A few quick facts about Brixham to kick us off: it’s the fishing port with the largest haul in England (and 2nd largest in the UK after Peterhead in Scotland), it’s part of Torbay which is a UNESCO Global Geopark, it has its own pirate festival every May, and it was also the landing point for William of Orange in the 17th century before he went on to be crowned King William III.

I’ve visited Paington and Torquay, the other two main towns in Torbay, in the past and while they’re good for families as they have various kid-friendly attractions and beaches, I found them a bit dull for a couple’s break. The area is also known as the ‘English Riviera‘ due to its beautiful coastline – a name I said with a bit of skepticism in the past, but this trip really has changed my mind about that!

We originally booked a break in Brixham so that we could visit the nearby otter sanctuary but had to reschedule that part of the trip – we still found plenty to keep us occupied though! Brixham turned out to have an abundance of scenic walks, great food and nature to enjoy.

We stayed at Harbour View, a cheap and cheerful bed and breakfast just a few minutes walk from the harbour and town centre, but as you’d expect there are plenty of holiday cottages and fancier coastal hotels to take your pick from, as well as some boutique B&Bs. We even found ourselves googling some of the mansions overlooking the harbour to see how much they were to rent for a weekend (incidentally, you can book the 8-bedroom Wolborough House for around £3k for three nights in peak season).

Things to do

Brixham Harbour is a great spot to sit and watch the world go by, with a constant flurry of trawlers, ferries and sail boats. There are also plenty of people having a go at crabbing along the harbour wall, or fishing – although it seemed like you were far more likely to catch a crab than a fish from what we saw!

There isn’t a pier or other seaside attractions in Brixham like you get in nearby towns, it’s a bit more of a chilled vibe here, with lots of outdoor options including walks, boat trips, and water activities such as kayaking or paddleboarding.

There are several options for swimming, including at the beach next to the breakwater, Churston Cove, St Mary’s Bay and at the free-to-visit Shoalstone Seawater Pool, just a short walk from the harbour. They’re pebble or shingle beaches rather than sand though, so bring some water shoes if you have them, otherwise it’s not too uncomfortable to walk on.

Days Out

You can walk around most of Brixham in an hour or two, so if you’re staying more than a night I’d book a boat trip or head to one of the nearby towns for the day.

There’s the popular Round Robin steam train and boat combined ticket which takes you to Dartmouth, Kingswear and Paington, or a regular ferry to Torquay. You can also book private excursions to do dolphin spotting, or go on a sunset cruise with a fish and chips dinner.

We booked the ferry to Dartmouth which gave us three hours in the town to explore and worked well for us – it meant we didn’t get to go on the steam train but we could clearly see (and hear) it from across the estuary, and we still had ample time to wander around this historic town, see Dartmouth Castle and get the little ferry back to the harbour.

You can also get a foot passenger ferry across to Kingswear if you want to see more, and there are regular steam boat trips up the River Dart to Totnes. The boat ride itself from Brixham to Dartmouth was really scenic, and we spotted some bottlenose and common dolphins on both legs of the journey – the crew were great at pointing them out to us as well as local points of interest and history.

If you want to grab something to eat while in Dartmouth, I really enjoyed the fresh crab sandwiches from The Crab Shell near the quayside (they also had salmon, tuna or crayfish sandwiches), and a takeaway cream tea from Smith Street Deli.

Walks

We did a good amount of stomping around while we were in Brixham. The walk out along the breakwater at the end of the harbour is half a mile each way so a good one to start the day – you may even spot some seals!

Some other good local walks include to the pretty Churston Cove (30 minutes from Brixham harbour), Berry Head (30 minutes) or St Marys Bay (30min) and on to Sharkham Point (45min). The South West Coast Path runs through here, so if you’re up for a longer walk you can go all the way to Torquay in one direction, or towards Dartmouth in the other.

Food & Drink

For such a short trip, we packed in some great munch. As I mentioned before, Brixham is the top fishing port in England, so if you like seafood, this is the ultimate place! Even if you’re more likely to just stick to classic fish and chips, you’re getting some of the freshest and best quality in the country, so fill your boots.

• Shoals – this unassuming restaurant is perched above Shoalstone Seawater Pool and has lush views across Torbay. We had an excellent meal here – it’s very small so make sure to book, and be aware that they only have a limited amount of each fresh catch (I got the last of the sardines and the red mullet even though we were one of the first tables!)
• Claws – a seafood shack on the quayside, where you can pick up little pots of cockles, whelks, prawns, scallops, mussels, whitebait, crevettes, oysters, rollmops or crab, as well as fresh sandwiches, salads and seafood platters.
• Olive – we were drawn in by ‘wine tasting every day’, which is made possible by their enomatic machines, which allows you to have smaller amounts of more wines. There were 16 different wines you could have in 50ml, 125ml or 175ml measures, as well as plenty of others by the bottle. All of the menu had suggested wine pairings, and you can choose from Mediterranean-inspired small plates, cheese & charcuterie boards or sharing mains such as cote de boeuf. Everything we had was great, and we enjoyed trying a few different wines with a view of the harbour.

• Harbour Ice Cream – an ice cream parlour on the quayside with a big selection of Salcombe Dairy ice creams (many of which have Great Taste Awards), soft serve, fudge or sweets – I really enjoyed their rum & raisin and Tom had the honeycomb clotted cream. Nearby I.SCREAM on the harbourside was also super popular and does ice creams in cones as well as sundaes and milshakes.
• Old Market House – take a seat on the upstairs balcony to enjoy some great views across the harbour. It’s got a gastropub feel but you’re fine to just have a drink like we did.
• New Quay Inn – an old and cosy pub with local ales, pub grub and lots of games. We enjoyed chilling here for a couple of hours and quizzing eachother!
• Rockfish – The well-known seafood chain of restaurants has a prime position overlooking Brixham fish market, and even has its own fishmongers downstairs. The balcony of the restaurant overlooks the heritage fishing fleet, and the menu is updated in the moment with which catches are available. On the evening we visited we could pick between plaice, megrim, lobster, sardines, ray wing or silver mullet, as well as the main menu.
• The Mermaid – a funky harbour front bar with ourdoor seating and a big cocktail menu.
• The Wine Loft – a wine shop which also does tapas and nibbles which you van enjoy with a glass or two of wine. They close at 6pm which is a shame if you fancy an evening visit, but you could pop in for a lunchtime tipple.
• At Thai – much-recommended Thai food in the town centre.
• Guardhouse Cafe – we stopped here for a cuppa and cake after walking around Berry Head and everything we saw coming out of the kitchen looked fantastic, I had so much food envy! They also do regular food & entertainment evenings on Thursdays.
• Albero – another lovely recommendation for pasta and Mediterranean dishes with a view of the harbour.
• Curious Kitchen – we had this spot recommended for brunch or lunch.

Let me know if you do any of the above, I love hearing if people have used the guides during their trips! If you found this post particularly useful, you can buy me a coffee to say thanks – thank you to everyone who has so far, it really does mean a lot.

Have a read of some more guides:

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• A short break in: Malaga
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