Difficulty - Easy   Distance - 84 miles

This walk is easily accessible by road, main land trains and bus services, linking some of the most popular seaside holiday resorts of Cornwall. Some sections combine strenuous climbs alongside fairly level Coast Path and each day’s walk accounts for the extra time this may take at a leisurely pace. Much of this route forms part of the UNESCO designated Cornish Mining World Heritage site.

 

Highlights

After leaving Newquay harbour the Coast Path crosses the famous Fistral beach and continues on across the tidal River Gannel by a variety of means, including ferry and by foot depending on the season.

It continues on past seaside towns and along the wild and rugged Granite coast with its remnant of tin mines. This is a great area for spotting basking sharks, seals and dolphins just offshore.

There are many birds that inhabit the cliffs and offshore rocks on this stretch of coastline, including peregrine falcons, shags, herring gulls and rock pipits. On the approach to Land’s End, the most westerly point of England, look out for the rare Cornish Chough, that has recently returned to these shores.

As you make your way around the peninsula, there are many more highlights including the Minack Theatre, Logan Rock and the fishing ports of Mousehole and Newlyn. Upon reaching the final destination at Penzance, St. Michael’s Mount appears like a mirage on the horizon and is well worth a visit as an additional short walk at low tide from nearby Marazion.

To help you plan your trip, click on the Itinerary links or the diamonds on the map to link to the relevant section guide for further information about each day's walk.

Suggested Itinerary

Day 1 - Newquay to Holywell 8.1
Day 2 - Holywell to Trevaunce Cove (for St Agnes) 8.4 + distance to St Agnes
Day 3 - Trevaunce Cove to Portreath 8.4
Day 4 - Portreath to Gwithian 7.6
Day 5 - Gwithian to St Ives 10.3
Day 6 - St Ives to Zennor Head 6.5 miles (+distance inland to Zennor)
Day 7 - Zennor Head to Cape Cornwall 11.2 miles (+distance inland to St. Just)
Day 8 - Cape Cornwall to Sennen 5.1 (+distance to Coast Path from St. Just)
Day 9 - Sennen Cove to Lamorna 11.7
Day 10 - Lamorna to Penzance 6.1

 

Relevant section guides

We have split the path into 52 sections, and for each one have produced a section guide. These pages do not aim to replace the guidebooks, but aim to give a flavour of what each section is like, and show you about the highlights and places of interest along the route, along with links to accommodation information and much more. The relevant section guides for this walk are:

 

Travel

First Great Western trains run from Plymouth to Newquay and to St Ives.

There is an hourly bus service (17A) from St Ives to Pendeen, via Penzance. The First Cornwall 300 bus service runs three times a day between St Ives and Pendeen, stopping at Zennor and Boswednack, while the Western Greyhound 504 runs once a day from Sennen to Lamorna, stopping at Porthcurno. There are a number of buses from Lamorna to Penzance.

For further information visit Traveline or phone 0870 6082608.

Short breaks

Accommodation Finder