Cornwall - turquoise water and stunning coastline

We finally made it to Cornwall! We heard so many great things about Cornwall, that we knew we had to go see it with our own eyes. We were amazed at the beauty of it and for me that was the most beautiful spot in England. We spent 4 days in Cornwall. It was just Josh and me on this trip, since Sarah was in Crete with her friend Anja for her graduation trip. 

Friday, 30 May 2025

Cornwall is about a 5 hour drive from our home in Penn. Because of this long drive, we decided to leave on Friday evening and stay overnight in Bridgwater to cut the drive in half.

Church in Bridgwater:

Saturday, 31 May

The next day we drove to Tintagel, a cute town with a very old post office:

Walking through the town, we discovered the King Arthur's Great Halls museum. The owner was very convincing and soon we entered the exhibit for £8/person. The whole place was dedicated to the legend of King Arthur and started with a light and sound show telling the story of King Arthur and his knights. Kids would have loved this retelling and it was interesting enough for us to keep our attention. After that, we entered the grand hall that contained a replica of the Round Table, medieval decorations and many beautiful glass windows. It was a unique place and for £8 I enjoyed it, but would not pay more for it. 

Next stop was the Tintagel castle, a short walking distance from Tintagel town. 

From the internet: "Tintagel Castle sits high on the cliffs of North Cornwall and is famous for its links to the legend of King Arthur. The site has been important for over 1,500 years. In the early medieval period (around the 5th–7th centuries), it was likely home to Cornish rulers and part of a busy trade network with the Mediterranean.

In the 13th century, Richard, Earl of Cornwall, built the castle—not for defense, but to connect himself to the Arthurian myths. Over time, the castle fell into ruin, but its legendary status kept it alive in stories and art."

We enjoyed visiting this ruin in its cliff-top location and especially the views from the ruins.

Here is Merlin's cove (only approachable at mid to low tide):

Not to miss is Gallos: "a haunting bronze sculpture whose name means “power” in Cornish. Created by artist Rubin Eynon and unveiled in 2016, the 8-foot-tall figure wears a crown and grips a sword, appearing to emerge from the rock itself. But Gallos isn’t meant to be a literal statue of King Arthur—it’s a tribute to the legends and royal history that swirl around Tintagel."

I thought that was a very cool statue:

Our next destination was the town Padstow where we stayed overnight. The drive from Tintagel to Padstow was the scariest part of the drive, with incredibly narrow streets and only few pull out spots to get out of the way for oncoming traffic!

Near Padstow we checked out Harlyn Bay and got a first encounter with the beautiful sandy beaches in Cornwall.

We had dinner at Pucelli's Italian restaurant in Padstow which we enjoyed a lot. It had a nice view over the harbor and the food was delicious. 

I loved the seabass:

And Josh’s gnocchi was yummy too:

We stayed overnight in Padstow, in an ok hotel (Farmers Arms). Cornwall is quite pricey, so none of our hotels were great, not surprising for the price we were willing to pay. 

Sunday, 1 June

The next day we drove to the Beruhian steps to walk by Cornwalls famous coastline. This was one of the highlights of our trip. I thought this was one of the prettiest hike we have done in England. The coastline was stunning:

Our next stop was at St. Ives, a beautiful harbor village in Cornwall. This must be the most artsy town in England, there were art studios galore. In fact, an artist confirmed that St. Ives has the most art studios in England. We enjoyed the town very much and went from one art studio to the next. There is also a very beautiful beach in town and looking back, that was my favorite town in all of Cornwall. In fact, next time I would stay a few nights in St. Ives.

Beautiful beach at St. Ives:

From St. Ives we drove to Penzance where we stayed overnight. We thought Penzance wasn’t as nice of a town as St. Ives, but it is in a good location to see the next sights we had planned. For dinner we drove to the nearby fishing village, called Mousehole that was also recommended to us. Mousehole is a cute town, but after a long day we weren’t really enjoying it as much as we probably could have. We had an ok dinner there and went back to Penzance to stay there overnight.

Mousehole:

Monday, 2. June 

A week before our trip I booked a self guided tour to see the minack theater just outside of Penzance. I’m glad I did, it was worth it in many ways. The theater with its blooming flower garden was beautiful and the setting of the theater on a cliff overlooking the ocean and the Porthcurno beach, must be the best view from any theater. In addition, the story of Rowena Cade, the lady who literally build this theater with her own hands in the 1930s, scrambling up the cliff carrying building materials till an old age was very fascinating. The free audio that is available with our cell phones was very helpful to learn about the history of this theater. Good thing we had our AirPods with us. 

Unfortunately the show that was playing that night was not something we cared to see at all, otherwise I would have loved to see a show there.

After touring the theater we walked down the trail to the Porthcurno beach. The view of the sandy beach and turquoise water reminded me of the Caribbeans (minus the palm trees). 

A bit further away we could see another beach that was used as a filming location for the show Poldark.

We walked back to our car that was parked by the Minack theater and drove a short distance to the porthchapel beach car park since we weren’t allowed to park the car in the Minack theater for a long time. From there we walked to the Porthgwarra beach. It was a nice small beach, we even saw 2 seals sunbathing in the water. A local fisherman told us that Poldark was filmed here as well. 

From that beach we walked back towards the car and stopped by the Porthchapel beach. I thought that beach was even more beautiful than the Porthcurno beach. The turquoise water splashing against the black rocks on the beach created picture perfect moments.

From there we continued through more extremely narrow roads to our next destination: St. Michael’s Mount.

We parked our car at Marazion car park where the path to St. Michael’s Mount can easily be reached. We ate lunch nearby, waiting for the tide to reach low enough level to cross on dry land to St. Michael’s Mount. 

After about 45 minutes we were able to walk to the Mount without getting our feet wet. Before we crossed over we had to buy tickets online to step foot on St. Michael’s Mount. To see just the Gardens cost £12/person.

From the internet: “St. Michael’s Mount features a historic medieval castle and church, with origins dating back to the 8th century. The island has been home to monks, served as a fortress, and is still partly a private residence. Today, it’s a popular tourist destination known for its subtropical gardens, and rich legends, including links to the Archangel Michael.”

We did not go see the inside of the castle but enjoyed the beautiful gardens:

We ended the day at one more coastal spot: the Lizard, the southern most point of mainland Great Britain. Here Josh found his favorite beach in Cornwall. The large black volcanic rocks made this beach look otherworldly: 

That night we spent in the nearby Pollurian Hotel. That was by far the fanciest hotel from this trip. I think Josh got tired of the cheaper places we stayed at.

Beautiful view of the ocean.

Tuesday, 3 June

The only thing we had left in our plan was a long drive home. We stopped by Falmouth for a short stop, another quaint town that was fun to explore.

Cornwall has lived up to all the hype. It is truly as picturesque as described by others and I would love to come back and spend more time there.

The End