Haven Devon Cliffs
Devon Cliffs is one of Haven's largest holiday parks, spread across the cliffs above Sandy Bay near Exmouth. It's self-catering caravans and lodges, with a heated indoor pool and waterslides, about a mile of sand below and one of the biggest daily activity programmes of any Devon park, much of it aimed at young children. The Jurassic Coast begins at the rocks at the foot of the site, and it's the only Haven park in the county, open right through the year.
On this page
- Is it worth it?
- Quick facts
- What the package includes
- What the park is like
- Every place to eat
- Kids eat for £1
- The caravans and lodges
- The pools
- The beach
- Babies and toddlers
- Things to do
- Step-free access
- The area and days out
- Loves and gripes
- How it compares
- Getting there
- Weather and when to go
- Questions
- Photo gallery
Is it worth it?
The quick read before the detail: who Devon Cliffs suits, what the two packages cover and the facts to skim first.
Devon Cliffs has one of the largest activity programmes of any Devon holiday park, about a mile of sand directly beneath it and the western end of the Jurassic Coast at the foot of the cliffs. Across the review sites it sits between 3.8 and 4.4 out of 5 as of mid-2026, strongest on Google, where more than 5,760 reviews average 4.4. That's a solid base for a park this size rather than a top one.
Two things shape whether it suits a family with young children more than the activity list does. The first is the ground. The park is spread over the cliffs, and the main complex holding the indoor pool, the food and the entertainment venues sits at the bottom of a gully with every accommodation area above it. That means a climb with a pram unless you drive down. The second is that there's no crèche and no drop-off club here, so every session is one you do alongside your child rather than a couple of hours to yourselves. Neither is a reason on its own to rule the park out, and both are worth weighing before you book.
Best for
You want a big activity and entertainment park with sand at the bottom of the cliffs, you're driving down anyway and you're happy doing the activities together.
Maybe not for
You'd be pushing a pram everywhere without a car, you want a few child-free hours or you're expecting full resort service mid-week out of season.
Best ages
Babies upwards, and the list for the youngest is unusually deep for a holiday park. Make a Bear is for children two and over; the Football Dartboard is for ages 6 and over.
What stands out
Orcombe Rocks at the foot of the park is the western tip of the Jurassic Coast, so fossil hunting is a walk away. World of Country Life is next door too, with no car needed.
What to check
Which package you're being quoted, since the cheaper Hideaway has no pool, no venues and no activities. Then the accommodation area, since Ivy Close, Fir Close and Maple Park are nearest the main complex.
Where is it?
On the cliffs above Sandy Bay, three miles from Exmouth on the east Devon coast, near the western tip of the Jurassic Coast.
Quick facts for families
What the Haven package includes
What the Play Pass covers, what the cheaper tier leaves out, when the booking windows open and where the extra costs sit.
Haven sells the break in two tiers, and the gap between them is wider than the names suggest. Which one you book decides whether you get the pools, the shows and the activities at all, so check which tier a price covers before you compare it with another.
The Haven Holiday package is the standard family choice and pairs the accommodation with a Play Pass. That Play Pass covers 14 indoor pool sessions per booking, access to the outdoor pools, entry to every entertainment show at Capone's and Bugsy's including the Seaside Squad, plus the ability to book activities. Some of those activities are free to book, among them Activitots, Activikids, the ranger activities and outdoor play. Others carry a charge on top.
The Haven Hideaway package is the cheaper baseline. It covers the accommodation, the restaurants and the arcades. There's no pool access, no entry to the entertainment venues and no activities. That's the whole difference between the two tiers, so it's worth checking which one a price you've been quoted is for.
Two booking windows matter, and they're different lengths. Activities open 12 weeks before you arrive; pool sessions open 4 weeks before. Fourteen sessions is the allocation per booking rather than per person or per day, and Haven says the slots fill in peak season, so the morning your window opens is the time to log in. Activities are booked through the My Haven app.
The activities Haven names as carrying a charge on top of the Play Pass are Make a Bear, the creative craft sessions such as slime making, sand art and pottery, archery, the aerial adventures, NERF, the climbing wall, the segways and The Jump. Haven doesn't publish the fees, and its family FAQ calls them a small additional charge. A week of them can lift the total well past the headline booking price, which reviewers raise and Haven's own terms confirm, so price the sessions you're set on in the app when your booking window opens rather than after you arrive.
A gully, and the hills above itWhat the park is like
Devon Cliffs sits on the cliffs above Sandy Bay, roughly three miles from Exmouth, at the junction of South Devon and the East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The River Exe estuary is immediately to the west, and the park is near the western tip of the Jurassic Coast, England's only natural UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's one of Haven's largest parks and the only one the chain runs in Devon. Haven itself is part of the Bourne Leisure Group. The park is open year-round, with Christmas and New Year packages alongside the standard season. For the wider county, our Devon guide covers the coast and the days out beyond this corner of it.
The layout matters more here than at most parks. The main complex, holding the indoor pool, the food outlets and the entertainment venues, sits in a gully at the lower part of the site, and every area of accommodation is uphill from it. Haven's own FAQ puts it plainly, describing the park as very hilly with inclines to all areas, and says the walk from the furthest accommodation to the main facilities takes 15 minutes. There's no flat route between the two.
Getting around is on foot or by car. Haven doesn't list an on-park shuttle, and golf buggies, the little electric carts some large resorts run to ferry guests about, aren't among the facilities here, so there's nothing to call for a lift up the hill. Families with a vehicle drive between their caravan and the main complex, and there's parking on site. If you're pushing a pram, the area you book is what decides how much of that hill you do. Ivy Close, Fir Close and Maple Park are the areas closest to the main complex, and they're the ones Haven names for guests with pushchair or mobility needs. The Marinas is the other named area, and the one where the air-conditioned Gold caravans sit. A family blogger who has stayed several times also asks for a central spot close to both the beach and the main complex, though a request isn't the same as an allocation.
Every place to eat and drink
Every outlet on the park, the hours that move with the season and where the food shopping comes from.
Devon Cliffs is self-catering, so every caravan and lodge has a proper kitchen and most families cook a fair share of their meals. What's on the park is one pub, a sea-view café and a run of high-street chains and kiosks rather than resort restaurants, so think of it as somewhere to eat out a couple of times rather than somewhere to be fed all week.
The Red Rocks is new for 2026 and is a full J D Wetherspoon pub and restaurant, which brings the standard Wetherspoon offer of all-day food from breakfast through to evening meals, with draught and bottled drinks at pub prices. High chairs are available, and dogs are welcome in a designated area inside.
South Beach Café is the sea-view café and restaurant on the park, serving food and drinks, with dogs welcome in a designated area. It's the outlet guests single out most warmly in the reviews.
The rest are familiar names. Slim Chickens is the fast-casual chicken chain, with hand-breaded tenders, wings and craft sandwiches. Chopstix is an Asian noodle bar doing freshly cooked noodles, toppings and sides. Papa Johns does pizza, ordered by QR code at the entertainment-venue tables through the My Haven app. Burger King runs its standard menu, and Cook's Fish & Chips is the chip shop. For drinks, the Beach Bar is down on the sand with sea views and the Sports Bar has multiple screens. Bertie's Ice Cream and Millie's Cookies are the two kiosks.
Opening hours are the part to plan around, because they vary by season and by week and there's no published timetable for them. In the reviews we read, several outlets, Slim Chickens, Chopstix, Burger King, Cook's and the ice cream among them, were closed mid-week outside the school holidays, with guests describing one opening while the rest stayed shut. Peak weeks and weekends are when the park runs at full service. Outside those, it's worth assuming fewer choices and having a plan to cook.
The only shop on the park is the Prize Shop, which is for arcade winnings rather than groceries, so plan to bring your food shopping with you or drive the three miles into Exmouth, where the nearest large supermarket is. With a baby, that covers the nappies, the formula and the baby food too.
Kids eat for £1 does not apply here
Haven runs a kids eat for £1 offer across its parks, and it's the sort of thing families budget around before they arrive. It doesn't operate at Devon Cliffs. The offer's terms list every participating park and restaurant by name, and neither Devon Cliffs nor The Red Rocks appears on that list, because The Red Rocks is a Wetherspoon franchise rather than a Haven-run restaurant. That's a point about how the pub is run rather than about the food or the park. It does mean the cheap children's meals you might be counting on aren't part of the deal here, so the eating-out budget is the thing to adjust.
The caravans and lodges
All eight grades with their official sizes, the indoor and outdoor pools and the sand at the bottom of the cliffs.
There are no hotel rooms at Devon Cliffs. Everything is a self-catering caravan or lodge with a fully equipped kitchen, a living area and its own bedrooms, and the grades run from a budget Saver up to Haven's premium lodge. Eight grades in all, and the table is the full line-up with the official sizes.
| Grade | Official size | Beds | Sleeps | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saver Caravan | 280 sq ft (26 m²) | 2/3 bed | 4/6 | Entry level, and Haven's most budget option. |
| Bronze Caravan | 420 sq ft (39 m²) | 2/3 bed | 6/8 | Wider than the Saver, with a larger kitchen and lounge, central heating and double glazing. |
| Silver Caravan | 420 sq ft (39 m²) | 2/3 bed | 6/8 | The same footprint as the Bronze, with decking and smarter furnishings. |
| Signature Caravan | 420 sq ft (39 m²) | 2/3 bed | 4/6 | The Silver features, in a front-row spot with a sea or lake view. |
| Gold Caravan | 560 sq ft (52 m²) | 2/3 bed | 4/6 | The largest caravan, with wrap-around decking. Air conditioning can be pre-booked on the Gold caravans at The Marinas. |
| Signature Gold Caravan | 560 sq ft (52 m²) | 2/3 bed | 4/6 | The Gold features, in a front-row spot with a sea or lake view. |
| Emerald Lodge | 16ft wide | 2/3 bed | 4/6 | Lodge grade, with modern free-standing furniture, a 40" TV in the lounge and a 22" TV in the main bedroom. |
| Signature Diamond Lodge | 20ft wide | 2/3 bed | 4/6 | Haven's premium lodge, with front-row uninterrupted sea views. |
For a family the first question is floor space rather than grade. The Saver is 280 sq ft, which is small once a travel cot is down alongside the pushchair, so it's worth stepping up if the budget stretches. The Bronze and Silver are both 420 sq ft and both sleep up to eight, the best sleeping capacity on the park and the pair to look at for a large family or two families travelling together. The Gold and Signature Gold are the largest at 560 sq ft, and their wrap-around decking gives you outdoor space you reach without stairs, which is the useful part with a toddler.
The Signature grades carry the features of the grade they're built on, the Signature Caravan on the Silver and the Signature Gold on the Gold, and add a front-row sea or lake view. Worth noting that the Signature Caravan sleeps up to six where the Silver sleeps up to eight, so on the 420 sq ft footprint the view costs you two beds. Air conditioning is confirmed only on the Gold caravans at The Marinas, and it's pre-bookable rather than standard, so it has to be asked for when you book. The two lodges are sold by width rather than floor area, the Emerald at 16ft and the Signature Diamond, Haven's premium lodge, at 20ft.
Indoor all year, outdoor in summerThe pools
The indoor pool is heated, with multi-lane waterslides and flumes, and it's open year-round, which is what makes an off-season break here viable. What runs in it for the youngest are the Aqua Paddlers, Aqua Jets and Aqua Inflatable sessions. Those are equipment used in the main pool rather than a separate shallow pool, so if a dedicated toddler pool is something your family needs, it's worth asking the park before you book.
Swimming comes with the Haven Holiday package rather than with the caravan. The outdoor pools open at May half term and at weekends until 6 July, then from 6 July to the August bank holiday they run on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and weekends. You don't need a separate booking for them if you already hold an indoor pool session.
Tube Slides are new for 2026, a separate attraction from the indoor waterslides, where you sit on an inflated ring and go down. There's a pool hoist on request, and a designated disabled toilet and changing area at the pool. There's no spa, no adults-only pool and no lazy river; this is a family holiday park rather than a resort.
The beach
Sandy Bay is about a mile of sand directly beneath and beside the park, backed by high red-sandstone cliffs. At low tide the sand flattens and runs south to join Exmouth's main beach, making a combined stretch approaching two miles. At the western end, Orcombe Rocks mark the western tip of the Jurassic Coast, so rock pooling and fossil hunting are both possible there. A seasonal lifeguard service covers the beach, with red and yellow flags when it's on duty, and the local signs are worth reading before anyone goes in.
Haven's FAQ describes direct on-park access via a very steep slope, and the same FAQ adds that local beaches have easier access. Both halves of that are true at once: the sand really is right there, and the way down really is steep. One family blogger who has stayed several times gets round it by using the beach car park instead. If flat access to sand matters more than having it below the caravan, Exmouth's main beach is three miles away.
On the water quality, Sandy Bay doesn't currently hold a Blue Flag. The Beach Guide grades the bathing water Sufficient, a pass but a step below the Excellent grade a Blue Flag requires, and the last Blue Flag here was in 2022. The Environment Agency's classifications for Sandy Bay read Excellent in 2019, Good in 2021 and 2022 and Sufficient in 2023 and 2024, with no classification issued in 2020 during Covid. Haven's own site calls it an award-winning beach, which refers to the past award rather than the current grade. Dogs aren't allowed on Sandy Bay between 1 May and 30 September.
Babies and toddlers
The childcare picture, the kit to pack, everything there is to do and what the site asks of anyone who needs step-free ground.
The first thing to know is that there's no crèche and no drop-off kids' club at Devon Cliffs. Every children's session on the park is parent-accompanied, so you can't leave a child in supervised care while you have a couple of hours to yourselves, and Haven doesn't offer or advertise a babysitting service either. That isn't the same as there being little for little ones, because the list aimed at the youngest is unusually deep for a holiday park. It's all things you do together, so weigh the size of that list against the hours off you won't get.
On kit, plan to bring or hire your own travel cot. Cots, sterilisers and baby baths aren't listed anywhere on the official Devon Cliffs pages, and Haven's wider site doesn't offer baby equipment hire at any of its parks, so there's no in-park rental desk to fall back on. High chairs are confirmed at The Red Rocks. A designated disabled changing area at the pool is the one changing facility Haven names. Nappies, formula and baby food come with you or come from Exmouth, for the same reason your food shopping does.
For a family with a pram, the hill between the caravans and the main complex is the hardest part of the week, and booking one of the areas near the bottom is the way to shorten it. The nearest A&E is at the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust's Wonford site in Exeter, EX2 5DW, approximately 10 miles by road and around 20 to 25 minutes' drive.
A long list, all done togetherThings to do
The activity programme is what Devon Cliffs is known for, and it's one of the largest of any Devon holiday park. The Play Pass is what lets you book any of it.
For the youngest, Activitots is a guided sports session covering throwing, catching, jumping, balancing and team play, and it's free to book. Football Fun Factory is new for 2026 and age-grouped, and parents are specifically invited into the story-driven sessions with the littlest ones. Mini Aerial Adventure is a scaled-down high-ropes course a metre off the ground, with a parent walking alongside. 4x4 Off-Roaders puts children behind the wheel of mini off-road vehicles on a track, and the Bungee Trampoline lets them bounce with a bungee cord taking the weight. Make a Bear, where children build a stuffed animal, is available for children two and over and carries a fee, as do the Creative Sessions of slime making, sand art and pottery. Away from the booked sessions there are three outdoor play areas, which Haven describes as magnificent spaces for younger guests, with climbing forts, slides and swings. There's an indoor soft play area for a wet afternoon.
For older children, Activikids is the guided sports session, and the bigger physical activities sit alongside it. The Aerial Adventure is a high-ropes course over a ravine, the Climbing Wall is a height challenge and The Jump is a free-fall into a giant airbag. NERF Training Camp is a Haven exclusive, a paintball and basketball hybrid, and Archery Coaching is expert-led. Segways run as a group tour of the park, there's Crazy Golf and the Football Dartboard is for ages 6 and over. Ranger Activities cover bushcraft and firelighting, a bug hunt and a nature trail, and the nature trail also runs as a guided walk through the park's wildlife, history and natural setting for any age.
The evenings run at two venues, both included with the Haven Holiday package. Capone's is named by Haven as the go-to place for marvellous music, and it carries the music performances and the live entertainment. Bugsy's runs daily activities, bingo, tots' entertainment through the year and the Seaside Squad shows. The Seaside Squad are Haven's own character mascots, appearing in shows across the day at both venues, with tots' discos included and a Tiger Club Show new for 2026. The characters' names and fuller descriptions sit behind the Haven Experience portal, which only opens with a booking login, so what's public is the shape of the programme rather than the full cast list. The programme is seasonal and changes through the year. The Arcade is the one venue open to every guest with no package needed, with penny machines, grabbing machines and the walk-in Prize Shop.
If slopes are a problemGetting around if you need step-free
Haven is direct about this one. Its FAQ states that Devon Cliffs isn't ideal for wheelchair users or for those with walking difficulties without transportation, and on a site this hilly that's worth taking at face value rather than as small print.
The park has Blue Badge parking next to reception and a ramp and lift to the first floor of the main reception. A manual runner hoist is available from the park, subject to availability, so check with them in advance rather than count on it being there. There's a pool hoist available on request, and a designated disabled toilet and changing area at the pool. Ivy Close, Fir Close and Maple Park are the accommodation areas Haven names as best for guests with disabilities or reduced mobility, and because they're bookable, that's the concrete thing you can do at the point of booking. Beach access is the steep slope, and Haven's FAQ points people to the local Exmouth beaches for easier access.
The area and days out
What's next door and what's a drive away, what guests rate and flag, how it sits against the other Devon parks, the journey in and the weather.
World of Country Life is immediately next door, on the same Sandy Bay site, so it's the one day out that needs no car at all. It's a full-day all-weather attraction with a museum of farming, an extensive vintage vehicle collection, acres of indoor and outdoor play, daily bird of prey displays and animals to meet. Entry is ticketed, and dogs aren't admitted, assistance dogs aside.
Orcombe Rocks, at the foot of the park, is the western gateway of the Jurassic Coast, England's only natural UNESCO World Heritage Site, so fossil hunting on the rocks and the beach is a walk from the caravan.
Exmouth, three miles and about eight minutes' drive, is a Georgian seaside town with a two-mile sandy beach that shelves gently, a harbour and marina, independent shops and restaurants and a water sports beach. Flatter to reach and calmer water than Sandy Bay, which makes it the easier beach day with a baby or toddler.
Further out, Bicton Park Botanical Gardens is about five miles and twelve minutes away, with formal gardens, a working narrow-gauge steam railway, play areas and a garden centre café, and it holds up in the rain. Budleigh Salterton, also about five miles and twelve minutes away, is a smaller and quieter traditional beach town with a pebble beach and rock-pooling. Sidmouth is fifteen to twenty minutes, a Devon seaside town in the East Devon AONB with a Regency seafront, a pebble-and-shingle beach, independent shops and sea-wall walks. Exeter is about thirty minutes, for the cathedral, the Quayside Adventure family outdoor space, the Princesshay shopping centre and a pram-friendly walk in Northernhay Gardens.
Crealy Theme Park, about twenty minutes away near Exeter, is Devon's largest toddler and family theme park, with more than 60 rides and attractions, over 200 animals, 75,000 sq ft of indoor play, Sooty Land and daily shows. It was voted the UK's best small theme park for toddlers in 2025, and children under 92cm go free. It always opens at 10am, but the days it opens move with the season, daily through peak summer and the bank holidays and weekends and school holidays the rest of the year, so check the calendar on crealy.co.uk before you set off.
Paignton Zoo is forty-five to fifty minutes via Torbay, 80 acres of wildlife and gardens with sumatran tigers, gorillas, play areas, indoor tropical habitats and daily feeding sessions. Woodlands Family Theme Park, forty to fifty minutes towards Totnes, has water rides, a zoo farm, a large indoor play area and falconry, and it's another all-weather one.
What guests sayLoves and gripes
This is our read across the guest reviews and the family blogs, the good and the less good.
What families love
- The scenery and the setting, the cliffs and the sea views.
- The beach and how close it is.
- The evening entertainment with young children, singled out by parents of two- and five-year-olds.
- The size of the activity list.
- Friendly, helpful staff, with the entertainment team called fantastic by one first-hand blogger.
- Clean, well-presented caravans, most of all at Silver and above, and a blogger who has stayed several times finds even the budget Saver grades well maintained, comfortable, bright and airy.
- The free-roaming rabbits on the grass around the caravans, which children love.
- Return visits: one blogger first came with a two-year-old in 2019 and has been back several times, including as a solo parent, and calls the park safe and familiar.
Common gripes
- Pool changing room cleanliness, raised by several independent reviewers in 2026 who describe sock fluff, footprints and drain hygiene. It reads as a recurring theme rather than a one-off, so recent guest feedback is worth a look before you travel.
- The food outlet hours mid-week outside the school holidays, with reviewers finding several outlets shut.
- A musty smell in the entry-level caravans, with the Saver grade named.
- The activity add-on costs, which reviewers raise and Haven's own terms confirm.
- The hilly ground, which barely features in the Google reviews we read but is the most-cited item in the park's own FAQ and a recurring theme in family park roundups.
- The kids eat for £1 exclusion, which isn't a review complaint but a confirmed gap against the offer at other Haven parks.
On the numbers, Google reviewers put Devon Cliffs at 4.4 out of 5 across more than 5,760 reviews as of June 2026, shown on Haven's own page, and that's the firmest figure to go on. TripAdvisor sits lower, nearer 3.8. Treat the pair as a rough steer as of mid-2026 rather than a score. For context at the good end, one reviewer brought an 18-month-old and described a fantastic holiday, rating the caravan and facilities excellent, with a service slip at the Wetherspoon over trays being carried across his daughter's high chair that didn't spoil the stay.
Against the other Devon parksHow it compares
What Devon Cliffs has over the rest of the Devon shortlist is scale and setting. It runs one of the largest activity programmes of any Devon holiday park, the beach is directly adjacent and it's the only Haven park in the county, with the chain's booking infrastructure behind it. It's also open year-round, the Jurassic Coast setting is its own and the Google rating base is strong for a park this size.
Where the independents have the edge is the ground and the service detail. Cofton, Woolacombe Bay and Lady's Mile all have flatter sites than Devon Cliffs, which counts for more here than it would at a park on the level. Cofton Holidays is a five-star independent with flatter terrain, an indoor pool open 8am to 8pm and consistently better cleanliness ratings, though Devon Cliffs has more activities and entertainment and the beach right below it. Woolacombe Bay Holiday Parks are three parks sharing facilities on the north Devon coast, with a Blue Flag surf beach and a more extensive pools and soft play complex, which is a different coast and a different character, surf against family-resort, and it consistently rates ahead of chain parks like Devon Cliffs on overall quality. Challaborough Bay, a Parkdean park, is smaller and four-star with the beach in its cove and simpler facilities in a tucked-away setting, where Devon Cliffs is larger and busier.
Two family-blog roundups of Devon parks disagree, which is worth knowing rather than smoothing over. One rates Devon Cliffs the top park in Devon overall. A separate, toddler-specific top ten of Devon parks doesn't include it at all. Neither site publishes how it reaches its list, so treat both as one more opinion alongside the reviews above rather than a ranking to lean on, but the toddler-list omission does line up with the structural gaps already covered here: no crèche, no drop-off club and the hilliest site of the parks compared on this page.
The drive downGetting there
Devon Cliffs is a self-drive break. The address is Sandy Bay, Exmouth, Devon EX8 5BT, on the Jurassic Coast road south of Exmouth town, with parking on site. There are no package transfers, no tour-operator coaches and no airport shuttles, which is normal for a UK self-catering park. A car does more here than get you there, though, because it's what makes the groceries, the days out and the hill between the caravan and the main complex manageable.
You can arrive by train. Exmouth station is three miles from the park on the Avocet Line, which runs from Exeter Central, and Exeter St Davids is the mainline station, with connections to London Paddington, Bristol, Birmingham and beyond. From Exmouth station you'd need a taxi or a car for the last stretch.
Exeter Airport is about eight miles away, with connections to UK cities and some European destinations, though it isn't a major international hub. Haven doesn't offer or arrange airport transfers, so arriving by air means hiring a car or booking taxis.
Open all yearWeather and when to go
Devon Cliffs is open year-round, and because the indoor pool and the entertainment venues are indoors the weather decides less of the break than it would on a beach holiday. The outdoor pools are the seasonal part and they add most in the summer. East Devon is the sunnier, drier end of the county compared with Dartmoor or North Devon, and it has one of the UK's milder climates.
July and August are the warmest at 20°C by day. September has among the fewest rain days at nine, one fewer than August, which is a thin margin to plan a holiday around. The May and October half-terms are mild but cooler. The sea at Exmouth runs roughly 8 to 9°C at its coldest in late winter and early spring, rising to around 16 to 17°C at its warmest in August, which is warmer than the North Devon Atlantic coast.
| Month | Daytime high | Overnight low | Rain | Wet days | Sea temp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 9.5° | 4° | 132 mm | 15 | 10° |
| February | 10° | 4° | 99 mm | 13 | 9° |
| March | 11° | 5° | 86 mm | 12 | 9° |
| April | 13.5° | 6° | 69 mm | 10 | 10° |
| May | 16° | 8.5° | 64 mm | 9 | 12° |
| June | 19° | 11° | 63 mm | 9 | 15° |
| July | 21° | 13° | 67 mm | 8 | 17° |
| August | 21° | 13° | 76 mm | 10 | 17° |
| September | 19° | 11.5° | 70 mm | 9 | 17° |
| October | 16° | 10° | 130 mm | 14 | 16° |
| November | 12.5° | 6.5° | 129 mm | 15 | 14° |
| December | 10.5° | 4.5° | 145 mm | 16 | 12° |
Typical monthly averages from weather-station records. Sea temperature is the open-water figure, so a sheltered bay can feel a degree or two warmer. The park is open year-round.
Questions
The things families ask most, the official pages worth a bookmark and when this guide was last updated.
Can we manage the week without a car?
You can, though it shapes the break. A taxi covers the three miles from Exmouth station, World of Country Life is next door and the sand is at the bottom of the cliffs, so you needn't leave Sandy Bay at all. What you'd take on is the hill between the caravan and the main complex on foot every time, plus a taxi into Exmouth for every food shop, since the caravans are self-catering and the only shop on the park sells arcade prizes. Driving down and then leaving the car parked is the middle ground.
Is the sea at Sandy Bay clean enough to swim in?
It passes. The Environment Agency has Sandy Bay at Sufficient rather than Good or Excellent, so the water meets the bathing standard without reaching the one a Blue Flag needs, and the grading has moved down over the past few years. A fresh classification is issued each year, so look up the current one on the gov.uk bathing water pages before you book.
Will there be somewhere open to eat on a wet Tuesday in March?
Plan on cooking. Haven publishes no outlet hours, so there's nothing to check before you go, and a wet March Tuesday is exactly the sort of week reviewers found the chains shut. The Exmouth supermarket is three miles from the gate and open regardless, so do the food shop on the drive in.
Is the Saver caravan too small with a baby?
At 280 sq ft it's the smallest grade on the park, and a travel cot takes up a meaningful share of that floor once the pushchair is in as well. Families do stay in them happily, and a blogger who has used the budget grades over several visits found them well maintained and comfortable. If you expect to spend your evenings in the caravan once the baby's down, the 420 sq ft Bronze is the grade that gives you the floor back.
Do we need the paid activities, or is the free list enough?
With a toddler, the free-to-book sessions plus the pools, the play areas, the soft play and the evening shows will fill a week on their own. The paid ones that skew youngest are Make a Bear, which is for children two and over, and the creative craft sessions. Booking a couple of those rather than a full schedule keeps the total nearer the headline price.
What are the rules if we bring the dog?
Dogs aren't allowed on Sandy Bay between 1 May and 30 September, so a summer stay means walking them somewhere else. On the park, The Red Rocks and South Beach Café each have a designated area where dogs are welcome inside. World of Country Life next door doesn't admit them at all, assistance dogs aside.
See more Devon Cliffs photos
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Useful links
- Haven Devon Cliffs: the park's own site for the facilities, the FAQ and the packages.
- Devon Cliffs accommodation: every caravan and lodge grade, with sizes and features.
- World of Country Life: the all-weather attraction next door at Sandy Bay.
- Crealy Theme Park: the opening calendar, which changes with the season.
- Devon with little ones: our guide to the county, its beaches and when to go.
Last updated 16 July 2026. Caravans, activities and prices change, so Haven's own site is the place to confirm the detail before you book.
