Cornwall (or Kernow, as it should more properly be known) is quite possibly Britain’s favourite place for a summer getaway. You’ll be hard pressed to find an empty patch of sand in summer, let alone a parking spot (the county’s holiday traffic jams are the stuff of nightmares). But Cornwall is very much a year-round destination these days, and you’ll find it a far more pleasant place to explore outside the peak months of July and August: spring and autumn both have their own pleasures, and winter brings drama in the form of wild waves and booming surf.
Whenever you choose to visit, Cornwall is a place that rewards getting off the beaten track — whether that’s by hiking along the quieter stretches of the coast path or seeking out the ancient remains of Bodmin and Penwith Moors. With the help of an adventurous spirit and perhaps an OS map or two, you’ll find there are still a few Cornish secrets left to discover. Here are some of the best places to visit in Cornwall.
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1. Tintagel Castle
Cornwall has no shortage of castles — Pendennis, St Mawes, Restormel and Launceston all deserve a detour — but for drama, none can match Tintagel. Strewn over an impossibly rugged clifftop teetering over pounding Atlantic breakers, it’s little more than a rubbly ruin these days, but legend has it that this was the birthplace of King Arthur (there’s a cave below where the wizard Merlin was said to have woven his spells). In truth, the castle was actually the work of Edward the Black Prince, who built most of it in the 14th century — although there was almost certainly a hill fort here long before, so the legend could still have a ring of truth about it. Now managed by English Heritage, it’s a memorable place to plonk a castle, although whether the addition of the strikingly modern bridge in 2019 has enhanced or ruined the view is still a matter of fierce local debate.
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Further up the coast is Boscastle, another postcard-worthy harbour tucked between a cleft of high cliffs, perfect for a picnic on sunny days.
Where to stay On the beach at Trebarwith Strand, the revamped Port William pub has simple but serviceable rooms and is owned by brewing giant St Austell Brewery.
2. Fowey
Possibly the most mispronounced of all Cornish place names — it’s Foy, for the record, as in boy — Fowey is the south coast’s answer to chi-chi Padstow. Perched on the steep banks overlooking its eponymous river, it’s an undeniably handsome place, with a jumble of colourful houses stretching along the waterfront (best seen along the elegant Esplanade) and a stream of yachts and boats plying the waterway throughout the summer months. Most of the action can be found along Fore Street, Fowey’s main thoroughfare, with shops, bistros and pubs to explore: at one end, the Tudor remains of St Catherine’s Fort guard Readymoney Cove, while at the other, a ferry crosses over the river over at Bodinnick to the coastal village of Polruan.
Fowey’s main claim to fame is its connection with Daphne du Maurier, who for many years rented the grand manor house of Menabilly, thought by many to be the model for Manderley in Rebecca; the author also lived at Ferryside in Bodinnick, where she wrote several of her early novels.
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On the Polruan side of the river, it’s worth following the circular Hall Walk, a tranquil four-miler through valley and creek with incredible views over Fowey harbour. Kayaking is the best way to explore the river scenery: guided expeditions can be arranged from Fowey and Golant, further upstream, with herons, egrets, cormorants, otters and sometimes even seals putting in an appearance.
Further up the coast, the pretty if touristy village of Polperro makes a convenient day trip, as does bucket-and-spadey Looe. There are plenty of beaches to discover en route.
Where to stay Fowey Harbour Hotel is a handsome hotel just a hop, skip and jump from the beach.
3. Falmouth
For 164 years from 1688 to 1852, Falmouth was famous across the world as the home of the Packet Service — the fleet of globetrotting ships that carried mail and goods to the far corners of the British Empire, and which served as the nation’s crucial communications pipeline in the days when Britannia really did rule the waves (“Falmouth for orders” was a phrase familiar to any 19th-century sailor worth their salt). The town’s maritime history is evocatively explored at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, a sister outpost of the original in Greenwich. Famously, Henry VIII’s flagship, the Mary Rose, was built in Falmouth, and the museum contains a fine collection of historic vessels. Nearby Pendennis Shipyard remains an important hub for boatbuilding and repairs.
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Though its seafaring heyday has faded, Falmouth is kept buzzing these days thanks to its proximity to Cornwall’s only university. The clippers, luggers and tall ships are long gone, but the harbour remains an arresting sight: it’s the third deepest on the planet, by all accounts, speckled with yachts, sailboats and the occasional cruise ship in summer, with views across the Carrick Roads to the Roseland peninsula.
On Pendennis Point stands Henry VIII’s Tudor castle, designed to guard the harbour in tandem with its sister castle across the water in St Mawes. Nearby sprawls the sandy sweep of Gyllyngvase, the first of a trio of beaches (including Swanpool and Maenporth) that can be reached via the coast path. Meanwhile boat trips putter up the Fal River to Trelissick Gardens, Truro and St Mawes.
Where to stay The smart Greenbank Hotel affords the finest watery views in Falmouth: some rooms even come with a telescope for boat watching.
4. St Michael’s Mount
Just a quarter of a mile offshore at Marazion, near Penzance, is the arresting sight of the old monastery, St Michael’s Mount, rising dramatically out of the waters of Mount’s Bay. It’s connected to the mainland by a cobbled causeway for low-tide visitors and the National Trust-managed rocky island harbours a shop, café and hamlet of cottages. There’s an option to visit the gardens and castle at the summit, filled with a rich collection of historic artefacts and art. Before you leave, look out for the giant’s heart-shaped stone on the pathway, as well as Queen Victoria’s tiny footmark recalling her disembarkation on the harbour’s narrow quay in 1846.
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Back on dry land at Marazion, browse the smattering of galleries, join the queue for a pasty at diddy Philps Bakery or have a coffee at the Mount-facing Godolphin Arms and keep an eye out for a pod of dolphins arching away in the far distance.
While you’re here, drop into Penzance for the arts-vibe boutiques of Chapel Street or the lovely Jubilee Pool lido on the seafront, with a section that’s warmed by geothermal heat from underground. Nearby Newlyn is home to Cornwall’s last fishing fleet, as well as an intriguing art gallery, while tiny Mousehole is pretty as a postcard — even if hardly any residents remain in its stone cottages these days (it’s a notorious hotspot for second homes). Polgoon, an artisan vineyard and orchard just outside Penzance, produces Cornish wines, ciders and juices.
Where to stay Witty decor, upcycled furniture and quirky rooms make Artist Residence Cornwall an entertaining place to stay — and it’s on Chapel Street in the heart of old Penzance.
5. Tate St Ives
If it seems unlikely that a remote seaside spot far from any metropolis should be home to an internationally acclaimed modern art gallery, you’ll feel less inclined to think so when you discover the historical context behind Tate St Ives. In the middle decades of the 20th century, the likes of Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson, Peter Lanyon et al were all part of a progressive art community seeking solace and inspiration in the area’s quality of light and supernatural seascapes. To think that their work is still considered imaginatively abstract today gives some indication of how off-the-scale groundbreaking it would have been in its day.
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Ever-changing international exhibitions complement the permanent collections in dazzling white galleries reflecting the luminosity of sea and sky on the beach just outside. Admire Patrick Heron’s stained-glass window near the entrance — floor-to-ceiling and dense with colour — and look out for the work of Alfred Wallis, an elderly, unschooled and troubled artist only discovered by chance when Nicholson passed his cottage just paces from here and was struck by the occupant’s naive-style maritime seascapes using boat paint and any available surface, for lack of a canvas. Enjoy the view from Tate St Ives’ cafe, overlooking the town’s rooftops and the evocative island chapel beyond. Cream teas (jam first) taste better with views like this.
You can do all five of the town’s beaches in one day: surfy Porthmeor, beach-hutty Porthgwidden, tucked-away Bamaluz, buzzy Harbour and genteel Porthminster. Arguably the best vantage point of the wider bay — overlooking Virginia Woolf’s muse Godrevy Lighthouse — is from a train carriage on the branch line from St Erth.
Where to stay Primrose House offers Scandi-inspired decor and a near-to-the-beach position just behind the sands of Porthminster.
• Best beaches in Cornwall
• Best things to do in Cornwall
6. Kynance Cove
One mile short of mainland Britain’s most southerly extremity at Lizard Point, Kynance Cove encapsulates all the natural beauty of the Cornish coast in one hit. Inky black cliffs, rust-red serpentine rocks and a cluster of offshore islands to explore make this National Trust-owned stretch of coast hugely popular: it’s brilliant for a blustery coast walk, and with binoculars and a bit of luck, you might well spy Cornwall’s emblematic bird, the red-beaked chough.
There’s a pretty little café down on the cove, but it gets extremely busy in summer, as does the National Trust car park at the top of the hill. Don’t miss a guided tour of the lighthouse at Lizard Point, built in 1752 to warn vessels off the countless treacherous rocks nearby; it’s been automated since 1998.
Back on the road to Helston, look out for a sign for Ann’s Pasties, a fourth-generation maker of Cornwall’s favourite snack-to-go. Northwest-bound, the wave-battered fishing village of Porthleven is worthy of a wander, while you can follow in the footsteps of Cornwall’s smugglers at the area around Prussia Cove.
Where to stay Polurrian on the Lizard is an old stalwart near the village of Mullion, brightened up with modern design, a decent restaurant and clifftop gardens.
• Read our full review of Polurrian on the Lizard
7. The Lost Gardens of Heligan
Thirteen Cornishmen worked at the Lost Gardens of Heligan as groundsmen for the Tremayne family before heading off to fight in the First World War. Tragically, only four returned, and it was in the years that followed that the vast gardens near the south coast of Cornwall slowly became overgrown, before being eventually lost to time. It wasn’t until 1990 that the gargantuan task of restoring them began and a palpable sense of social history emerged: when the head gardener’s office was unearthed, a kettle still sat on the stove: a last cup of tea before downing tools for battle.
Today, the Lost Gardens of Heligan is both fully productive and impossibly photogenic. Botanical surprises include a maze of themed sections such as a kitchen garden; a blossomy archway of apples; a sublime suntrap of an Italian garden; tropical fruit houses; rare breeds; and a wildflower meadow overlooking the sea at Mevagissey. Along with its iconic rhododendrons, perhaps its most photographed garden is the Jungle, with Cornish palms, bamboos, gunnera leaves over two metres high, and a Burmese rope bridge spanning an exotic valley five degrees warmer than the gardens above.
After your visit, head to the nearby pretty fishing village Mevagissey to get hooked on the simple pleasure of crabbing down on the harbour wall. Or park at Portmellon Cove to walk to Chapel Point — if your luck’s in, you’ll see seals.
Where to stay A venerable name on Cornwall’s luxury hotel scene, the Carlyon Bay hotel in nearby St Austell promises plush rooms and a swish spa.
8. The Eden Project
With Cornwall’s industrial heritage as picture-postcard and richly evocative as clifftop tin mines, it’s easy to forget that the county’s riches were also born of china clay production. Now, on the site of a former clay pit near St Austell, the Eden Project’s greenhouses — the largest on earth — present a dramatic and futuristic sight indeed.
Sitting in a 30-acre outdoor garden, the greenhouses — or biomes as they are known — are microcosmic bubbles replicating global ecosystems, with exotic plants, trees and botanicals offering not just the wow factor on a visual level but on an educational level too. This has to be the place to pique the next generation’s curiosity for geography, ecology and sustainability, with the Mediterranean biome, Rainforest biome, plus the Rainforest Canopy taking you high above the treetops.
The small and picturesque port of Charlestown — once a place bustling with industry exporting china clay — is just a short drive from the Eden Project. With its harbour walls still retaining the echo of centuries past, you’d be forgiven for keeping an eye out in case Poldark comes swashbuckling along.
Where to stay Get away from it all with a stay at the Cornwall Hotel Spa & Lodges. Just a few miles from the Eden Project, guests can also take advantage of its Cornwall Spa.
9. Port Isaac
Port Isaac in north Cornwall is easily up there with Mousehole and Polperro among the county’s favourite fishing villages, complete with a mandatory labyrinth of narrow streets clustered around a little harbour. Dotted with the old schoolhouse, the perched whitewashed cottages and the lifeboat station — plus a passageway name as evocative as Squeeze Belly Alley — it’s hardly surprising Port Isaac was chosen as the set for the comedy drama series Doc Martin. You might even be lucky enough to hear the odd mariner’s melody as this is the home of the Fisherman’s Friends shanty-singers.
But, far more than just a TV backdrop and fixture on the tourist trail, it’s still a working fishing village, with lobster pots and painted boats on the slipway, and catch destined to grace the plates of local Michelin-starred restauranteur Nathan Outlaw. Though the harbour — known as ‘the Platt’ — is the big draw, don’t miss the sweeping views on the onwards coast path, keeping the sea on your left.
Heading west? Join the surf dudes riding a wave at Polzeath or explore poet John Betjeman’s beloved stomping ground around Daymer Bay, Trebetherick and the enigmatically remote St Enodoc Church. Over the estuary is Padstow, hub of the chef Rick Stein’s gastronomy, and a ferry will take you there from Rock.
Where to stay Having educated generations of Port Isaac kids, the Old School Hotel has been reinvented as a pleasant, unpretentious stay on the edge of the village.
10. Bodmin Moor
Though most drive straight over Cornwall’s craggy rooftop, this spooky landscape of heath, granite, tor and bog deserves more attention. Famous as the setting for Jamaica Inn and for the mysterious cat-like Beast of Bodmin Moor, it’s Cornwall’s wildest, weirdest landscape — sister to the similarly stark moors in Penwith to the west and Dartmoor to the east, and like them, littered with prehistoric remains. Covering 80 square miles, it’s a wonder for walkers: popular stops include the clattering Golitha Falls and the cute-sounding village of Minions — home to both the ancient Hurlers stone circles and the precariously balanced rock formation known as the Cheesewring. But it’s the Moor’s twin peaks — Brown Willy (420m) and Roughtor (400m, pronounced row to rhyme with cow) — that draw most ramblers. The surrounding area is littered with neolithic remains, and on a clear day, it’s possible to see both coasts.
If two wheels are more your thing, mountain-bike trails abound around Cardinham Woods or there’s the lesser-known leg of the Camel Trail: not the Bodmin to Padstow stretch that everyone knows, but the Bodmin to Blisland, the finish line near a Camra pub of the year. Bodmin itself was the site of Cornwall’s most infamous jail — now reinvented as a macabre tourist attraction (complete with eerie cells and execution pit). For something less sinister, the National Trust’s Lanhydrock is a magnificent Victorian country house and estate, with miles of trails to wander.
Where to stay St Tudy Inn is a renowned gastropub-with-rooms in the small moor village of St Breward. The food is excellent.
11. Minack Theatre
We’re right to be wary of man’s interventions on unspoiled landscapes but here in the far, far west, above Porthcurno beach, mankind and nature once came together in perfect harmony. Back in the 1930s, the lone figure of Rowena Cade — trowel in hand — assured her place in Cornish history by building a stage, balconies and amphitheatrical seating right on the clifftop at the end of her garden. Plays have been performed here ever since and the only real danger is that the dramatic sight of a moonlit Logan Rock across the water upstages the cast every time. But, you don’t have to book a show to visit — the theatre is open during the day (outside for showtimes) for visitors. Be sure to head down the steep steps to the beach after you’ve finished — it’s a regular feature in lists of the UK’s top-ten beaches on account of its vivid-blue seas and tropical-looking sands.
Where to stay For wonderful sea views and coastal gardens, head to the Old Coastguard Hotel on the outskirts of Mousehole.
oldcoastguardhotel.co.uk
12. Bedruthan Steps
Newquay is the home of Cornish surfing, and a fine spot to learn the sport — although the town’s brash, boozy character definitely won’t be to all tastes. Regardless of what you make of the town itself, it serves as the gateway to a string of majestic sandy beaches — including Crantock, Holywell Bay, Lusty Glaze, Watergate Bay and Mawgan Porth — which sun-seekers make a beeline for in summer (expect crowds, and lots of them). An alternative is to follow the coast path out to the stately pillars of Carnewas, also known as Bedruthan Steps, a series of towers carved out by the sea from the surrounding cliffs over countless millennia. They’re best seen at sunset, when the the rock is lit up in fiery, glowing colours.
Where to stay Watergate Bay Hotel is a family favourite, with plenty of watery activities on offer, and a prime spot beside its namesake beach.
watergatebay.co.uk
• Luxury hotels in Cornwall
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