City Guide: Torquay
We visited Torquay, a little sea town in the south-west of England in the beginning of February. Unsurprisingly, we were accompanied by the typical grey, cold English weather.
Torquay Coast
Nevertheless, while Torquay doesn’t look like the famous seaside resort it has once been, it still is a nice town for a little get-away.
In this city guide I’ll give you a brief outline of what we did during our stay.
Torquay Harbour
On our way from the train station to our hotel, The Imperial Torquay, we passed the harbour of Torquay. The harbour is surprisingly big for this little town and has many sailing boats.
I imagine it to be quite nice to be sailing during summer time, when the weather is better and you get to enjoy the view of the coastline. There’s also a historic Pavilion near the harbour.
Torquay Coastline
While the city itself isn’t as charming as other little sea towns in the South of England, the coastline here is quite stunning.
I’d recommend going along one of the coastal pathways to enjoy the scenery and silence (at least in winter no body seemed to get lost here).
Torquay City Center
Torquay also has a little city centre with some popular chains, but its high street isn’t particularly beautiful. If you go up the street you will reach the Torbay Council building.
From there on you can continue up-hill for about 20 minutes to reach something called ‘Bygones Experience’. This attraction was set up by Ken and Patricia Cuming, who loved collecting old objects, mainly railways. In 1987 Bygones, a Victorian street scene, came alive.
Right next to the Bygones Experience there is also a little, cute street with some small shops.
Torquay Babbacombe Beach, Oddicombe Beach and Cliff Railway
From Bygones Experience it’s not very far to Babbacombe Beach. In summer you can use the cliff railway to get down to the beach. In winter you need to hike down by yourself to reach the little red-sanded beach.
If you’re not into climbing all the way back up, continue your way along the beach and you will find a pathway leading through Babbacombe Village as well as a forrest area.
Our overall impressions of Torquay
When you look for pictures of Torquay online, you will find it hard to believe it is the same town Moritz and I visited in February. This is also why I find it a bit difficult to judge the town as I think we were a bit unlucky with being there during low season. It seems like the town can be quite beautiful on a sunny day, but during our time it looked a bit dated. Nevertheless, I love the coastline in the south-west of England and thus I really enjoyed the scenery and our beautiful views from the hotel.
Do you have any questions about Torquay? Feel free to ask or share your impressions in the comments!
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