St Ives in August - yes or no?

I love st Ives! Yes it’s busy but I still love it. If you can get a place with parking that would be a big bonus.

Last August was quiet - you could get bookings in the most popular restaurant with next to no notice. 2021/22 they would book up in advance the whole season.
last August was weirdly quiet…

No! Best time for St Ives with kids is May Half term. The adult only Scarlett for a nice weekend not in school holidays is a bit different to St Ives with kids in the summer.

I agree with stay in like Penzance or Hayle. There’s not that much to do in St Ives and then when you want to leave it will take you ages.

I spent more than a holiday abroad last time I went in August with 2 children. The weather was awful and we needed to spend a lot of money visiting places and entertainment ( nice little local theatre). We ventured on the beach for one afternoon when the temperature hit 20 degrees. The worst thing was not being able to find a place to park when we got back until after 9pm. We ended up parking in the train station then moving it outside our flat once a space appeared.

Beware the "nice" walk to Zennor!! There are 2 options- one is a lovely flat walk over the fields, but the coast path route is one of the toughest stretches of the South West Coast Path- not so much for any massive climbs, but because the going's so tough- it's basically 8 miles of scrambling. I've seen many a shell shocked unsuspecting tourist dead on their feet waiting for the bus back to St Ives!

We have been in August. It's busy. But busy with loads of beaches.
Book surf lessons for kids.
Do walks- the walk to Zennor is nice
Loads of beaches to choose from
Do crazy golf
Tate and other galleries
Walk around the small lanes- could set up a treasure hunt for the kids...
Hire wetsuits and boogey boards
Go fishing
See the seals at Godrevy
St Michael's Mount- walk / boat
Moomaid ice cream / sundae
Gym / indoor pool (if raining - good back up)

Not in August. I had a hotel in Redruth in September, and it was almost three times the price of August.

Love st Ives but usually go earlier in the year. We have been August time and it’s rammed everywhere

Rip off uk tourist prices, crap weather, crammed with people, not welcome by locals.... I wouldn't bother

Get the train. Stops right in the town. Can get around to some places by public transport- eg St Michael's Mount but for small little places you'll need a car (and patience....).

You can hire a car in Truro.

I always find the drive down there a pain from London.

Oh, sleeper train is fun and a good experience depending on who is traveling (but pre book)

Stay centrally in St Ives. So you can walk everywhere. Pre-book some restaurants. Pre book food delivery.

Weather - variable.

Oh definitely go. I've been twice in August and yes it was busy both times but we loved it. Once was hot and sunny, the other not but it didn't affect how good a time we had.

Driving is a pain in the butt in st Ives though. Maybe stay outside of the town centre and walk or get the shuttle bus in. Or stay further out so you can easily visit the town as well as all the other amazing places near like porthcurno and the Minack theatre, at Michaels mount etc.

Yes the roads are narrow but it's such a gorgeous part of the UK.

Thinking about it has made me want to go back. We camp so off to find a campsite nearby lol.

Ha ha got me, I’m in Devon 🤣 …they are Grockles here.

I dunno how many secret hangouts you're familiar with in Cornwall if you call emmets grockles 😆

Nope. I went in February half term. Out of season. Was still super busy!!

There are five beaches. The two big ones are most certainly not rammed. That’s really ridiculous. Busy yes, not rammed.

Porthgwidden is a smaller beach and that could be conceivably described as rammed when the tide is in and it’s a warm August day.

Westminster bridge is rammed on a Saturday afternoon, the tube is rammed at Leicester Square at certain times of day. Standing at the front of a concert can feel rammed. I gave never once felt like that in St ives in August and nor have I ever thought it was like autumn!

And hire wetsuits for the duration if you don’t own any. There’s a shop called Wind A Sea on Fore street that’s cheaper than hiring them at the beach. You can keep them all week, it’s about £45 per suit.

definitely book restaurants. There are some excellent choices, I’m happy to recommend if you do book to stay, I spent years going there with my own children. And then stupidly bought a holiday let just as they no longer wanted to come on holiday with us any more. Well, not unless it’s a cruise!

Absolutely not. We stayed nearby and got the train in, all the shops were rammed, the beach was rammed, all available space was taken up by people eating pasties or fish and chips. Most restaurants were full. I've never been back and wouldn't recommend it. Out of season on a cloudy day would be best.

I'd go outside St Ives.. maybe have a day there ( go on bus ).. plenty of lovely places in the area.

Can you go earlier? Or ideally in the May half term? You may be lucky with the weather, and I hope you are. If you are hoping for dry heat then it is unlikely, if you don’t care and are happy for some stormy days (the storms normally last a day or two - keep an eye for them coming over the Atlantic from the carribean) then it’s fine. But it’s worth knowing and being prepared. To be honest a hot sunny West Country day is better than anywhere else in the sun (I am biased) simply due to the rain induced green of the place.

For us, August is warm Autumn.

With regards to the crowds, yes there are loads of people, (Grockels) but personally I love that. Its all part of the fun. You are no longer in a London traffic jam trying to get to the office, you are in a roadside sight seeing position with all the time in the world. …and also the locals are all going the other way to our ‘secret’ hang outs 🤣

10 and 11 years old is doable. Young kids and a pushchair has you close to a breakdown with the amount of people and how small the shops and pavements are.

Book eating out now, we didn't and lots of places just couldn't get in, even pubs. We managed lunches out and snacky tea of hungry, or fish and chips.

Go to Moray in Scotland. It’s a wee microclimate which is sunnier and dryer than the rest of the country.

I also look at the aspects webcam every day! Aspects is a really good place to look for accommodation, OP.

if you think of London, and you think of the south bank, that’s how busy the two main shopping streets are during an August afternoon, by which point you’re on the beach.

but not so heaving in the morning or evening.

lots of people will tell you it’s ‘heaving’ but it certainly appears heaving if you arrive during the afternoon on a day trip!

parking spaces are indeed tight, and there are some pitfalls to avoid. Make sure your parking space is not in a garage (St Nicholas court for example, built in the 1970s with underground parking that’s extremely difficult for today’s cars and ditto piazza).

Also make sure the car parking is on site and not a mile away up a tough hill at the rugby club (it will still be advertised as allocated parking!).

There are some properties that have allocated parking at the station or porthgwidden beach, those are a good compromise. It’s impossible to park in the island car park in August so don’t be fooled into that. Barnoon isn’t much better.

fwiw even some ‘narrow’ spaces are ok as long as they are in a line from left to right and not abutting a cliff. I drive a Honda CR-V which is a fairly big car and it’s reasonably easy to park in our ‘narrow’ space just because the spaces are in a line.