Best Places to Visit in Cornwall (A Guide to Britain's Most Beautiful Coast)
Cornwall is Britain's most beloved coastline — and it's not hard to see why. Turquoise Atlantic waves, granite sea stacks, whitewashed fishing villages tucked into coves, and a light that artists have been chasing for over a century. It feels more like the Mediterranean than England, which is perhaps why people keep coming back, year after year, with the look of someone returning to a place they've always belonged.
Whether it's your first trip or your twentieth, here are the best places to visit in Cornwall — and the ones that belong on your walls.
1. St Ives
Cornwall's most beloved town and one of the most beautiful places in Britain. Turquoise water lapping at the harbour, golden sand at Porthminster Beach, whitewashed fishermen's cottages tumbling down to the water and a creative spirit that has attracted artists for over a century. The Tate St Ives, perched above Porthmeor Beach, is one of the finest galleries in the UK. Arrive at low tide, when the harbour is at its most impossibly picturesque.
2. Port Isaac
A narrow-streeted, stone-cottaged, entirely unspoiled Cornish fishing village that looks exactly like Cornwall is supposed to look. Lanes so narrow they barely fit one person cascade down to a working harbour where crab pots are still stacked on the quayside. The TV show Doc Martin made it famous — but Port Isaac was perfect long before anyone arrived.
3. Padstow
Colourful boats, lobster pots on the quayside and whitewashed cottages climbing the hill above the Camel Estuary. Padstow has been a fishing town for centuries and has somehow become one of Cornwall's most sophisticated destinations without losing any of its character. Walk the Camel Trail to Wadebridge and back for the most beautiful view of the estuary.
4. Mousehole
The village that may just be the most beautiful in Cornwall. Mousehole (pronounced MOW-zel by anyone who actually knows) is a small granite harbour village just south of Penzance — a perfect crescent of stone cottages wrapped around a tiny harbour, with the Atlantic on one side and the wild Cornish headland on the other. Small, quiet and utterly charming.
5. Fistral Beach
The most famous surf beach in Britain, and one of the most dramatic. The Atlantic arrives at Fistral without obstruction — long, powerful waves breaking onto golden sand, with VW campers parked above the dunes and the cliffs stretching away in both directions. This is Cornwall at its most wild and free. The cliff walk around Towan Head, above the surf, is some of the finest coastal walking in the county.
6. Penzance
The most westerly town in England has a character entirely its own. Subtropical gardens growing palm trees and proteas, a beautiful Georgian promenade, the wild moors of Penwith pressing in from the north — and St Michael's Mount rising dramatically from the bay, connected to the mainland by a cobbled causeway that disappears at high tide. Penzance is the edge of England, and completely worth it.
7. Kynance Cove
The most photographed beach in Cornwall. A cove of almost impossibly vivid turquoise water, white sand and dramatic serpentine rock stacks rising from the sea. It belongs to the Lizard Peninsula — the most southerly point in Britain — and the walk down from the clifftop is breathtaking in every direction. Go at low tide, when the sand is widest and the water at its most Caribbean blue.
8. Mevagissey
A working fishing harbour of the old school — double harbour walls, painted fishing boats, lobster pots and net sheds, seagulls overhead and the smell of the sea. Mevagissey doesn't chase tourists and is all the better for it. The inner harbour, reflecting the coloured boats on a still evening, is one of the most painterly sights in Cornwall.
9. Falmouth
The town that has it all — one of the world's deepest natural harbours, a magnificent Tudor castle, beautiful beaches and a warmth of community that makes it the most liveable town in Cornwall. Pendennis Castle watches over the estuary where the Fal meets the sea, and the National Maritime Museum Cornwall sits right on the waterfront. A summer evening here is everything you want coastal Cornwall to be.
10. The Lizard Peninsula
England's most southerly point and one of its least visited. A wild clifftop landscape of serpentine rock, hidden coves, rare wildflowers and coastlines that feel utterly remote. Kynance Cove is the jewel, but the whole peninsula — from Coverack on the eastern side to Mullion on the west — rewards anyone willing to explore beyond the car parks.
Bring Cornwall Home
From St Ives harbour at golden hour to the Atlantic surf at Fistral — our Cornwall watercolour print collection captures the wild beauty of Britain's most beloved coastline. Each print is made to order on premium fine art paper with free UK shipping.