St ives, cornwall, is it hard to park near the sea front ?

[Lardlizard]

I’ve not been before, but someone told me it’s a bit of a bugger to park near the the sea front ?

To all those saying holidays won't happen in July, DH works for Caravan club, they're opening ALL their owned sites from 5 July - you can book now. All other holiday operators are doing the same. Sorry but people who live in Cornwall, don't own the beaches/parks/car parks. There WILL be holiday makers from 5 July

I did wonder if somewhere else might be more suitable like Newquay or lizard, porthcurno

Stylish mummy, I agree

Fingers crossed it’s safe for u to go, St Ives is beautiful. And don’t worry no locals will be out with their pitchforks, contary to what you read on here we are all quite mellow and look forward to welcoming tourists once restrictions are lifted 😀

Perranporth has a nice sandy beach and better parking.

There’s a big car park at the leisure centre. Also at the rugby club and there are buses up and down ru them. But don’t think about getting closer!

Hairdressers won’t even be open until at least July and you think St Ives will be ready? Good luck.

@PanamaPattie

Hairdressers won’t even be open until at least July and you think St Ives will be ready? Good luck.

Are you not allowed in St Ives with messy hair?

I can recommend Porth Emmet, cross the Tamar bridge then keep right at each turning until you’re back in Devon.

Joking aside, most cornish beaches don’t have easy car parking, St Ives is notoriously bad for it. Try Falmouth area, Gyllingvase, swanpool and maenporth have car parks close by but usually busy in summer.

Please do consider the fact that when London faced a Covid peak the entire country shut down, now with tourists returning the south west is likely to suffer badly and our hospitals are barely able to cope with usual summer demand, and have very few intensive care beds. So please be considerate about social distancing etc.

It’s a holiday for you but not for the people who live here.

I’m local and can confirm that St Ives has notoriously terrible parking!

I’d recommend Falmouth for your late summer holiday - some lovely hotels, great beaches, very good restaurants. It has the lovely galleries etc of St Ives but is more accessible. We did a short break to St Michael’s Hotel for DH’s bday and it was fabulous.

Like other local people, I’m concerned about tourists returning too soon due to our lack of hospital facilities etc, but I also know that we need to get our hospitality and restaurant businesses running again ASAP and hope that we can have a good late summer season.

wouldn’t go in July. Even if UK travel is allowed, chances are you’ll get your car vandalised and some sort of abuse

What a load of scaremongering rubbish! If the government say it’s safe to travel, you can bet people will be travelling rather than losing their money. Do you think the locals are going to go around doing number plate checks (impossible anyway) and vandalising the thousands of non-local cars? Don’t be ridiculous!

Is this poster someone from the local Cornish “villagers with pitchforks” Facebook page?

@Bleepbloopblarp

wouldn’t go in July. Even if UK travel is allowed, chances are you’ll get your car vandalised and some sort of abuse

What a load of scaremongering rubbish! If the government say it’s safe to travel, you can bet people will be travelling rather than losing their money. Do you think the locals are going to go around doing number plate checks (impossible anyway) and vandalising the thousands of non-local cars? Don’t be ridiculous!

Is this poster someone from the local Cornish “villagers with pitchforks” Facebook page?

Actually I wouldn’t be surprised. It’s pretty easy to spot tourist cars, at least the obvious ones with roof boxes and inability to reverse properly.

We had a car with an EU license plate for a while about 8 years ago (European partner) and it was vandalised several times, window broken etc.

In a different part of town it was assumed we were the ‘dealers’ on the street we lived on and got shouted at, when the actual dealers were caught we got an apology but it wasn’t nice to be targeted for a while.

So, no most tourists won’t face problems and we absolutely do need some tourists to help restart everything here but every year if I spot an idiot feeding seagulls I do always tell them where to go, and this year if tourists make idiots of themselves they’re more likely to get a poor welcome.

No, you cannot park near the seafront. Even most of the locals have to park high up and walk down.

but every year if I spot an idiot feeding seagulls I do always tell them where to go

What’s that or your car being vandalised 8 years ago got to do with anything? I’ve had my car vandalised years ago too - doesn’t mean it will get vandalised when going on holiday to st ives where there will be thousands of other tourists/holidaymakers.

I think people will take their chances against a small minority of spiteful locals.

Mumsnet needs a pitchfork Smiley.

I would chose somewhere that is spacious and easier to social distance than st Ives!

Totally off point but why the hell do people want to flock to somewhere thats absolutely rammed with other people? sitting in the car for hours in the height of summer trying to get into a packed car park just to get out and ricochet off hundreds of strangers on your way to sit on a beach where you haven’t space to swing a cat. What’s the attraction? add corona into the mix and I don’t understand why anyone would want to do that.

Practical answers are: yes it’s absolutely nightmarish to park near the beaches. Probably the biggest in-town car park is the station one on the Porthminster side, but many of the spaces are reserved. Most people park out of town and shuttle bus in. Is parking near the beach essential? If you have good mobility then you could rent a cottage in town and forget about the car for the most part. My parents still live in St Ives (well, outskirts) and we just dump the car with them. Plenty to do on foot, plenty of beaches etc.

Realistically though, we are not going this summer, and restrictions mean that it will likely be close to 2 years between the last time I saw my parents and the next time I expect to (I.e. last summer to next). Their hospital facilities are fairly provincial, I wouldn’t like to have a serious illness there. And they’ve had barely any cases, so if herd immunity is a thing then they are extremely vulnerable.

Looe is nice and it’s not a million miles from other beaches, towns and attractions, or even a day trip to Plymouth

If as a Cornish resident you are socially distancing from other locals then won’t you be socially distancing from visitors too?

My parents have a holiday house (usually rented out) in Cornwall and we are fully intending on staying in August if the restrictions on travel have been lifted. They pay council tax. We ALL pay for the NHS in all areas of the country - if a Cornish resident fell ill in London would it be acceptable to say they were adding to an overburdened NHS hospital there? We will act as any local
does and adopt the appropriate social distance behaviour in shops and on beaches/ walks. Most of the time we will eat in the property and walk nearby.
If we felt ill during the course of the holiday we would get in the car and drive home!
Cornish people don’t own Cornwall. I love it there and have been regularly for the past 20 years but have been really saddened at some of the bile that has been spewed at non-Cornish people.

I've got a holiday booked end of July/August (booked last year). I don't want to go now even if I can. I'll take my money elsewhere.

Tourists on the tube are annoying when you're trying to get to work but I just smile and give them directions because newsflash I don't own London despite living here.

"All other holiday operators are doing the same"

No they aren't. They are preparing for when they may open with social distancing measures in place. Not flinging open their doors on 5th July

Their hospital facilities are fairly provincial, I wouldn’t like to have a serious illness there.
@Flamingolingo - you do realise that thousands of people live here don’t you? Yes, we only have one hospital but it is a normal hospital like any other. It has doctors and everything...

Quite ashamed of some of the anti-tourist sentiment I’m seeing here and in other places. I’m Cornish born and bred - my family has been traced back centuries in West Cornwall - but I welcome tourists, not only because they’re an essential part of our economy, but also because, as a previous poster said, I don’t own Cornwall.

When it’s safe to do so, please come and visit: we are not a nation of pitchfork brandishing car vandalises, or at least most of us aren’t.

@YouSetTheTone - I take your point about everybody funding the NHS everywhere and am glad that you love Cornwall. However, surely you can see that the ‘my parents own a holiday home’ brigade are unlikely to be popular amongst a local community where many people can’t afford to own their own home because of low housing stock and inflated prices due to second home owners? Many local MPs and councillors have been campaigning for increased council tax rates on second homes in the county for years and I would certainly welcome this.