Barnstaple's position makes it an excellent base. The surfing beaches of Croyde and Woolacombe are half an hour to the northwest, and the eastern edge of Exmoor National Park begins almost immediately to the east. Bideford and the Torridge estuary lie to the southwest along the Tarka Trail. The whole of North Devon is manageable as day trips from Barnstaple, which has better accommodation stock than most of the individual coastal villages.