Beaches South West England Budleigh Salterton - East Devon | Budleigh Salterton - East Devon |
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General Getting There O.S. Map Ref: ST 060 816 Budleigh Salterton is reached by the B3178 from Exmouth or (in the opposite direction) from the A3052 and B3178 from Sidmouth. When in the town, the largest car park (paying) is just inland from the Eastern end of the beach. There are smaller car parks in the town itself. Description
Some years ago the local council erected signs advising "nude bathing beyond this point" in order to deflect complaints from textiles who might wander into the area used by naturists. This has been seen by some as making Budleigh Salterton an "official" naturist beach. Although it does not alter the legal position at all, it may be reassuring to those who use the beach. In general, complaints have only arisen when naturists have strayed too close to the town and textile bathers - please exercise common sense. Facilities Water Quality User Comments
Trip Report - August 2005 "My husband and I decided to try naturist sunbathing this summer for the first time. We were told about Budleigh Salterton by a mutual friend and were told it was ideal for first timers. The beach was clean with the naturist section being to the west of the beach. We made sure that we walked quite a way down the beach so not to upset textile bathers. There were lots of couples and some families that where really friendly and there were a few single men walking down the beach to the very far end. As for our first time we will be definitely be doing nude bathing again and are looking to book a summer '06 naturist holiday. Thank you for the information that yourselves and BN give to people looking to take up nude bathing - the information is very informative." Trip Report - June 2004 "We have been using this beach for the last couple of years and thoroughly enjoy the peace and quiet there. We have a couple of concerns though- the nudist end of the beach is clearly signed, but many people seem to be abusing this and encroaching on the Textile side. This does not seem necessary to us as there is plenty of beach for everyone, but we feel if people abuse this, then as always in life, they will lose it. This would be a great shame. " Trip Report - June 2004 "Went to this beach yesterday, 2nd June 2004 on a lovely sunny day with light but intermittent high cloud. You could describe it as hazy sunshine. Walked about 300 yds West along beach on arrival, and found a couple of single blokes and single women, and about 100 yds further on a few more small groups. People steadily arrived all morning with many of the men removing their shorts/trunks etc just E of me so I guess I was unwittingly sitting on the "edge" of the perceived nudist-area. Arrived at 10.30 and on leaving at 1.00pm did a head-count and found there must have been about 60 folks. Saw no nudist signs but on walking back to the car realised there were more nude sunbathers than textiles on Budleigh Salterton beach yesterday morning ! I would certainly go again and would recommend it to first-timers. There were no random gawkers or strollers at all in the time I was there. My wife is a reluctant nudist and hasn't been there yet but I will take her to Budleigh beach this Summer." Trip Report - July 2002 If you would like to contribute to this page, please use the form below. Comments (6)
  written by Mr M, July 24, 2007
This was my first time to nude sunbathe and I went to this place as it's nearest me. I had a great time and felt extremely comfortable and thought I would be shy but it wasn't an issue. I'm a 37 year old male and noticed all ages although most were probably 50 . Lot's of singles and many couples with ample of space, but you do get the occasional clothed beach walker passing by but after a while I felt very liberated and nonchalant to care, in fact the whole experience, which I'm looking forward to trying again, actually gave me confidence in myself. Highly recommended and would love to meet and share it all again with other people. It would be great if there was a forum for straight decent people to meet up I think. From
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written by Lisa, March 19, 2008
I love this beach. In the summer, its really picturesque. Normally, people imagine a vast sandy beach in the summer, but I always think of this dainty pebble beach when I think about a summers day. The ice-cream shop called "The Creamery" is really good too, best in England apparently. But I do really like this beach, its perfect for a family day out, or with your partner. I also really like this beach during the winter to walk the dog, as its really serene and there aren't many people out but I'm not quite sure whether you can walk dogs there anymore - maybe just after September or something...But anyway, I strongly recommend coming to this beach at least once and checking out the ice-cream shop too as its well worth the visit. Oh and also there are great walks throughout Budleigh. I was unaware of there being a Nudist, but people do what they do!
written by Keith, May 27, 2008
This is a great naturist beach and I decided to visit today (27th may 0
 although I have been before. I found it very quiet when I got there with a few people about, mainly men about my age, and stripped naked. After half an hour or so more people including couples and men walked past and stopped to talk and I felt very relaxed in my naked state talking with strangers. I then had a naked walk down the beach before heading off.I had a relaxing few hours at the beach and feel more at ease naked in front of others. written by Cas, June 07, 2008
This is a very sleepy and respectful town with no problems, no disrespect but it's OAP's everywhere in the town. You will find a small high street running paralell to the beach, about 100 metres back. The high street and shops is tiny and if driving through, very narrow. Budleigh Salterton beach is accessable half way down the high street (shops) up a small lane. The biggest problem a visitor will face is finding somewhere to park. There are several options. There is a big car park about half a mile away to the left of the town, this is OK but you are putting a huge distance between you and the nudist area which is to the right of the town centre. Just to clear things here, it's hardly a town as such, more a street with a handful of small local shops. Some people are happy to stroll this big distance but not fun if carrying bags, etc. Another option is a small car park that's directly in the centre of the town and opposite the lane to get to the beach, this is the nearest and most convenient, however there are drawbacks to this car park. You can only buy a ticket to the maximum of 3 hours, where you have to return to buy more hours after it's expired plus it can be costly. As for myself I park for free heading half a mile out of town towards Exmouth as I don't mind the walk and if the weather is good I can stay all day without worry. There is also another car park situated at the traffic light system in the tiny town centre, heading inland a couple of hundred metres. You are completely unable to see the nude part of the beach while driving through or any nude bathers by glancing up the beach, you have to park your car and walk to the beach and head right and keep walking over the pebble beach (no sand). I would seriously advise to get all your snacks and water before heading towards the nude part of the beach as it's a fair distance to walk over the pebbles. It's also advisable to take a parrasol or wind breaker as there is no shelter from the sun along the beach which has a huge cliff face behind you. Once you found the one and only beach hut tea shop you need to keep walking to the right as you face the sea. You will find a sign saying clothes optional beyond this point which is about 200 metres away from the tea shop. Many prefer walking another 200 to even 500 meters away for even more privacy but it's a long walk over pebbles in my opinion and I tend to find it's manily gay men who walk out this far. As I'm hetro, I usually sun bathe just after the permitted nude sign, close to the tea shop and not too far down the beach which stretches well over a mile to the right. The beach also strethces out to the left of the town and this is for clothed sun bathers only. As I'm a frequent visitor I find it to be a great place to strip off and sun bathe. It's very long and narrow with a huge cliff face behind you for total privacy. Stepping into the water can be a bit daunting due to the pebbles and drops in depth. You are able to walk up and down the beach in the nude in the designated area and go for a dip, but you must cover up again when your about 300 metres away from the beach hut tea shop, heading towards the town. I find Budleigh Salterton ideal to strip off and sun bathe along with many others. I like the cliff face behind as it stops people prying, etc. The only drawback is the pebbles and parking, but it never stops me going when the sun is out. Maybe see you there or come over and say hi.
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written by Mr & Mrs White, July 21, 2008
A lovely beach and well sheltered by the cliffs but we have found the 500m sign a little confusing. We went early and walked a good distance along before settling down. Slowly more people arrived but all were single males and clearly some were not there for a naturist experience! Two of them sat too close, one each side of our position. Without going into detail they did not leave themselves alone. A third wierdo sat to our front (doing similar!) but he had binoculars and was constantly scanning up and down the beach with them. We are both open minded and were not threatened by the behaviour but it would clearly be deemed illegal and jeopardise continued use of this beach if this type of activity continues.
The moral of this would appear that you don't need to go 500m as we discovered when we walked back. There were many naturists easily within 300m of the Steamer Steps but still far enough away that no offence would be caused. The mix improved the nearer we got to the steps.  written by Togidubnus, July 27, 2008
Today was Nude Central at Bud, with seemingly the population of a small village getting their kit off to enjoy the perfect weather today, with a flat calm sea as warm as bath water (no, really). We saw Capt. Birdseye with his binoculars but he was only a minor irritation, but I agree that there can be a small number of willy-wavers some days. But if there were any today they seemed to keep it amongst themselves, and always much further up the beach. Mostly it was couples, and lots of locals who seemed to know each other well and created a friendly atmosphere, all together in the all together. The nude population was nearly up to the Steamer cafe, and many topless women on the main beach.
Something to watch for is if you go even further up the beach (past all the "seedy" activity) on weekends you can encounter a fair number of water skiing boats which can be a hazard. I really don't see why they have to ski so close to the shore when there's a whole ocean out there they can use. I think really they like the excuse to have a look at people's naughty bits, which is probably why they fall off a lot (tee hee). But it's a real danger, and there are no exclusion buoys. If you want to park in Budleigh for free, by the way, turn left after straight on at the traffic lights when you get into town, down The Lawn. You can park anywhere from there on, either down The Lawn, or follow the bend a little further on down East or West Terrace. From East Terrace there's a dandy little passageway called Pebble Lane which is an excellent shortcut straight the beach. See you there. Write comment
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