Why West Cornwall is the perfect rural car-free destination
We’ve been visiting the far West of Cornwall every year for the last 20 years. Why not? When somewhere is so perfect, why change?
The Penwith peninsula (the spit of land that sticks out beyond Penzance towards Lands End) is almost entirely Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and you can see why. Despite being just 55 square miles, Penwith has 40 miles of coastline.
The clifftops at Sennen. One of dozens of locations where you can walk straight from the bus stop onto the cliffs
Think towering granite cliffs, picture-postcard villages nestled in valleys, golden sand beaches and a spine of wild moorland.
And the whole thing is accessible car-free; and what fun the travel itself is!
Getting there
As a kid, we used to drive. And it was miserable. I’d be squashed into the back of the car with the luggage, my parents would wake me up early to ‘avoid the traffic’, meaning that early-morning nausea would blend into car-sickness somewhere around the M4/M5 junction.
Instead, we now get the train from Paddington direct to Penzance. The new trains on that line are very comfortable, with a big increase in the proportion of seats round a table (great for us as a family).
We normally get a train at about 10AM so that we can have the train picnic half-way through the 5 hour journey, and arrive into Penzance early afternoon.
The trains have charging points so kids can entertain themselves with devices.
Make sure you sit on the left-hand side of the carriage so you get the joy of the ride through south Devon, when the train hugs the coast from Exeter to Newton Abbott and again on the run into Penzance, when you can see the extraordinary island of St Michael’s Mount across glistening Mounts’ Bay. With no-one having to keep their eyes on the road, we have an annual family competition of who will be first to spot St Michael’s Mount. Our eldest daughter usually wins.
The railway line through South Devon. Look carefully and you can see the tracks!
Out into the wilderness
Penzance station has a fully integrated bus station, so you can step straight onto the bus. If you’re heading towards Lamorna, St Buryan, Treen, Porthcurno, Sennen or St Just (all fabulous places to stay), you’ll want bus the Lands End Coaster anti-clockwise. If you’re heading towards Marazion, Lelant, St Ives or Zennor, you’ll want clockwise.
There are other buses to some of these villages, but the joy of these routes is that they use open-top double-deckers.
I really can’t describe just how much fun an open top bus on a cliff-top is. If you’ve only ever ridden tourist open-top buses in towns, you haven’t even scratched the surface.
The height of the bus lifts you over the hedgerows, so you have a constant uninterrupted view over the fields and moorland, with the sea always visible and glistening. The sun beats down while the wind whistles in your ears. I think an open top bus on a country road might just be my favourite way to travel!
Open-top buses squeeze past each other in St Just village square
That means that wherever you stay on the route, you can reach everywhere else on a direct bus. If you think you’re going to travel about a lot, get a week’s pass. It costs £60 from the driver of the first bus you board, and covers two adults and unlimited children for all the buses in Cornwall.
Where to go
Whether you choose to stay in Lamorna, Porthcurno, Treen, Zennor or Sennen, you’ll find fantastic local foothpaths, gorgeous local beaches or coves and cosy village pubs.
You can see why we think Porthcurno is one of the best beaches in Britain
But if you do choose to explore the wider area, here are our favourite places to visit (all accessible by the wonderful open-top bus):
Porthcurno - one of the best beaches in Britain. Seriously.
Lamorna - cosy former fishing cove
The kids discovering the joys of stepping stones in a picture-postcard perfect Cornish village
Sennen - vast sweep of golden sand. Our kids dig sandcastles but people tell me the surfing it outstanding
St Just - charming little village, with butcher and two bakers on the village square and footpaths radiating out to various points on the clifftops
A country walk near Lamorna
Zennor - wild clifftop with whirlpools and miniscule, almost inaccessible beaches
St Ives - as picture-perfect as everyone tells you it is
St Michael’s Mount - magical castle-on-a-island, accessible only via tidal causeway (from a bus stop!)
Newlyn - one of England’s biggest fishing ports, so you can buy fresh fish or lobster straight off the boat
St Michael’s Mount - accessible at low tide by causeway and high tide by boat.
If you need wet weather options, there are some fantastic museums including the Porthcurno cable museum (Porthcurno was where the first ever transatlantic phone cable came ashore) and the Geevor tin mine (a relic of Cornwall’s historic tin-mining industry).
Where to stay
I won’t recommend anywhere in particular as there are so many options. There are remote camp sites like Treen Farm, luxury apartments such at Lamorna, boutique hotels like The Gurnard’s Head and endless cottages and Airbnbs. Just make sure you’re on the Lands End Coaster bus route.
Fun things to do in boats
If the list enough isn’t enough for you (and, if it isn’t, how long are you going for?) then you can get a boat ride from Penzance out along the coast and look out for dolphins, you can do a day-trip to the magical Scilly Isles or you can hire a self-drive boat and pootle round St Ives bay. We’ve done all of these, and all are great fun.
The Eden Project
When people think about Cornwall, the Eden Project is often the first thing to come to mind. It really does live up to expectations! It’s not in the bit of Cornwall you’re going to (Cornwall’s a surprisingly big county: it’s around 50 miles to the Eden Project from Penwith) but it’s a very easy day-trip if you do choose to do it. Just get the train from Penzance to St Austell, from where the 101 bus shuttles every 30 minutes to and from the Eden Project.
The fun way home
You’ll probably come back from Penzance the way you came (make sure you sit on the right of the carriage this time!). But if you feel like pushing the boat out, then Penzance is the only place in England to still have a sleeper train to London.
The Night Riveria is glorious fun. The lounge car on-board was refurbished a few years back into a stunning 1930s theme. If you’ve ever felt like pretending you’re in an Agatha Christie novel, the Night Riveria is the most affordable way of doing it.
A berth on board costs a supplement; though it’s still good value compared to a night’s accommodation. And, of course, it means you can have a full final day in West Cornwall, only needing to be back in Penzance at 9PM to board the train and order your drink…
In conclusion
There’s a reason we’ve been going back to West Cornwall year after year. It’s not only the perfect car-free destination, it’s the perfect destination. We’re sure you’ll love it as much as we do.
