If you need a place to stay

Along the coastline of Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset there are lots of places to stay within easy reach of the Coast Path. Most walkers stay in Bed & Breakfast accommodation, but in many places you have a wider choice ranging from luxury hotels to budget hostel accommodation. Alternatively, book a holiday cottage and use that as a base from which to explore the surrounding coastline.

Summer holidays and Bank Holiday weekends can be very busy, so book well in advance, although even at the last minute you can generally find somewhere to stay. If you come in spring or autumn you’ll have greater flexibility and these are great months to enjoy walking along the coast.

Through the accommodation search feature on this website you can find details of graded and inspected places to stay near to the path. If you book using our Accommodation finder, we will often receive a commission that we will use to improve the path and this website, whilst the price you pay is the same. If you require one-night stays, which can sometimes prove tricky, particularly at peak seasons, Luggage Transfers (who move walkers' bags between overnight stops) in partnership with the South West Coast Path Association maintain a website listing hundreds of places to stay close to the path that are willing to take walkers for a single night. As many of these establishments are small, they are not all inspected or graded by an official tourism organisation, but if complaints are received, they have a system for removing listings.

If you want to camp, there are plenty of official campsites close to the path, and you can find details of these in the accommodation finder. There is no right to wild camp beside the path and you should ask the landowner before pitching (sorry, we can’t help you find out who that is!). However it is normally tolerated if you have a small tent, discretely pitch it in the evening, pack up early in the morning and leave no trace of your stay (and definitely no open fires).

Most of these places are also listed in the annual guidebook published by the South West Coast Path Association.