Cornwall - beaches near Newquay

[Dreamerinme]

We are going on holiday to Cornwall soon and are staying a 15 min drive inland from Newquay.

We are looking for some recommendations for family-friendly beaches around this area please. I’ve been looking online and most recommended beaches seem to be further south, but we don’t want to be travelling for ages - happy to travel up to 30 mins in any direction from the Newquay area.

Would just like the beach to have a lifeguard patrol, sandy, have toilets, and a kiosk for ice creams/coffee.

Fistral beach is right there with all those things . Is there a reason you don’t want to go there?

It depends where you are staying, in terms of distance.

All the local beaches have those things - Porth, Tolcarne, Watergate, Great Western, Towan, Fistral, Crantock.. is there anything more specific that you are looking for?

My favourite beache near Newquay is Holywell bay. The toilets are not on the beach but back by the road. Crantock is a close second. Both have rivers with shallow bits for small children but both have a walk to the sea and can get big waves which won't be ideal for young kids.

All the town beaches are fairly sheltered in Newquay, Towan is the most accessible and has a great sea pool, however it does get really busy and is no good if the tide is in. Porth beach is the most sheltered and is just outside of Newquay.

Perranporth beach (and Perranporth itself) is overrated in my opinion. Watergate Bay is lovely but can get busy for parking.

Have you considered the south Cornwall coast, around St Austell? Pentewan has a beautiful beach, though not dog-friendly; Par Sands is also a lovely beach. It's not far to drive 'across' to the Newquay area if you also want to spend some time there.