Dawlish is a busy seaside resort town with a sandy beach and pretty lawns beside a brook famous for its Black Swans. The town enjoys a good seasonal trade with holiday makers staying within the town or nearby resort area of Dawlish Warren.

There is a good mix of residents in Dawlish, which has traditionally been popular with the retired, though in recent years has become a strong dormitory town for the nearby City of Exeter.

Dawlish has a wide range of shops and amenities and benefits from excellent communications. The railway station is on the main Penzance to Paddington line and local buses run to the market town of Newton Abbot, Exeter and Torbay, the English Riviera. Dartmoor and the M5 are also within easy reach.

The local museum has many interesting exhibits, cataloguing Dawlish's history through the years and is very popular with locals and visitors alike.

Dawlish Warren stands at the mouth of the Exe Estuary facing the sea and has a designated nature reserve adjoining the Golf course. The population increases in the summer season with visitors taking advantage of the Holiday facilities.

Popular villages near Dawlish include Holcombe, a small village between Dawlish and Teignmouth built around a smugglers cove and the estuary fishing village of Starcross towards Exeter.