Cornwall Coastal Path UK • Family Hiking Holiday

Over the fall break, our family spent a few days of gorgeous hiking in Cornwall, UK on the South West Coast Path. We loved it and can’t wait to go back! We did four hikes suitable for families along some of the most spectacular sections of the coastline. We went the second week of October and luckily it wasn’t too cold and we didn’t get much rain. As always, you’ll find photos and full details for these hikes below.

Let’s do the fun stuff first, looking at the hikes. At the end of this post, I have the logistics, including getting to Cornwall, where we stayed, and how to best get around once you’re there.

Hiking in Cornwall Overview

Cornwall is a great place for coastal walking because of the official South West Coast Path, 628 miles of well defined coastal paths maintained by the National Trust. This is a popular route for both day trippers and long distance hikers.

During my research, most guide books suggested trails much too long for families. So I mapped out shorter versions that were suitable for a family day hike, about 8 to 12 km for us, with even shorter versions for smaller kids in my notes below. You can also simply drive straight to the prettiest parts and skip the hike altogether.

Unfortunately, none of the hikes are suitable for strollers as the trails are quite rugged, but you might try the Easy Access Walks published the official South West Coast Path.

Here is a map of the four hikes we did (click for an interactive version).

We stayed in St. Ives, which was central to the areas we wanted to hike, about an hour drive to each area. We really liked this town, with a great sandy beach right in town and lots of restaurants and shops within walking distance. More about our stay in St. Ives at the end of this post.

Cliff Safety

Before we start, I must mention that all of these hikes walk along tall cliffs without safety barriers. Most of the time, the path is well back from the edge and you can always walk even further inland if desired. But it can be dangerous with children, especially small and/or reckless ones. Use caution and instruct and watch all children very carefully.

Family Hike: Kynance & Lizard

This was our favorite hike of the trip, not surprising since this section, particularly Kynance Cove, is widely considered one of the most spectacular of the whole South West Coast Path. The cliffs are particularly tall and jagged in this section with lots of enormous rocks tumbled down in the ocean.

The hike shown below is 11 km (about 6.5 miles), from Mullion to Lizard Point, with ocean and cliff views the entire way. We parked at the National Trust Lighthouse parking in Lizard, £3.50/day for parking. The taxi picked us up there and drove us to Mullion, dropping us right at the path on the coast at Porth Mellin, cost £25.

You should plan to stop at Kynance Cove, about halfway, where you’ll find easy access to the beach and a cafe, with wet suits to rent if you fancy a swim.

Shorter hike: You can drive to Kynance and park on the cliffs above the beach. So you can either start or end your hike here instead. From Mullion to Kynance, it is 7 km, our preferred section. From Kynance to Lizard point, it is 4 km.

Family Hike: Holywell – Perranporth

We call this the “beach” hike because of the three big beautiful beaches we crossed during the hike. Our other hikes had a couple coves with small beaches, but nothing like these ones. If the weather is warm, take your swimsuit so you can cool off, but make sure to exercise caution with the tides and currents.

This hike is 11.6 km (7 miles), from Crantock to Perranporth, mostly along sea cliffs, through grassy fields and sand dunes. When the tide is low, you can walk across the beaches.

We parked at the Perranporth Beach Carpark (about £7/day to park). The taxi picked us up there and drove us to Crantock, dropping us in beach parking next to the Boogie Inn, cost £24. It’s a short walk from the parking lot to connect with the coastal path.

Shorter hike: You can drive to Holywell, so you can either start or end your hike here instead. From Crantock to Holywell, it is 5 km. From Holywell to Perranporth, it is 6.5 km.

Family Hike: Land’s End to Porthcurno

Land’s End is a popular tourist destination, so people can take their picture at the most western point of the UK. But as you walk just a couple 100 meters away from the hustle and bustle, you leave the crowds behind and can enjoy the quiet beauty of this amazing coastline.

We parked in Porthcurno, in the large parking lot near the bus stop, about £6.50/day to park, coins only. We caught the bus here to Land’s End, about a 10 minute ride, about £9.50 for the family. In October, this bus only runs once a day. Check schedule here. You could also arrange a taxi to pick you up here.

From Land’s End to Porthcurno, the trail is is 8.5 km (about 5.2 miles), mostly along the sea cliffs. The last third of the hike is often in dense underbrush without big views, also quite muddy and boggy when we were there. The hike ends on a sandy beach at Porthcurno where you can swim on calm days.

Shorter hike at Land’s End: The cliffs right around Land’s End are fantastic and don’t require a long hike to enjoy. For a shorter hike, simply drive directly to Land’s End and park in the large parking lot near the cliffs (pay parking fee as you enter). Walk north of Land’s End toward a lookout over Sennen Beach then return the way you came, about 1 mile each way. This section is very popular with tourists visiting Land’s End, so the trail is well maintained and much more crowded than trail south of Land’s End. The path here is the easiest section we walked during our whole Cornwall visit. We did this section before doing the hike below because we wanted to start in Sennen, but the bus wasn’t running there off season.

At Land’s End, you’ll find a big playground, cafes, gift shops, WC and a variety of touristy amusements. We bought Cornish pasties here to carry in our packs for a picnic lunch later.

At the end in Porthcurno, there is a big sandy beach, where you can swim if the sea is calm. You can also visit the Minack Theater, an open-air theater carved into the sea cliffs, obviously a popular tourist destination. You can see a play here during summer or simply tour the theater £5/adult, £2.50/child.

Hike: Zennor to St. Ives

We chose this section because it was closest to where we were staying in St. Ives. It had some very interesting elements and we enjoyed it. But it was our least favorite of the four hikes. Our guide book said this section is particularly difficult because a few parts of the trail have big boulders you have to climb over. It was also very boggy when we were there, which made it difficult to walk. Glad we had our waterproof boots and rain pants!

Note: Since we were hiking in October, many of the plants and flowers were already dead and bright rust colored, more pronounced on this hike than the others. Although this was pretty in its own way, it would, of course, be much prettier in spring and summer when everything is green and flowering.

This hike is 10 km (6 miles), along the sea cliffs, no beach access until the end of the hike. The taxi picked us at the St. Ives harbor and drove us to Zennor, cost £16. From Zennor, it’s a short walk on a paved access road through farmland to reach the coastal path. The trail ends at the beach in St. Ives.

More Hikes

Here are a few resources for easy walks and family hikes along the Cornwall coast.

• Cornwall Family Walks (South West Coast Path – Official)
• Easy Access Walks – for pushchairs (South West Coast Path – Official)
• 10 of the best easy walks in south Cornwall (Guardian)

Beach Safety & Tides

One important note about the tides, which are quite extreme in Cornwall. Many beaches completely disappear at high tide and get so long at low tide that it takes a good 10-15 mins to walk all the way out to the waves. So check the tide schedule before heading out so you know what to expect on the hike.

Also, many beaches have strong undercurrents that can drag you out to sea if you aren’t careful and/or are unlucky. Heed the warning signs on the beaches about when and where to swim safely. Also note that most beaches you’ll cross do not have lifeguards.

Clothes & Equipment

We went the second week of October and got lucky on the weather. Most of the time it was warm enough (16 to 18 C) to be hiking in short sleeves, though when the wind picked up we were glad to have fleece jackets. We got rained on a bit here and there, so good rain jackets were essential. Rain pants were also helpful since many parts of the trail were wet and boggy. Our legs and shoes were all covered in mud after every hike. We were glad to have waterproof shoes with ankle support, both to help with the tricky footing and also to keep the mud out. I brought hiking sticks and was very happy to have them on many parts of the trail with steep, slippery sections.

Best to take all the food and water you’ll need on the hike. Most of these hikes start and end in a small town where you find limited services, maybe a cafe. Off season, these may be closed. As noted above, the bigger beaches have a beach cafe, but don’t count on that off season.

Home base in St. Ives

We chose to stay in St. Ives because it was central to the hikes we wanted to do, which meant less than an hour drive from St. Ives to each hike. We rented an adorable cottage in the center of town, which we loved because we could easily walk to lots of restaurants, grocery, shops and the beach without using our car.

We were two blocks from the big sandy beach shown below, where there are lots of services including surf schools, beach rentals and cafe.

Parking is difficult and limited in St. Ives, as in many other towns in Cornwall. There are several large parking lots throughout town, but even in October, they were mostly full, even overnight. Our apartment included a parking spot about a 10 minute walk away, which would have be necessary in the rush of summer.

Getting to Cornwall

Cornwall is a little difficult to access. We flew to London Heathrow, rented a car and drove to St. Ives where we stayed for the week, then returned to London and spent a few days in the city before flying home. The 5 hour drive from London to St. Ives was annoying. But we chose this because flights to Cornwall were over 2x the price of flying to London and the connections were terrible.

The main airport in Cornwall is Newquay, which is about a 1 hour drive from St. Ives. However, flights are expensive and the connections are bad, some requiring changing airports in London, leading to extremely long travel times. For example, our flights to London were about CHF200/pp whereas flying to Newquay would have been about CHF 550/pp. But of course, this was off-season in October. I suspect in summer there might be better connections.

We considered taking the train from London to Cornwall, but it’s quite expensive for the whole family and still takes 5-6 hours depending on where you going. Plus you’ll probably need a car once you get there. Prices vary and there are ways to get cheaper tickets (buying in advance, booking specific train). At the moment, a sample return ticket for a family of 4 from London Heathrow to St Ives is £374, about the same as we paid for the car rental.

Getting Around

Car. We drove all around Cornwall to access the various hikes, which was the most convenient option. However, the roads are narrow, winding, and mostly two-lane, which makes driving slow and stressful. Plus, we were driving on the left side with a manual transmission. We were very glad that we chose to stay in the center of St. Ives, so we didn’t have to also drive to access restaurants or groceries – hooray!

I highly recommend renting a small, narrow car so it’s easier to maneuver on narrow country lanes with high rock walls on each side and to fit into tiny parking spots. On some roads, all four parking sensors would light up and buzz while we were driving! It was scary! I had anxiety the whole trip about scraping the sides of the car and getting a big repair bill at the end. Luckily, that didn’t happen.

Parking. Most beaches, coves and points of interest have big metered parking lots, often run by the National Trust. The bigger towns like St. Ives or Padstow have lots of metered parking lots, but even off season in October, most were full both day and night. In summer, try to stay in an apartment or hotel that has guaranteed parking. Make sure to have lots of coins on hand for the parking meters, which generally do not take cards or bills.

Taxis. We found taxi service the best way to access our hikes, since most hikes were one-way not a loop. We called the car service before leaving our apartment and asked them to meet us at a parking lot at the end of our hike. They were usually able to meet us within an hour of our call. The car service would pick us up at our car and drop us off at the start of our hike, usually right next to the trail. This made the one way hikes very convenient. Car service phone numbers are posted everywhere, particularly at bus stops. We found ours simply by searching online for car services in our destination town.

Cornwall Bus Service. For one hike, we parked at the end of the hike and rode the bus to the start. This was cheaper than a car service, but much less convenient since the bus runs very infrequently and often drops you in town, not on the coastal path. There is train service between the bigger towns, but this will likely not be convenient for hiking.

As shown in the map below (click for enlargement), there is limited bus service around the Cornwall area. In October, the buses in the areas we were hiking ran only once a day and some lines weren’t running. In summer, they run more frequently. You can check the schedule and fares here: FirstGroup

I’m surprised you made it all the way through this post! Are you ready to go to Cornwall??? Please post and let me know how you like it.

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