Places to Visit in Cornwall

Polzeath on the north coast has a fantastic surfing beach with instructors, good local restaurants and lively bars. It is an easy 4.5 miles walk to Padstow via Rock and a foot ferry across the River Camel. Padstow hosts Rick Stein’s Seafood Restaurant and fish & chips for the more casual diner and is the start of the Camel Vale cycle route a popular flat route that follows the River Camel (bicycles can be hired in Padstow). Polzeath is well placed for touring the north coast villages of Port Issac, Tintagel (King Arthur’s castle) and Boscastle.

From Padstow there are a number of great beaches for surfing Harlyn Bay, Old Mother Ivey's Bay, Constantine. Approaching Newquay, Watergate Bay has the Extreme Academy for kite surfing and wave skiing and Jamie Oliver's restaurant Fifteen overlooking the beach.

Newquay has fantastic beaches and a very lively night life (one of the main stag and hen night destinations in the UK). The surf is world renown and there are regular international and national surfing competitions at Fistral. The Blue Reef Aquarium is a good option for children and when the weather is not enticing you to be in the water yourself.

Down the coast from Newquay you have many more surfing beaches, Crantock, Holywell Bay, Perranporth, St Agnes, Porthtowan and Portreath. There are lots of camp sites on the way down the coast.

St Ives is world famous for its artists community and there are plenty of quality galleries (including the Tate) and shops showing work by local artists. Across the bay is Godrevy lighthouse and Gwithian sands, a 3 mile long stretch of sand with dunes behind the beach, this is a popular local beach for surfing and kite surfing and there are often seals to be spotted in the quieter coves around the headland.

Sennen cove is just around the corner from Land’s End and shows off Cornwall’s dramatic cliffs and rugged coastline being the most westerly point of mainland Britain. It also has a good surfing beach and strenuous hilly walks. The Minack Theatre is about 5 miles away, a dramatic cliff top setting where the seats are hewn from the rock and look out over the stage to the sea (wrap up warm as it can get windy).

Newlyn and Mousehole are picturesque fishing villages on the south coast just outside Penzance.

Falmouth is a thriving deep water port with places operating diving trips, sailing boats for hire, eco tourist boat trips, dolphin watching trips and boat trips up the River Fal. You can catch a ferry across to St Mawes on the Roseland peninsular or you can drive across further up river using the King Harry car ferry. Falmouth is the home of the National Maritime Museum and has plenty of good fish restaurants and art shops. Pendennis Castle was built by Henry VIII and is an impressive sight with its sister castle in St Mawes, together they guard the entrance to the Carrick Roads.

The Roseland Peninsular (known locally as God’s Country) has picturesque fishing villages, quiet coves and wooded valleys and estuaries. The Lost Gardens of Heligan are a restored estate show casing many tropical plants and many original English garden features and varieties of native plants.

Fowey is a picturesque town with boat hire and a foot ferry across to Polruan and a car ferry to Bodinnick.

The Eden Project has been named as the coolest UK attraction outside of London, and second "coolest" attraction in the UK behind the Tate Modern.

It is also the home to live music with the Eden Sessions held every summer attracting big name bands such as Oasis, The Verve, KT Tunstall, Kaiser Chiefs to name but a few...