Short answer: Almost nothing. Every attraction in Devon is shut, including all eight National Trust properties, Powderham, Babbacombe and Plymouth Winter Wonderland. Large supermarkets are closed by law. What <strong>is</strong> open: the beaches and the coast path, the <strong>Bay of Lights</strong> on Torquay seafront, three free services at <strong>Exeter Cathedral</strong>, and any restaurant you booked weeks ago.
Every beach in Devon is open, the whole coast path is open, and the car parks are free in a good many towns. Nobody has to unlock a beach. It is the best walking day of the year in the county — the light is low, the sand is empty, and the winter dog restrictions have lifted on most beaches.
The flat, easy ones if you have eaten too much and brought elderly relatives: Exmouth has two miles of level promenade, Brixham half a mile of flat breakwater, and the Exeter Quay and canal towpath is level the whole way. Dawlish is the storm-watching one if the weather has turned. Those pages are written for Boxing Day but the walks are the same on the 25th — it is the pubs at the end of them that differ.
The Bay of Lights runs on Christmas Day, because it is a mile and a half of public seafront that nobody has to open. It is free, it is level the whole way, and on the 25th it is the only lit attraction operating anywhere in Devon. If you want to get everyone out of the house in the evening, this is the answer.
Three services, all free, none needing booking: Choral Eucharist at 10am, Choral Matins at 11.45am and Choral Evensong at 4pm. Most Devon parish churches hold a morning service too, usually around 10am. The full cathedral Christmas programme has the Christmas Eve services, including midnight mass at 11.30pm.
Hotels and a handful of restaurants serve Christmas Day lunch, but pre-booked only — there is no walking in anywhere on the 25th. What it costs and when to book has the real price range, which is £79 to £175 a head, and the deposit and pre-order deadlines. If you have not booked by now, this is not an option for this year.
All eight National Trust properties — Saltram, Killerton, Buckland Abbey, Arlington Court, Castle Drogo, Greenway, Knightshayes and Coleton Fishacre.
Powderham Christmas Light Walk and Babbacombe Model Village.
Plymouth Winter Wonderland — closes 7pm on Christmas Eve, shut all day on the 25th, reopens noon on Boxing Day.
Both steam railways. The last Santa trains ran on 23 December.
Every pantomime. They stop for the 25th and resume on the 26th or 27th.
Large supermarkets, by law rather than by choice — shops over 280 square metres in England must close on Christmas Day. Some small convenience shops and petrol station forecourts open for a few hours, but do not count on it. Buy what you need on Christmas Eve.
Almost every pub and cafe, unless it is doing a booked lunch. The pubs that open on Boxing Day are mostly shut on Christmas Day.
Buses and trains. There is effectively no public transport in Devon on Christmas Day — no trains at all, and no bus service. If you have no car you are walking, so plan around where you already are.
A few Devon beaches see an informal Christmas Day dip, but unlike the New Year’s Day swims they are rarely organised or advertised — it tends to be the same handful of people who swim all year, rather than an event with a bucket and a crowd. There is no county list because there is nothing central to list.
If you want to join one, the local swimming group’s Facebook page is the only place it will appear, usually a day or two ahead. Devon’s organised festive swims are mostly on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day instead.
If you are going in: cold water shock is the risk, not the distance. Go in slowly, stay where you can stand, and get out before you stop shivering. On Christmas Day in particular, do not go alone — there are fewer people about than on any other day of the year, and RNLI lifeguard cover has long finished for the season.
A walk somewhere flat and coastal in the middle of the day, the Bay of Lights after dark if you are anywhere near Torbay, and everything else at home. Devon on Christmas Day is a day for being outside and then indoors, not for a day out.
Boxing Day is the day that actually works: far more pubs open, most attractions back, the Winter Wonderland from noon, and no deposits or pre-orders needed.
Every December date in Devon, what actually happens on New Year’s Eve, and Christmas and New Year town by town. What is open in Devon in winter covers the wider season.
Pick a town and plan the day around who's with you.
Browse all Devon town guides →