Torquay is the main resort of the so-called English Riviera, a stretch of South Devon coast where the Gulf Stream keeps temperatures mild enough for palm trees to grow along the seafront. The town has nine sandy beaches, several of them holding European Blue Flag awards for water quality, and the harbour fills with sailing boats through the summer.
What makes Torquay more interesting than most English seaside towns is what lies behind the beach. Kent's Cavern, a network of limestone caves on the eastern edge of town, is one of the most important prehistoric sites in Britain — human remains found here date back over 40,000 years. Cockington, a perfectly preserved thatched village somehow surviving on the resort's doorstep, gives a sense of what rural Devon looked like centuries ago. Torre Abbey, founded in 1196, is the best-preserved medieval abbey in Devon and Cornwall, now an art gallery and historic house open to visitors.
Torquay is also the birthplace of Agatha Christie, who was born here in 1890. The town takes quiet pride in this — the museum devotes a section to her life and manuscripts — though the Victorian mansion where she grew up was demolished in the 1960s. A bronze statue of her sits on the seafront near the harbour.