Holiday in Hayle.. help me plan please

[Brewupmama]

We're going to Hayle in July (fingers crossed) and we've never been.
We want a mixture of lazy days and some day trips of about an hour drive max.
I've seen that you could get a train to st ives which would be great so any tips or advice would be most welcomed.
Is there anything we don't want to miss?
Children are 8 and 14 and we all love walking so lots of outdoor things would be good. Not really into theme parks so wouldn't bother unless they are good value for money (and cheap)
Thank you

We went last year, stayed on the chalet site by Hale beach. Actually spent most of our time on the beach, mine are younger and love being in the sea. We did go to St Ives by train from St Erth, that was a lovely trip but St Ives was so so busy (we went early morning and it was still packed). On a very rainy day we drove to Penzance just for a trip. There's not a lot there!. I wanted to go to St Michaels Mount but due to covid it was prebooking only and I couldnt get the right time to work. Enjoy. I love Cornwall but it's just too expensive this year for us.

Hayle is a great spot. Loads to see and do. If you have National Trust membership that helps as you can use their car parks in a lot of places.
The Lizard is great for walking and Landsend, neither are far away.
Check your Clubcard points too, you used to be able to use them for days out - Seal Sanctuary in Gweek is lovely for an afternoon.

Yes we are national trust members so that's good.. am really looking forward to exploring

Love Hayle had a cracking holiday there when everything was open.....we spent most of our time at the beach, did St Michael's Mount and St Ives which was chocker and dare I say it a bit tacky.

Drive down to Lands End and explore that area in a day: mousehole, porthcurno, Sennen Minack theatre Penzance

Is there a park and ride we can use.. I've heard parking in st ives is tricky!
Love the look of mousehole 😍

Do.Not. Under. Any. Circumstances.Whatsoever. Approach. St.Ives.By. Car.In.The.Summer. Just.....don't. Fortunately, the little train is excellent and convenient. It kind of is the park and ride. There's a massive car park at St. Erth station, for that very purpose.

Excellent that you love walking- I highly recommend the Cornish coast path, especially around the Lands End peninsula. There's an open topped bus around the coast road (think it runs PZ- St. Ives), so you can catch the bus back. Especially beautiful bits: Nanjizal, Cot Valley, Cape Cornwall, Kenidjack Valley (or all of it, really!)

I don't understand the dislike for Penzance on here, other than that it's a real town, not a tourist one. Check out the Jubilee Pool open air lido, Morrab subtropical gardens, beautiful backstreets, and pubs and quirky shops on Chapel Street. If you have bikes you can ride all along the seafront to St. Michael's Mount in one direction, and Mousehole in the other.

Neolithic monuments inland in the Lands End Peninsula- Men an Tol, Nine Maidens, Merry Maidens, Boscawen-Un stone circles, Lanyon Quoit, Carn Euny Iron Age village (and well). Buying an OS map would be a great investment!

Find out if Lafrowda Day in St. Just is on to coincide with your visit (and if it's on this year )- it's a great little festival.

Hayle itself is pretty up and coming, and pretty interesting- it has miles of beaches, including some great dunes in places.

Day trip to the Isles of Scilly from Penzance on the Scillonian.

Porthcurno: Minack Theatre, Porthcurno Telegraph Museum if you're that way inclined, plus a stunning beach (beware, not always safe for swimming, seek local advice).

Paradise Park is a bird park (bird zoo? avian zoo?!) right in Hayle. It's....relatively good value for money (relative to, for example, Flambards, but note that I'm a local, and all my favourite big ticket attractions are over the border in Devon ). The free flying choughs are pretty awesome, though!

Oh, and apparently the sealife watching trips out of PZ are really good, and the chances of dolphins- and basking sharks in summer- are pretty high.

Oh, Hayle beach is wonderful. When we are there we always walk along the beach to Gwithian, opposite the lighthouse. it's miles of beautiful beach, caves and rock pools. Just lovely.

Pick the train up at St Erth, fabulous journey!

Heading back to Hayle this summer too.

Paradise park definitely
Gwithian sands
St Michael's mount
Eden project
We loved the Hidden valley near Launceston too. Puzzle based, so only if you like that sort of thing. Kids had a great time.
Lots of national trust.
We s listed St Ives cos it's rammed

Philps for your lunches
Salt restaurant for cocktails and food

Eating in St. Ives: Rum & Crab Shack on the seafront, Moomaid of Zennor's little shop, also on the seafront, has the best ice cream (or equally tied with Roskilly's), and good cream teas. Philp's Pasties of Hayle regularly come out as one of the best in the interminable Cornish Facebook arguments .

We always park at St Erth, walk along the coastal path to St Ives and then catch the train back.

As soon as lockdown is over I'm going to try this out. St Michael's Way: a 12.5 mile walking route which crosses West Cornwall: from Lelant on the North Coast to Marazion and St. Michael's Mount on the South Coast. www.stmichaelsway.net/
I'll walk one way and get the bus back.

The walk along the beach from Hayle to Godrevy is lovely too, the light in the late afternoon is lovely.
That whole stretch of beach is great really, you should hire surf boards for a day, it's exhausting but fun.

I also recommend a walk of the coastal path down in Pendeen. It's where they filmed some of Poldark and the scenery of the old engine houses on the cliffs at Botallack is fantastic. You can visit Geevor Tin Mine and go underground too: geevor.com/

A mainline train adventure? Catch the train to Bodmin Parkway and jump on a steam train on the Bodmin and Wenford Railway right there!

Or go to the Eden Project via train (St. Austell) and bus.

The coast walk from Lelant to St Ives is nice if you do want to go to St Ives. It was a bit of a hellhole this summer though.

I've just thought of another walk I like. Park at Praa Sands and walk to Portleven, lunch and then walk back.

Or shorter, park in the National Trust car park at the Penrose Estate in Helston and walk to Porthleven through the estate and then along the coastal path. That's a beautiful walk too.
Porthleven has some great places to eat and is famous (infamous?!) for being the place they always feature on the news when the weather is bad and the waves are crashing up over the sea wall almost as high as the church!

Wow thanks so much!
So much to take in and plan into our holiday. We love train rides of any kind so looking forward to that especially.
Is there a place that's particularly good for seeing sea life.. would love to spot some!!

@Brewupmama

Wow thanks so much! So much to take in and plan into our holiday. We love train rides of any kind so looking forward to that especially. Is there a place that's particularly good for seeing sea life.. would love to spot some!!

There are seals at Godrevy (a couple of miles from Hayle)- I've never not seen any:

www.aspects-holidays.co.uk/blog/places-to-visit/seal-spotting-godrevy

Oh yeah, loads of seals up round at Godrevy. Such a joy

we stayed at the chalet place in hale too the beach is huge very good, and there is a lidl in Hale which is very good and an asda not far away for food shopping if you are self catering and there is a bakery called philps which does the best pasties ever on the way into hale

I haven’t been to Hayle for a very long time, but I do have distinct memories of an excellent fish and chip shop there.......

This has got me excited for our holiday in June. I'm really hoping it still happens.
Go to Kynance Cove near the lizard. It's spectacular but check the tide times first. The cafe there is lovely too

Check out Godolphin House in Helston. Fully refurbished National Trust property in beautiful grounds. Worth a look.

We love train rides of any kind so looking forward to that especially.

Oh well, in that case....

...you can also get to Falmouth by train (change at Truro), or I think Looe would make a nice train trip (another town not to drive into in the summer!).

Did you choose Hayle because of its mainline station, or is it a happy accident?