25 Things to Do in Cornwall: A Local's Guide

Q: How many days do you need in Cornwall?

A week is the sweet spot for a first visit, enough to settle into one or two bases and mix beach days with gardens or castles without spending the whole trip driving. Cornwall looks small but the roads are slow, and it can take a couple of hours to cross from end to end. If you only have a weekend, pick one area, such as the far west around St Ives and Penzance or the north coast around Padstow, and stay put.

Q: What are the best things to do in Cornwall with kids?

Cornwall is one of the most family-friendly parts of the UK, and the beaches do most of the work, especially lifeguarded ones with rock pools. Beyond the beaches, the Eden Project, the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay, the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth and Land's End all go down well with children, and many gardens have play areas, animals and trails. A number of attractions let under-16s in free or sell family tickets.

I grew up partly in Cornwall, and some of my earliest memories are of family days out on its beaches. Jess and I have been back more times than I can count in the years since, usually with a camera and a flask of tea, and it’s still the first place in England I’d send anyone who asked.

The hard part of a Cornwall trip is choosing what to fit in. The county packs spectacular beaches, cliff walks, sub-tropical gardens, castles, ancient stone circles, a serious art scene and several centuries of mining history into a strip of land you can drive end to end in a couple of hours. This guide is our pick of 25 things to do in Cornwall, with the kind of lived-in detail we’d give a friend.

I’ve grouped everything by interest in the quick index below, so you can jump straight to whatever fits your trip, whether that’s a rainy week with young kids or a gardens-and-food long weekend. If you want help turning a shortlist into an actual route, we have a separate one week Cornwall itinerary that covers getting here, getting around and when to visit. Think of this guide as the what, and the itinerary as the how.

Table of Contents:

Cornwall at a Glance

Cornwall rewards a bit of self-selection. Here’s where to start, depending on what you’re after.

Here with young children? The family day-out picks, the Eden Project and almost any beach with a lifeguard flag will fill a week between them.
After beach days, Cornwall has more than 100 beaches to choose from. Our favourites are in spend a day on the beach, with surfing and watersports if you want to get in the water.
Walkers should head to the coast path, which runs the entire coastline, and the inland routes across Bodmin Moor.
For gardens and grand houses, the big draws are Cornwall’s gardens, the historic houses and, again, the Eden Project.
History and heritage cluster around the mining sites, the history museums and Cornwall’s ancient standing stones.
Food and drink first? Work through Cornish food and local drinks. A pasty and a cream tea are non-negotiable.
If the weather turns, don’t panic. The rainy-day section rounds up the indoor options.
On a budget, plenty of the best of Cornwall is free. How to save money in Cornwall covers passes, parking and the no-cost days out.

1. Visit a Cornish Fishing Village

Cornwall’s fishing villages are the county at its most photogenic, and you should build at least one or two into any trip. Fishing has been a cornerstone of Cornish life for centuries, and it still matters today even with tourism now driving the local economy. The villages grew up wherever there was a natural harbour to shelter the boats, which had the happy side effect of making them postcard-pretty: narrow streets, old stone cottages, colourful boats and a working clutter of nets and pots. Most also sit at the start or end of a good coastal walk, with a café or two for afterwards.

There are dozens worth your time, but a few we keep going back to. Boscastle, on the north coast, has a remarkable zig-zag harbour, built that way to break the force of the Atlantic swell, along with steep, picturesque lanes, and the village and much of the land around it are owned by the National Trust. A little west, Port Isaac is one of the most popular villages in Cornwall, largely thanks to its turn as Portwenn in the Doc Martin TV series. Its tiny twisting lanes are lovely, but expect crowds, so go early in the day. Mousehole, on the south-west coast, has a sandy harbour that turns up in brochures for good reason, and the village is well known for the Christmas lights it strings around the harbour each December. Charlestown, near St Austell, is a Georgian harbour built in the 1790s to ship out copper ore, and later china clay. It’s changed so little that it’s a regular film location, often with tall ships moored in the dock. And Polperro, with its narrow, largely car-free streets winding down to a working harbour, is one of our favourites of the lot.

Whichever you pick, the rhythm of a fishing-village visit’s the same: wander the lanes down to the harbour, watch the boats for a while, and find a café or a bench for a bit. Most also sit on the coast path, so you can stretch a visit into a walk along the cliffs in either direction.

This is just scratching the surface. Drive the coast and you’ll find plenty more of your own.

2. Explore Cornwall’s Castles

Cornwall has a fine spread of castles, dotted along the coast and through the countryside, and they make a great day out, with or without kids in tow. They cover a lot of history between them, from the Tudor artillery forts Henry VIII threw up to guard the coast against invasion to the ruined keeps of Cornwall’s Norman past.

One thing you’ll notice quickly is how much of Cornwall is run by either English Heritage or the National Trust: castles, gardens, beaches, even car parks. If you live in the UK and plan to visit a few, membership of one or both will usually pay for itself, and many UK residents already have it. If you’re visiting from overseas, you can buy visitor passes instead: the National Trust Explorer Pass and the English Heritage Overseas Visitor Pass both cover entry across the country, and given how many Cornish attractions these two run, they’re well worth weighing up before you travel.

Pendennis Castle

Just outside Falmouth, Pendennis Castle was built in 1539 as part of Henry VIII’s push to fortify the English coast against attack from mainland Europe. It has a commanding view over the coast and the Carrick Roads, the third largest natural harbour in the world and an obvious naval target.

The castle is a circular keep with thick stone walls, built to house heavy cannon, and it was extended over the following centuries as the nature of the threat changed. It saw action across the years, right up to the Second World War, when it was used against German aircraft, and barracks were added in the 20th century to house troops before it was finally decommissioned in 1956. Today English Heritage runs it, and you can explore the keep, walk the grounds and visit the barracks, which often host special exhibitions and events through the year. When we visited, we ended up learning all about medieval medicine and the history of the longbow, which was a lot more fun than it sounds.

St Mawes Castle

On the other side of the Carrick Roads, St Mawes Castle is essentially Pendennis’s sister fort. It’s similar in design but not identical, with a central circular keep and three round bastions that served as gun platforms.

Operational from 1542, St Mawes has a history much like Pendennis’s, though it became a tourist attraction earlier, opening to visitors between the wars, from 1920 to 1939. It returned to active duty in the Second World War before going back to tourism, and it’s also run by English Heritage today. You can reach it by road, but we think arriving by the little foot ferry from Falmouth is far more fun, and it makes an easy pairing with a morning at Pendennis on the opposite shore.

Restormel Castle

Going back further in time, Restormel Castle is a ruined Norman castle dating from 1100, though the design you see today is early 13th century. Cornwall had four Norman castles, and Restormel is the unusual one: a circular shell keep, and the best preserved of its kind in the UK.

Surrounded by what was once a large hunting ground, the castle worked as both a fortification and a comfortable hunting lodge. It would have been luxuriously decorated in its day, it was visited by royalty, and it even had piped water, a real rarity for the time. It fell out of use in the 14th century and was a ruin by the 16th, with much of its stone carried off for other buildings, but the beauty of the circular design and the peaceful woodland setting made it a tourist draw from the mid-19th century. English Heritage now looks after the grounds and the ruin, and it’s a quiet, green spot to wander.

Launceston Castle

Another Norman fortification, Launceston Castle sits in the town of Launceston in eastern Cornwall. A timber castle probably stood here soon after the Norman invasion of 1066, but the stone structure dates from the 12th century.

The castle slipped into decline as early as the 13th century and spent much of the time since as a court and a gaol, closing as a gaol only in the 19th century when Bodmin took over those duties. By then it had taken its share of wear and tear, but it still dominates the skyline from its high defensive mound, and you can climb to the top of the round tower for wide views over the surrounding countryside. An exhibition on site walks you through the castle’s thousand-year history.

Tintagel Castle

On a small peninsula beside the village of Tintagel on the north coast, Tintagel Castle is a medieval castle from the 13th century. Excavations have also turned up evidence of some form of palace here in the 5th and 6th centuries.

Tintagel is best known for its links to King Arthur, which I come back to further down this guide, and it’s drawn visitors on the strength of that legend since the 19th century. It’s the most ruinous castle on this list, having fallen into disrepair from the mid-14th century and never really recovered, but the island setting is spectacular, and a modern footbridge now links the mainland headland to the island, so the walk out around the headland is easier than it once was. English Heritage runs the site.

3. Cross to St Michael’s Mount

St Michael’s Mount is one of Cornwall’s iconic sights and worth a half-day on its own. It’s a small island off the south coast, topped by a medieval church and castle, and linked to the mainland village of Marazion by a cobbled causeway.

The fun of a visit’s in the crossing. When the tide is out you walk the causeway; when it’s in you take a short boat across. There’s plenty to do once you’re there. The hilltop castle dates from the 12th century, there are gardens and grounds to explore, and the 15th-century chapel can be visited as part of the castle tour. The island is still a working community, with a handful of houses and a small harbour clustered at the foot of the climb, and the walk up to the castle is a steep one over cobbles, rewarded with long views back across Mount’s Bay.

The National Trust manages the island, so it’s free for members. Because access depends on the tide, it’s worth a little planning before you go. Tide times decide whether you walk or take a boat, and the official St Michael’s Mount website explains all of this as part of the booking process. Rough weather can also close the island at short notice, so check the access calendar before you set out.

4. Get Out into Cornwall’s Wild Landscapes

Cornwall has one of the lowest population densities of any English county, so it’s never hard to leave the crowds behind and find a bit of nature. Two spots in particular are a good place to start.

The first is Bodmin Moor. This wild expanse of moorland spreads across the eastern side of the county, all rolling, granite-topped hills and wild ponies, and it holds Cornwall’s highest ground. Its two highest tors, Brown Willy and Rough Tor, are both easy enough to walk up and give you the long views that come with the climb. The moor is steeped in legend, the Jamaica Inn sits right in the middle of it, and it’s a lovely place for a half or full day on foot, with far fewer people about than the coast.

The second is St Nectan’s Glen, near Tintagel. A 30 to 45 minute walk through peaceful woodland brings you to a beautiful 60-foot waterfall that drops through a hole in the rock, a spot that has long been regarded as a spiritual place. The glen is on private land so there’s a small fee, but it’s well worth it in my opinion. My one tip, especially in summer, is to go early: there’s limited parking at the trailhead and it fills up fast.

5. Walk a Stretch of the Coast Path

Cornwall has over 400 miles of coastline, all rugged cliffs, hidden coves, sea stacks and long stretches of golden sand. It’s no surprise it’s one of the best parts of the UK for a scenic coastal walk.

The whole of that coast is part of the South West Coast Path, the longest National Trail in the country. The full path runs 630 miles from Minehead in Somerset, right around the Cornish and Devon coasts, to Poole in Dorset. Almost nobody walks the whole thing in one go, but because the entire Cornish coast forms part of this well-marked route, you can do a short coastal walk pretty much anywhere. Find somewhere to park or a bus stop, and set off. A good trick is to walk one way along the cliffs and catch a bus back, so you’re not retracing your steps, and many of the coastal car parks are run by the National Trust and free to members.

A few of our favourite stretches: the path between Botallack and Pendeen Lighthouse on the wild west coast, the walk from Polperro to Looe, and the cliffs around Bedruthan Steps. Cornwall isn’t all coast, either. We particularly like the walks on Bodmin Moor, including the climb up Brown Willy, the highest point in the county, and we’ve walked part of the flat, easy Camel Trail, which suits walkers and cyclists alike. There are good Bodmin Moor routes on the iWalk Cornwall site, and if you fancy a longer inland hike, the 60-mile Copper Trail circles the whole moor.

Whatever the length, take a decent pair of walking shoes, because the ground can be uneven. Our guides to travel shoes for men and travel shoes for women have some ideas.

6. Spend an Afternoon in a Cornish Garden

Cornwall’s mild, frost-light climate makes it one of the great gardening counties of Britain, and a good few of those gardens are open to visit. Some specialise in a particular plant or habitat, some have sculpture woven through them, and some belong to country estates, where a ticket might cover just the garden or the house as well. Here are the ones we’d point you towards.

Lost Gardens of Heligan

The Lost Gardens of Heligan are a 200-acre garden near the fishing village of Mevagissey, and among the most popular in the UK. The name comes from their history. From 1766 until the First World War the gardens were part of the Heligan Estate, with multiple themed areas including an Italian garden and a sundial garden. Many of the gardeners were killed in the war, the house was let out, and over the following decades the gardens grew so overgrown they were lost. In 1990 they were rediscovered, and a huge restoration effort, which drew national media attention and a multi-part television documentary, brought them back. They reopened to the public in 1992 and have been one of the most popular gardens in the country ever since, picking up a long list of awards, including being voted Britain’s Finest Garden. There’s a lot of ground to cover across the 200 acres, from the Italian garden and the productive walled gardens to the sub-tropical Jungle with its rope bridge, and there’s an on-site shop, food and a rare-breed farm.

Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens

Where other Cornish gardens dot sculpture around the planting, Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens put the artworks at the centre of the experience. The 20-acre site sits in a sheltered valley just outside Penzance, with views across to St Michael’s Mount. The garden itself dates from the 1830s, but it’s only been open in its present form since 2012. You’ll find tropical and exotic planting that thrives in the valley’s shelter, alongside major installations by artists including James Turrell, David Nash and Richard Long, the kind of works you come upon as you walk rather than view in a row. There’s also a café, a shop and a nursery on site.

Caerhays Castle and Garden

If you’re visiting Cornwall in spring, between February and mid-June, it’s well worth a trip to Caerhays Castle and Garden. This is the only time the gardens open, and the timing is the point: 140 acres of hillside filled with magnolias, camellias and rhododendrons. Many of the plants are over a century old, descended from the work of the plant hunters Ernest Wilson and George Forrest, who spent years in countries like China sending species home. The result, in full bloom, is unlike almost anything else, and the grounds also hold a number of registered Champion Trees. April tends to be the peak for the blooms. You can buy a ticket for the garden alone, or one that also takes in the castle, which I come to in the historic houses section below, and there’s a café for afterwards.

Pencarrow House and Garden

On the western edge of Bodmin Moor, Pencarrow House and Garden has 50 acres of grade II listed gardens that take in formal planting, ancient woodland and even an iron age hill fort. The gardens date from 1831 and are home to 160 conifer species, 700 rhododendron species and 60 camellia species, along with an Italian garden, a granite rockery and a lake. We visited on a day when it poured with rain from start to finish, and still came away glad we had gone, the rhododendrons holding their colour through the wet. There are trails to follow through the woods and gardens, and it’s an easy few hours. Under-16s go free, which makes it a good-value family stop, and dogs are welcome on the garden grounds, though not inside the house.

For more, the National Trust has a list of its gardens in Cornwall.

7. Visit the Eden Project

The Eden Project is Cornwall’s best-known attraction, and it earns the billing. Built in a former china clay pit, the Eden Project is home to two huge enclosures made of overlapping geodesic domes. The largest covers almost four acres and holds a rainforest, the biggest indoor rainforest in the world. The second, slightly smaller, recreates a Mediterranean climate.

You don’t need a great love of gardens to enjoy this. The domes alone are worth the trip, and the range of plant life inside is impressive, from a working banana grove to coffee and rubber. My one tip is to bring layers and plenty of water, because the rainforest dome is hot and humid, and you’ll want to strip down to a t-shirt even in winter. There’s a high-level walkway up in the rainforest canopy too, if you have a head for it. Beyond the two biomes there are outdoor gardens, rotating art installations, exhibits and events, places to eat and a large shop, with a good deal of seasonal programming through the year. There’s easily half a day here, and it’s an excellent option for families.

8. Tour a Historic Cornish House

Alongside its gardens and castles, Cornwall has a number of historic houses open to visit. Several of them also have gardens worth your time, which I’ve covered in the gardens section above. These are the houses we’d single out.

Caerhays Castle

Caerhays Castle was designed and built to look like a castle, but it’s really a country house, which is why it sits here rather than with the actual fortifications. Its owner, John Bettesworth-Trevanion, wanted a home that looked the part, and hired the leading architect of the day, John Nash, to deliver it. Nash, the man behind Buckingham Palace and Marble Arch among much else, did the job well. The early 19th-century house was modelled on a Norman castle, complete with crenellations, towers and a stone build. It’s still privately owned and lived in, but opens for guided tours in spring alongside the gardens, and we enjoyed learning the story of the house and the family who built it on our visit.

Lanhydrock House

Lanhydrock House is a large country estate and mansion. The property dates back to the 1620s, but a major fire in Victorian times means most of what you see today is the late 19th-century rebuild. Now run by the National Trust, it can be explored on a self-guided tour that runs from the service quarters and kitchen through to the reception rooms and family bedrooms. The tour takes in more than 50 rooms in all, and the Long Gallery, a 35-metre room with a remarkable plaster ceiling and one of the few parts to survive the fire, stuck with us. The estate spans 890 acres of formal gardens, wilder parkland and ancient woodland, with walking and cycling trails running through it, and the house and formal gardens are free for National Trust members.

Pencarrow House

Pencarrow House has been the family home of the Molesworth-St Aubyn family for almost 500 years, and the present house dates from the 1760s. As with the other estates here, you can visit the gardens on their own or add a guided tour of the house. We did the house tour as well as the gardens, and enjoyed learning about the property, its collection of paintings and furniture, and the people who have lived in it over the centuries. There’s a café on site, and the house feels like a comfortable, lived-in family home rather than a museum piece. For more options, Cornwall Guide has a longer list of historic houses in the county.

9. See the Art in St Ives and Beyond

Cornwall has drawn artists for well over a century. When the railway reached the county in 1877, the combination of easy access, plentiful subject matter and a low cost of living brought painters in numbers, and the tradition never really stopped. You’ll find everything from the open-air realism of the Newlyn School to the modern and abstract work centred on the St Ives community, along with some excellent museums. Cornwall’s light, which is part of what drew so many painters here in the first place, is still its own draw.

Tate St Ives

Opened in 1993 and part of the Tate group, Tate St Ives is the most visited art gallery in Cornwall. It has a lovely position above the beach, and the collection ranges from international names like Picasso, Pollock and Rothko to local artists such as Barbara Hepworth. Works from the permanent collection are on display alongside rotating exhibitions, and the building itself, extended and reworked a few years back, is worth the visit for the views over Porthmeor Beach alone. St Ives itself is a hub for the artist community, so beyond the Tate you’ll find a great many smaller commercial galleries selling work. If you’re looking to buy art in Cornwall, it’s a good place to start.

Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden

Barbara Hepworth was a British sculptor who lived and worked in St Ives for almost 40 years, a major figure in Modernism and one of the leaders of the St Ives movement. Her home, studio and garden, in the centre of St Ives, are now run as the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden by the Tate. A visit walks you through the artist’s life and includes a number of her sculptures, displayed in the garden much as she arranged them, along with the tools she used and archive material from her own collection. Worth knowing: although the Tate runs it, the Hepworth museum is a separate site a short walk from the gallery, with its own ticket, so it’s not included in standard Tate St Ives admission. A combined ticket is usually the better value if you want to see both.

Falmouth Art Gallery

Falmouth, on the south coast, has a clutch of attractions, and one of them is the Falmouth Art Gallery. This free museum holds a collection of over 2,000 works, taking in old masters, Victorian artists, French and British impressionists and surrealists. Given the town’s links to the sea, there’s a good showing of maritime art, and Cornish artists such as John Opie are represented too. For a free gallery with real range across periods and styles, and one that’s welcoming to families, it’s an easy recommendation, and a useful one to keep in mind for a wet afternoon.

Royal Cornwall Museum

The Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro covers the history of Cornwall across a great many objects and exhibits, and it has plenty for art lovers too. Its art collection holds thousands of pieces by Cornish artists and depicting Cornish scenes over the centuries, and you can see a sample of it online. There’s also a decorative art collection, a mineral collection that reflects Cornwall’s mining past, an Egyptian gallery, and an archive of over 60,000 photographs of Cornish life from 1845 to the present. There’s a small fee, and entry is free for under-18s.

10. Try Surfing and Other Watersports

With over 400 miles of coastline, you’re never far from the sea in Cornwall, and the county is famous for its surfing. Surfers come from across the UK and beyond to make the most of the swells rolling in off the Atlantic. Newquay is the unofficial capital of British surfing, and Fistral Beach there’s the best known break of the lot.

You don’t need to be an expert, though. There are plenty of spots that suit beginners, and a good number of companies offering lessons and equipment hire. If you want to learn, I’d set aside at least a few days and base yourself somewhere like St Ives or Newquay, where you have several surf schools to choose from, such as St Ives Surf School. Surfing is far from the only option, either. Stand-up paddleboarding on a calm estuary, coasteering along the rocks, which is exactly as much fun and as bracing as it sounds, sea kayaking and wild swimming are all on offer. Most make excellent family activities, and the sea is at its warmest from late summer into early autumn, so they’re well worth building into your trip.

11. Spend a Day on the Beach

No guide to Cornwall would be complete without telling you to spend some time on the beach. Growing up in Cornwall, a weekend trip to the beach with the family was always the highlight of the week, and that hasn’t changed much for me as an adult.

Cornwall has a seriously impressive run of beaches, over 100 of them, many with golden sand and clear turquoise water. The north coast tends to get the bigger surf and the long, open strands, while the south coast has more in the way of sheltered, gentler coves, so it’s worth thinking about which suits your group. A lot of beaches are good for rock pooling, always a winner with kids. Facilities vary: some have lifeguards and toilets, others add cafés and restaurants, and towns like St Ives and Newquay have several beaches within a few minutes’ walk of the centre. You’ll often find campsites and other accommodation near a good beach as well.

There are far too many to list, but a few favourites of ours are Holywell Bay, Poldhu Cove, Porthtowan, Fistral Beach and Porthgwidden. Each has its own character, from the dunes behind Holywell Bay to the compact, sheltered feel of Porthgwidden in St Ives. To find the right beach for you, Visit Cornwall has a tool that lets you filter by facilities, including lifeguards and toilets. One thing to be ready for: parking at beaches is rarely free, and not every machine takes cards or parking apps, so carry some change. Many beach car parks are run by the National Trust and are free for members, which is worth knowing, and you can search for coast and beach spots on the National Trust website.

12. Track Down King Arthur

The legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is known the world over. The story has Arthur leading the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th century, with the mythical sword Excalibur, Merlin the magician, the love story of Lancelot and Guinevere, and the quest for the Holy Grail all woven in.

How much of it’s real is another matter. Very little is known about whether there was an actual King Arthur. Much of the legend stems from a 12th-century pseudo-historical book by the cleric Geoffrey of Monmouth, the Historia Regum Britanniae, which chronicled the kings of Britain over 2,000 years and was taken as fact well into the 16th century. Historians today largely discount it as a historical source, although it does weave real history into the fiction. The poet Tennyson revived interest in the tale for a Victorian audience, setting his version at real places, a number of them in Cornwall.

In Cornwall, the sites with the strongest Arthurian links are:

The Vale of Avalon, a good starting point, sits at what some believe was the site of Arthur’s last battle, with a visitor centre covering the legends and some related artefacts.
Tintagel Castle is said to be the place of Arthur’s conception and birth, and its visitor centre has more on the story.
Dozmary Pool, a small lake high on Bodmin Moor, is claimed as the lake of the Lady who gave Arthur Excalibur, and to which the sword was returned after his death.
Bossiney Mound, a large mound near Tintagel, is said to be the resting place of the Knights of the Round Table, and of the Round Table itself.
St Nectan’s Glen, a place long regarded as spiritual, is where Arthur’s knights are said to have been blessed before setting out in search of the Holy Grail.

Chasing King Arthur around Cornwall is, in the end, an excuse to visit some of the county’s most atmospheric corners, and on that count it always delivers, whether or not the man himself ever set foot here.

13. Pick a Family Day Out

Cornwall is one of the most family-friendly corners of the UK, and for good reason. Miles of beautiful beaches, many lifeguarded and safe for swimming, plus a lot of open space for kids to burn off energy, do most of the work on their own. Rock pooling, a bucket and spade, a clamber along the coast path and an ice cream will fill a day for younger children without costing much at all.

Plenty of the attractions already in this guide are great with children. The beaches are the obvious starting point, and the Eden Project and the Lost Gardens of Heligan, with its animals, jungle and rope bridge, both go down well. A few more are worth earmarking if you’re travelling with kids. The National Maritime Museum in Falmouth, covered just below, takes visitors through maritime history and suits all ages. The Blue Reef Aquarium, on the seafront in Newquay, is a solid year-round option, with over 40 habitats and an underwater tunnel. And Land’s End, which is probably on your list anyway, has family attractions of its own, including a 4D film experience and a petting farm. Between the beaches and the indoor options, there’s plenty here to fill a family week, rain or shine.

14. Dig Into Cornish History

Cornwall was first settled around 10,000 BC, with recorded history starting roughly 2,000 years ago. It has a distinct culture and history rooted in its Celtic origins, which predate the Roman conquest of Britain, and up until the 18th century the everyday language was Cornish, one of the Celtic languages, which has had a real revival of late. You’ll see Cornish on bilingual signs and in place names everywhere you go, and the county’s strong sense of itself as a place apart, with its own flag, its own patron saint and its own traditions, is part of what makes it interesting to travel in. If you want to get under the skin of all that, a handful of museums do the job well.

The Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro is the broadest of them, with thousands of historical objects from Cornwall and beyond, a mineral collection, rare books and ceramics alongside its art. The National Maritime Museum in Falmouth is the one to choose for the sea, which is woven through all of Cornish history: boats, boat building, exploration and more, and it’s good fun for the whole family.

On Bodmin Moor, the Jamaica Inn is a popular place to stay and eat, and one we’ve spent a night at ourselves. Dating from 1750, it gave its name to a Daphne du Maurier novel, and it has a long association with Cornish smuggling. There’s an excellent small smugglers’ museum on site, with a section devoted to du Maurier, who stayed here and took the inn as the setting for her novel of smuggling and shipwreck. The moor around it’s as bleak and atmospheric as that story needs. Also worth your time is Bodmin Jail, opened in 1779 as part of the prison reform movement and a milestone in UK prison design, now a visitor attraction covering the history of the prison, the reform movement and some of its more infamous inmates. It leans hard into the darker side of its past, so it’s one to weigh up for younger or more sensitive visitors. And at Poldhu, just above Poldhu Cove, the Marconi Centre marks the spot where the first transatlantic radio signal was sent, the work of the Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi, with a large monument alongside. You can find out more about visiting this National Trust site online.

15. Find Cornwall’s Ancient Stones

Beyond the documented history of the last couple of millennia lie thousands of years when people lived in Cornwall without leaving much record of their lives. What they did leave are Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments, mostly standing stones and stone circles. Their exact purpose is unknown, but they were probably built for ritual ceremonies of some importance. Most of these sites are free, open to the public and set in scenic spots. Part of the appeal is how undeveloped they’re: no ticket office, no queue, just a stone or a circle standing where it’s stood for thousands of years, often with nobody else around. A few to start with:

Mên-an-Tol is a small formation of three stones, two uprights and one circular stone with a hole through the middle. That holed stone sits at the heart of a lot of folklore: for centuries, passing a child through the hole was believed to cure rickets. It’s a lovely 20-minute walk out to the stones, with other ancient monuments nearby.
The Hurlers are probably Cornwall’s best-known ancient site: three stone circles near the village of Minions, and the best-preserved ceremonial circles in the south west.
The Nine Maidens, or Boskednan Stone Circle, near Mousehole, is a circle of nine standing stones plus two fallen ones.
Chysauster Ancient Village, near St Ives, is a 2,000-year-old Romano-British settlement and one of the best-preserved examples of its kind in the UK. You can walk the village streets and there’s a fee to visit.
Carn Euny Ancient Village is an Iron Age settlement with the remains of circular stone dwellings dating from around 200 AD. It’s free, and reached by a short five-minute walk.

There are many more ancient sites across the county, including settlements, graves and quoits. Cornwall Guide has a good list of historic sites for more ideas.

16. Go Shopping for Cornish Crafts

If you’re after souvenirs from your trip, or just enjoy a bit of retail therapy, Cornwall has plenty of options, and the best of it leans towards things actually made here: pottery and ceramics, prints and paintings, Cornish food and drink, woollens and surf gear. Most towns and villages have somewhere selling a mix of local arts, crafts and food alongside more general items, and many attractions, the Eden Project among them, stock locally produced goods in their gift shops.

For a wider range of shops, head to Truro, Falmouth, St Ives or Newquay. And if you prefer a market, the Par Market and Food Hall near St Austell is an excellent option. One of the largest indoor markets in the UK, it has over 70 stalls, cafés and eateries, plus free parking on site.

17. Go Bird Watching

If you’re a birdwatcher, or fancy getting into birdwatching, Cornwall gives you plenty to work with. Sitting right on the edge of the UK, it’s one of the first landfalls for migrating birds, and over 450 species have been recorded in the county, of which more than 100 breed here.

It’s also a good place to spot birds that are rare elsewhere in the UK. The one to look for is the red-billed chough, Cornwall’s county emblem and a member of the crow family. The chough is a quiet conservation success story. It vanished from Cornwall in the mid-20th century, last breeding here in 1947 and dying out entirely by 1973. Then, in 2001, wild choughs returned to the county on their own. A pair nested on the Lizard in 2002, and choughs have bred in Cornwall every year since, with recent strong seasons reporting a couple of dozen breeding pairs. The bird now sits on the green list of Birds of Conservation Concern, though nest sites are still watched closely. Good places to look more widely include the coastal headlands, the wooded creeks of the south-coast estuaries, and the far west around the Lizard and Land’s End, which can be busy with migrants in spring and autumn.

For recent sightings and birdwatching information, the Cornwall Birdwatching and Preservation Society and BirdGuides are both good resources. If you want a book to take with you, we recommend this guide to the best birdwatching sites in Cornwall and Scilly and this guide to the birds of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

18. Visit a TV or Film Location

Cornwall is photogenic enough that it’s no surprise so many film and TV productions have used it, several of them long-running shows their viewers know well. Even if you haven’t seen the film or programme in question, the locations tend to be scenic and worth visiting in their own right. Cornwall has stood in for far-flung islands and Cold War Britain over the years, but more often it simply plays itself. A few to look out for:

The Eden Project featured in the James Bond film Die Another Day, as did Holywell Bay near Newquay.
The Hornblower series was shot in Falmouth, Charlestown and at Pendennis Castle.
Both versions of Poldark were filmed around Cornwall, including Charlestown, Porthgwarra, Bodmin Moor and the old mine workings at Botallack.
Doc Martin is set in the pretty fishing village of Port Isaac, which stands in for the fictional Portwenn, and the village leans into the connection.
The detective series Wycliffe was filmed across the county.

For many more, this Wikipedia guide to Cornwall film locations is a good reference. You could also join a guided tour built around them, such as this tour, which links St Michael’s Mount with the old mining coast around Cape Cornwall where much of Poldark was shot, or this Doc Martin and King Arthur tour.

19. Eat Your Way Around Cornwall

Like a lot of the UK, and indeed the world, Cornwall is well known for its food. The most famous of all is the Cornish pasty, which spread around the world with emigrating Cornish miners, for whom it was a common lunch. The Cornish pasty even has protected status now, like the Melton Mowbray pork pie, so the real thing has to be made to the traditional recipe and crimped in Cornwall. There’s a lot more to try, though, and the county’s food scene, built on its farms and its fishing boats, is one of the real pleasures of a visit. Here’s what we’d put on your list:

Cornish pasties are the obvious one. Traditionally they’re made with beef, potato, swede and onion wrapped in pastry, though these days you’ll find them with all kinds of fillings. They’re sold all over Cornwall, and many bakers claim awards of one sort or another. The best we’ve had came from Philps Bakery in Hayle, but part of the fun is finding your own favourite.
A Cornish cream tea is a form of afternoon tea: a cup of tea with a scone, Cornish clotted cream and jam. The order matters. In Cornwall the jam goes on first, with the cream on top, and as a Cornishman I will not be taking questions on this.
Cornish Yarg is a semi-hard cheese based on a recipe from 1615, wrapped in nettle leaves before maturing, which forms the rind. It’s made at Lynher Dairies.
Local seafood is a given when you’re surrounded by the sea. You’ll find fish and chips everywhere, but also excellent seafood restaurants across the county serving fresh, locally caught fish.
Saffron cake is a bright yellow cake, essentially a fruit cake baked with real saffron, and a treat if you have a sweet tooth.
Stargazy pie is traditionally eaten on 23 December for Tom Bawcock’s Eve, and is said to have originated in Mousehole. The heads and tails of pilchards poke up through the pastry lid, with the fish, a creamy sauce and seasoning inside.
Cornish fairings are ginger biscuits, named for the sweet treats once sold at fairgrounds, and made by Furniss since 1886.
Clotted cream fudge uses the thick clotted cream of the south west. Cornish clotted cream has to be made from Cornwall milk, and it turns up in all sorts of sweet things. The fudge makes a good gift, if you can resist eating it first.

My advice isn’t to plan all of this too carefully. Half the fun is wandering into a village bakery or a harbour-side café and seeing what’s good that day.

20. Try Cornwall’s Local Drinks

Cornwall is known for a good few drinks as well as its food. A handful to keep an eye out for:

Cider comes first. Like many of England’s western counties, Cornwall has a strong cider tradition, and there are producers you can visit, where you can usually taste and buy straight from the barrel. On a recent trip we called in at Haywood Farm and came away with some lovely cider, but there are plenty of options.

Cornwall also has a number of vineyards making the most of the mild climate to grow their own grapes, usually open for tastings, tours and sales. The Camel Valley and Polgoon vineyards are a good starting point for a Cornish wine adventure. For beer, the family-owned St Austell Brewery makes a fine range, Proper Job being a personal favourite of mine, and there are microbreweries to tour too, such as Padstow Brewing Company. And as everywhere in the UK, gin has had a renaissance here, with craft distilleries turning out a range of flavoured Cornish gins, many of them built around botanicals foraged from the coast and countryside. Most of the cideries, vineyards, breweries and distilleries run tours and tastings, so a drinks producer or two makes an easy and enjoyable half-day. Just sort out who is driving first.

21. Explore Cornwall’s Mining Heritage

Visit Cornwall and it’s hard to miss the mark mining has left on the people and the landscape. The ruined engine houses, their tall chimneys still standing on clifftops and hillsides across the county, are among its most recognisable sights, and they show how completely tin and copper mining once shaped the Cornish economy. Mining here goes back thousands of years, but it peaked in the 18th and 19th centuries, when Cornwall was one of the most important mining districts in the world.

The whole mining area across Cornwall and west Devon is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, inscribed in 2006 for the influence it had on mining in the UK and around the world. Cornish miners took the deep-mining knowledge they had developed here and carried it across the globe, changing how the world mined. You’ll see remains of the mine workings as you travel around, and there are dedicated walking routes that take them in, such as the Copper Trail around Bodmin Moor. The Cornish Mining World Heritage site has a mining trails map with more. To really understand this part of Cornish history, though, it’s worth visiting one of the mine sites themselves.

Geevor Tin Mine

One of the last mines to close in Cornwall, Geevor Tin Mine operated between 1911 and 1990, though there was mining in the area from the late 18th century. Today it runs as a visitor attraction, the largest preserved mining site in the country, and it does a good job of conveying what the work was actually like. You’ll see the buildings where the ore was processed and learn how the mine ran, and you can walk through an actual 18th-century mine tunnel, part of the old Wheal Mexico mine, ducking along the low, dark passages the miners used. If you only have time for one mine, this is the one I’d choose, and its position out on the wild west coast near Pendeen is hard to beat.

Levant Mine and Beam Engine

A short walk or easy drive from Geevor, the Levant Mine and Beam Engine has the world’s only Cornish beam engine still working on its original site, dating from the 1840s and still powered by steam. The mine itself dates from 1820 and was known as the mine under the sea, its tunnels running 600 metres down and then over a mile out beneath the seabed, where miners could hear the swell shifting the boulders on the seabed above their heads. It’s run by the National Trust. Worth knowing before you go: following storm damage, Levant is currently open by pre-booked guided tour only, on a limited number of days (Mondays and Tuesdays, with more days during school holidays), so book ahead and check the National Trust page for the latest.

King Edward Mine Museum

The King Edward Mine Museum is a little different from the others. It was a working mine until 1897, after which it became a place to teach mining, with commercial tin production carrying on as a by-product of the teaching rather than the main purpose. Because it was used for instruction, the site was well kept, and it’s the oldest complete mine working you can visit in Cornwall. Much of the machinery and the buildings are fully working versions of turn-of-the-century tin-mining equipment, and a tour includes demonstrations that give you a real sense of the process. There’s also a nature trail on site. It’s a quieter, less polished stop than Geevor, and that’s part of its appeal.

East Pool Mine

Home to one of the largest surviving Cornish beam engines in the world, the National Trust’s East Pool Mine worked copper and tin from the early 18th century through to 1945, and has been owned by the Trust since 1967. On site are two great beam engines, one of them among the largest ever built in Cornwall, along with a discovery centre covering the mine buildings, where you can learn how the mine drained and hauled its ore. One thing to check before you visit: East Pool is currently closed while storm damage is repaired, with the National Trust aiming to reopen later in 2026, so check the official page before making the trip.

Wheal Martyn Clay Works

Tin and copper weren’t the only things mined in Cornwall. Around St Austell you’ll notice large white hills, sometimes called the Cornish Alps. They’re not natural. They’re the by-product of the china clay industry, or kaolin, a form of decomposed granite used to make fine porcelain, mined here from the mid-18th century. It was big business: over 65,000 tonnes a year by the mid-19th century, rising past a million tonnes a year by the start of the 20th, with Cornwall responsible for more than half the world’s china clay. As every tonne of usable clay produced five tonnes of waste, it’s not hard to see where those white hills came from. China clay is still mined in Cornwall today, though in far smaller volumes.

To learn the full story, the Wheal Martyn Clay Works is the place to go. It’s the UK’s only china clay mining museum, set across two Victorian-era clay works, and it covers the history and the process, the wagons and the water wheels, and the lives of the people who worked the pits. From a viewing point you can look down into a working modern clay pit, an enormous pale-walled crater, which was always the highlight for me when I came here as a child. There are woodland trails on the site too.

You may also see Poldark Mine, near Helston, on plenty of Cornwall lists. It’s the one Cornish mine set up for underground tours of the original 18th-century workings. Those tours have been suspended for several years now, with no confirmed date to reopen, so I’d not build a day around it. If it’s the underground experience you’re after, Geevor is the one to choose.

22. Catch a Show at a Cornish Theatre

As a home for artists, Cornwall has its share of places to see performing arts, and a couple of them are settings you’ll not forget.

The Minack Theatre has to be one of the most spectacularly located theatres in the UK. Carved into the cliffs near Porthcurno on the south-west coast, this open-air amphitheatre puts on a full season of plays and concerts against a backdrop of sea and sky, with the waves and the odd passing boat as scenery. It was the lifelong project of one woman, Rowena Cade, who built much of it by hand from the 1930s onwards, and even if you don’t catch a show, the theatre and its clifftop gardens are worth visiting by day. Sterts Theatre is a different kind of unusual: a tented amphitheatre on the eastern edge of Bodmin Moor near Liskeard, seating 400 under a canopy that keeps the rain off.

Plenty of other places put on performing arts too, from pop-up productions on beaches to concerts in caverns, and many pubs, campsites, churches and gardens host regular live performances. You should be able to find something to enjoy whenever you visit, and you can see listings and book tickets here.

23. Stand at the End of the Land

Cornwall is both the most southerly and the most westerly of England’s counties, which gives you the chance to stand at two of the country’s edges within an easy drive of each other. Both are worth the trip, and they make a satisfying pair: one busy and built up, the other wild and quiet.

Land’s End is the most westerly point of mainland England. There’s a famous signpost here for the obligatory photo, along with a cluster of family attractions, a large paid car park and a public transport connection. The site itself is fairly commercialised, which catches some people out, but the headland and the long views towards the Longships Lighthouse are the real draw, and they cost nothing.

Lizard Point is the most southerly point of mainland Britain. It’s part of a national nature reserve looked after by the National Trust, and although there are a few small shops and cafés, it feels far less developed than Land’s End. A visit here’s more about the nature and the coastal walks. There’s a lighthouse and museum nearby you can visit for a fee, and the wider Lizard peninsula has more to offer, including Kynance Cove, one of the most photographed beaches in Cornwall with its turquoise water and dark serpentine rock stacks, and the Marconi station at Poldhu. National Trust members park free at many of these spots, and the Lizard rewards a full day in its own right.

24. Take a Boat Trip

With so much water around it, Cornwall is a natural place to get out on a boat, and many visitors make a boat trip part of their holiday.

The kind of trip depends on what you’re after. You’ll find operators all along the coast, including from St Ives, Penzance, Padstow and Falmouth. A popular choice is a wildlife-watching trip, which often gives you the chance to see dolphins, grey seals and a range of seabirds, and in summer the occasional basking shark, the second largest fish in the world, which feeds in Cornish waters. Gentler river and estuary cruises, up the Fal from Falmouth or the Camel from Padstow, are an easy option if open water isn’t your thing. If you’d rather try your hand at sea fishing, that’s an option too, with charters ranging from a couple of hours to a full day at sea. And in some places, Falmouth among them, you can hire your own small boat for the day. Falmouth sits on one of the largest natural harbours in the world, so it’s a particularly good base for getting out on the water.

25. Get on a Bike

We’ve already covered walking, but Cornwall is an excellent place to cycle. There are routes for every ability, from flat, traffic-free trails that suit young families to technical runs built for mountain bikers, and a bike is often the nicest way to cover the old railway lines and estuary paths.

The best-known easy route is the Camel Trail, a flat former railway line that’s popular with families. At the other end of the scale, mountain bikers can head for routes like the Bodmin Beast trail at Cardinham Woods. For more ideas, Cornwall Council has a guide to cycle routes and trails across a range of terrain. If you haven’t brought your own bikes, you can hire them at locations around the county for a reasonable fee.

The Best Things to Do in Cornwall on a Rainy Day

Cornwall is at its best outdoors, but the weather doesn’t always cooperate. Even in summer, a rainy day or two is likely, so it’s worth having a few indoor options up your sleeve. These all have fuller write-ups in the main part of the guide above.

Bodmin Jail in Bodmin
Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay
The Eden Project near St Austell, where the biomes are largely undercover
The National Maritime Museum in Falmouth
The Jamaica Inn smugglers’ museum on Bodmin Moor
The Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro
The Falmouth Art Gallery in Falmouth
Tate St Ives in St Ives
The Par Market and Food Hall near St Austell
A long, unhurried Cornish cream tea, a perfectly respectable way to wait out a shower

How to Save Money in Cornwall

Cornwall is a popular destination, and that can make it a pricey one. As with most trips, your main costs will be accommodation, eating out, attractions, souvenirs and transport. The good news is that a few simple choices can take a real bite out of the total, so here’s what has worked for us.

Choose Your Base Carefully

In our experience, properties closer to the sea or a good beach tend to cost more, while those a little inland often give better value. If you’re visiting in the busier summer months, expect to pay more across the board, and book well ahead, because the best places go fast. It’s often worth being a short drive from the coast rather than right on it: you save money, and parking tends to be easier too.

Consider Other Types of Accommodation

Cornwall has a huge range of places to stay, and the type you pick makes a difference to the cost. Rural campsites, countryside B&Bs, hostel dorm rooms and apartment rentals all sit at different price points, so it’s worth being flexible about what kind of stay you book.

Visit Outside the Peak Season

Cornwall is busiest in summer, when visitors flock to the county for the beaches and the outdoors, and high demand pushes prices up, accommodation especially. Visiting outside the peak summer months will save you money. Other busy times line up with UK school and public holidays, since Cornwall is such a popular family destination. If you have school-age children you may be tied to those dates, but if not, it’s worth steering clear of the peak times for better deals. Late spring and early autumn are our favourite times to visit anyway, so for us this has never felt like much of a sacrifice.

Cook Some Meals Yourself

Food adds up, and eating out for every meal will eat into your budget fast. We’re not suggesting you cook the whole holiday, but preparing some meals yourself saves a fair bit. For that you’ll want accommodation with a kitchen, so either a hostel or an apartment. When we travel and cook for ourselves, we tend to pack a few essentials like oil, spices and a good sharp knife, which saves buying them again at the other end. Cornwall makes self-catering a pleasure rather than a chore, with farm shops, fishmongers and good local produce almost everywhere you look.

Pick Your Attractions Carefully

Attractions and activities are another big cost, and as this guide shows, Cornwall has a lot of them, many with an entry fee. Our advice is to plan which ones you really want to do, and make the most of any membership cards you hold. We have National Trust membership, which gets us into NT properties across the UK. In Cornwall that covers sites like St Michael’s Mount, Lanhydrock House and Levant Mine, and, just as usefully, free parking in the many National Trust car parks around the coast, which adds up quickly. English Heritage membership is worth considering too, since a number of Cornwall’s castles are run by English Heritage.

If you’re visiting from outside the UK, the National Trust Explorer Pass and the English Heritage Overseas Visitor Pass do the same job as membership. Families should look out for attractions that let children in free or sell a family ticket. And it’s worth remembering that a great many things to do in Cornwall are completely free, so you can have a brilliant time here without spending heavily on entry fees.

Where to Stay in Cornwall

You’ll need somewhere to stay, and the good news is that Cornwall has every kind of place to do it, from hotels and B&Bs to self-catering cottages, glamping and campsites. Where you base yourself depends a lot on the route you plan to take, and the county is small enough that you can either pick one base or move around.

Rather than repeat it all here, we’ve put our full breakdown of where to stay in Cornwall, by area and by type, into our one week Cornwall itinerary, which is the better place for it. If you’re after a self-catering cottage in particular, our guide to the best holiday cottage booking websites in the UK and Ireland is a good starting point.

Cornwall: Frequently Asked Questions

A few of the questions we’re most often asked about visiting Cornwall.

What is Cornwall best known for?

Cornwall is best known for its coastline: over 400 miles of it, with more than 100 beaches, dramatic cliffs and the South West Coast Path running the whole way round.

Beyond the beaches, it’s known for its fishing villages, its mining heritage, the Eden Project, sub-tropical gardens like Heligan, the legend of King Arthur at Tintagel, and its food, the pasty and the cream tea above all. Cornwall also has a distinct Celtic culture and its own language, Cornish.

How many days do you need in Cornwall?

A week is the sweet spot for a first visit. That’s enough time to settle into one or two bases, mix beach days with a few gardens or castles, and not spend the whole trip behind the wheel.

Cornwall looks small on a map, but the roads are slow and it can take a couple of hours to cross from end to end. If you only have a weekend, pick one area, such as the far west around St Ives and Penzance, or the north coast around Padstow, and stay put. Our one week Cornwall itinerary breaks a week down day by day.

What is the best time of year to visit Cornwall?

Late spring, in May and June, and early autumn, in September, are the best all-round times. You get long days and a decent chance of good weather without the peak-summer crowds and prices.

July and August are warmest and best for a classic beach holiday, but they’re also when Cornwall is busiest and most expensive, so book accommodation well ahead. Spring is the time to come for the gardens. Out of season plenty stays open, though some attractions reduce their hours.

What are the best things to do in Cornwall with kids?

Cornwall is one of the most family-friendly corners of the UK, and the beaches do most of the work, especially the lifeguarded ones with rock pools.

Beyond the beaches, the Eden Project, the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay, the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth and Land’s End all go down well with children. Many of the gardens, Heligan and Pencarrow included, have play areas, animals and trails, and a number of attractions let under-16s in free or sell family tickets.

What is there to do in Cornwall when it rains?

Cornwall has plenty of indoor options for a wet day. The Eden Project’s biomes are largely undercover, and the National Maritime Museum, the Royal Cornwall Museum, Tate St Ives, the Falmouth Art Gallery, Bodmin Jail and the Blue Reef Aquarium are all good rainy-day choices.

A long, unhurried Cornish cream tea is also a perfectly respectable way to wait out a shower. We’ve pulled the indoor options together in the rainy-day section above.

What are the best free things to do in Cornwall?

A lot of the best of Cornwall costs nothing. The beaches are free, though you’ll usually pay to park, as are the coast path, Bodmin Moor and most of the ancient standing stones and stone circles.

Wandering the fishing villages and the clifftops at Land’s End costs nothing either. If you have National Trust membership, it also covers parking at many NT car parks around the coast, which is one of the better-value cards to carry in Cornwall.