Grab the bucket and spade, roll up your trousers and get ready to rock-pool.
If you fancy a traditional seaside holiday camping on the South Devon coast, Dawlish might just be the resort you’re looking for. But these days, you don’t have to get in a tangle with guy ropes as there’s plenty of luxury camping and glamping near Dawlish too. With a traditional seaside resort town as well as the dune-backed beach at Dawlish Warren, it’s no surprise that there are lots of camping and glamping sites to choose from. We’ve been hard at work finding the best of them to feature in this collection…
Between picturesque Exmouth and the English Riviera, Dawlish offers a fantastic location on the South Devon coast. The area includes the archetypal seaside resort of Dawlish town as well as the wilder beauty of Dawlish Warren where sand dunes, wildlife and birdwatching rank among the attractions. Choose camping or glamping here for a beachside break that puts you within easy reach all that South Devon has to offer. There are traditional tent camping sites as well as luxurious glamping sites so whether you want to pitch your own tent, park up in a campervan or take things a little easier with a holiday in a bell tent, yurt, shepherd’s hut or glamping pod, you should find something to suit you.
Dawlish offers two beaches for days at the seaside during a camping or Glamping Holiday in this part of South Devon. A short walk from the Victorian and Regency buildings of the town brings you to the sandy shores of town beach, backed by red cliffs and the scenically-situated railway line and, a couple of miles up the coast, is the well-known Dawlish Warren Beach. A sand and shingle spit at the mouth of the River Exe, this Blue Flag beach offers wilder beauty with 1.5 miles of beach backed by dunes which are part of a nature reserve and a great place for birdwatching.
Dawlish town has its own remarkable birds, black swans which can be seen on the brook which runs through The Lawn, a green space in the centre of town. You can learn more about the town at the small Dawlish Museum. Seaside attractions in the area include go karting, adventure golf and amusements. It’s not far to some of South Devon’s other treasures from Torquay with its connections to the crime writer Agatha Christie, to picturesque Exmouth and quirky Totnes. If you like walking, set out on the South West Coast Path and for cycling try the Exe Estuary Cycle Trail. And there’s more adventure and stunning scenery out in Dartmoor National Park, less than half an hour’s drive away.
Dawlish in Devon is better known for its easterly neighbour, Dawlish Warren, generally considered a part of the same town and the archetypal seaside resort. There are numerous campsites near Dawlish, letting campers make the most of the town and Blue Flag Beach, but only the best make the but for Hipcamp.