gardens with glasshouses and a Victorian fernery, and dog friendly. Exmouth is ten minutes west, Sidmouth twenty minutes east.
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