Dartmouth

Dartmouth's accommodation is shaped by its geography as much as its history: many of the best places to stay sit directly on the water, making the most of views across the estuary to Kingswear, while others climb the steep streets behind the harbour, trading a flat walk for a quieter setting and a rooftop outlook. At the top end, riverside hotels with spas and fine dining sit within a short stroll of the Boat Float, offering the kind of polish more usually associated with a country house than a working port town. Several of the town's historic inns and coaching houses have been carefully modernised without losing their timber beams and low doorways, giving mid-range visitors genuine character alongside comfortable, contemporary rooms.

For those happy to walk a little further from the centre, Dartmouth's guest houses and bed and breakfasts occupy some of the town's oldest merchants' houses, many with panoramic views over the rooftops to the river beyond, and often run by owners who know the town's tides, ferries and best walks better than any guidebook. A little further out, family-run hotels in the villages around Dartmouth combine easy access to the town with more space, gardens and, in some cases, swimming pools, making them a practical choice for longer stays or visits built around the beaches at Blackpool Sands and Slapton. Whichever style suits, booking ahead is strongly advised for the Regatta weekend in late August and through the main summer season, when Dartmouth's compact size means its best rooms sell out early.

Dartmouth rewards a mix of gentle history and time on the water, and most of its best attractions sit within a short walk or a river trip of the centre.

• Dartmouth Castle guards the mouth of the estuary and has done in some form since the 1380s, with gun batteries, a chain that once closed the river to enemy ships, and coastal path walks out to the lighthouse at Compass Cove.
• Bayard's Cove Fort is a small Tudor artillery fort right on the waterfront, easily combined with a wander along the cobbled quay used as a filming location for the original 1970s adaptation of The Onedin Line.
• Greenway, Agatha Christie's holiday home, is reached most enjoyably by the passenger ferry from Dartmouth and set in wooded gardens running down to the river, with the house kept much as the family left it.
• Dartmouth Museum, housed in a 17th-century merchant's house on Duke Street, covers the town's naval and maritime past in a building that is itself one of the exhibits.
• The Royal Naval College dominates the skyline and can be seen on organised tours, offering a rare look inside the working buildings where generations of naval officers have trained.
• Dart Valley steam railway and river cruises combine at Kingswear station across the water, with the option to travel by steam train to Paignton and return by boat, taking in the whole estuary from the water.
• Blackpool Sands, a Blue Flag shingle-and-sand beach a short drive south, is sheltered by pine-covered headlands and consistently rated among Devon's cleanest beaches.
• Coronation Park and the Embankment give an easy, level stretch for watching river traffic, with play areas, a tidal pool and views across to Kingswear.

Seafood is the obvious specialism in a town built around a working harbour, and Dartmouth crab, scallops and locally landed fish turn up on menus from waterfront restaurants to simple takeaway kiosks by the Boat Float. The Seahorse on South Embankment, run by television chef Mitch Tonks, has built a national reputation for char-grilled fish cooked over charcoal, while smaller operators sell crab sandwiches and fresh oysters straight from the quay in summer. The town's pubs, including several run by the local Royal Castle and Ship in Dock, serve Devon ales alongside pasties and pies, and the Dartmouth Food Festival each October brings producers from across the South Hams together for tastings, demonstrations and street food stalls. For something sweeter, the bakeries and delicatessens along Foss Street and Higher Street stock clotted cream teas and locally made fudge, and a handful of small vineyards inland from the town, part of Devon's growing wine region, offer tastings of English sparkling wine that pairs well with the local shellfish.

Dartmouth's steep, densely built centre leaves little room for camping within the town itself, so most pitches are found a short drive away in the gentler farmland and coastal villages of the South Hams. This is no hardship: the countryside around Dartmouth rolls gently down to a string of sandy and shingle beaches, including the popular Blackpool Sands, and the campsites that serve the town range from large, well-equipped touring parks with pools and entertainment to small, quiet fields attached to working farms. Woodland and hedgerows shelter many of the pitches from the worst of the Channel weather, while elevated sites capture wide views over the estuary and out to sea.

Facilities vary considerably by size and style: the larger parks offer full hook-ups, shops, laundries and swimming pools alongside tent pitches, while smaller sites keep things simple with grass pitches, a shower block and a genuinely rural setting. Most are within a fifteen-minute drive of Dartmouth's centre, close enough for an evening at the harbour but far enough to offer proper stargazing and quiet nights. Dogs are welcome at many, though not all, sites, and it is worth checking individual policies before booking, particularly in high summer when the beaches and campsites of the South Hams fill up quickly.