St Mawes

[52user52]

I’ve booked a trip this summer going to St Mawes, we will be staying at The Tresanton for three nights. We’re not in the UK, and will be flying to London (Heathrow) and then not sure yet how to get from there. I know there is a train, it was over £600 (first class). So I was thinking if it would be worth renting a car (perhaps a bit outside of London?) and drive there. Would it be a hassle?
Really greatful for tips, never been in that area before.

Sleeper train.

Or fly to Newquay, though these flights can be vulnerable to weather delays. Have you got a buffer at the other end of the stay if two separate flight bookings?

The hotel is exquisite and in an amazing location. Agree with the advice to stay around the hotel. Trelissick. Helford Passage.

If you can make a longer trip look into going on to the Scilly Isles. Departure point is Penzance, so easy for the train back to London.

Ok sorry, I think it was a bit over £2 k for accomodation 3 nights. Including breakfast and dinner.

Yes we could stay longer if needed.

OP, flights to Newquay are no longer daily, sadly. There's a Ryanair flight from Stansted (Mon, Weds, Fri, Sun) and from Gatwick on Easyjet on Tuesdays and Saturdays. You will need a car to get around in Cornwall, unless you just want to have local walks or take the ferry across to Falmouth - though you could easily fill 2-3 days that way with a walk to the castle and St Just in Roseland and a channel boat hop + walk around St Antony Point and the lighthouse. St Mawes is a long way from the airport and Cornish taxi prices are exorbitant if coming by plane. If the train fits better with your arrival, look on SplitMyFare for the best first class train prices as TrainPal has very poor coverage of anything other than standard tickets.

Sorry - meant to say flights are not 2-3 x daily as they were last year!

I would take the train from London to Falmouth. The countryside you pass through will be incredible in summer will be something you'll remember forever. The stretch from Truro to Falmouth is heaven.

The ferry takes minutes and has stunning views. Arriving at St Mawes by boat makes the whole thing a great treat.

Flying over Cornwall is a great experience. You get a real feel for the pensinsular nature of the land as you can see the sea on both sides. It's over in a flash though and you miss passing through the country at cow eye level.

Can't stress to you enough how bad the roads in Cornwall can be in summer. There are areas I'd travel miles to avoid.

I've lived in Falmouth. It's so beautiful there.

Fowey Hall Hotel is worth a look. Stunning views. Fabulous rooms and food.

I would fly to Newquay and hire a car at Newquay (tiny airport, leg it off the plane to get a taxi or wait for one to come back). For a short trip, you dont have time to waste on 10 hours driving there and back. Having done that flight a few times, if you're lucky and its a nice clear day, it will be one of the most scenic flights. It flies low so you get an incredible view of the south of England and the coast, really spectacular (if its not cloudy).

What days are you travelling? Driving from London area to Cornwall is a nightmare on Friday afternoon/evening and Saturday am so if it’s those I would pick another form of transport. It is VERY useful to have a car once you’re down there though.

St Mawes is cute but it’s a PITA to get to most other places as you have to go via the Truro ring road which is a permanent traffic jam. It’s also pretty small. If staying longer I would switch to a different base so you can visit other places more easily.

If you are going to Falmouth on the train, you would travel to Truro and change trains.
i agree the train is a good way down - Heathrow Express into Paddington and then to Truro. Overnight sleeper is good fun, or you could book on one of the trains with a Pullman dining car.

Tresanton would be able to organise a pick up from the station. If you are only there for a few days and husband also sailing, I would question whether a car was worth it. You can do hire car pickup from Truro station if that’s what you want.

i definitely would not drive down, especially if a Sat, as it may take 9 or 10 hours at that time of year.

I would deffo fly to Newquay and drive to St Mawes - there aren’t any single track roads on that route and I think you will regret not being able to explore the area. The Tresanton has its own parking which is a god send in St Mawes!

Trelissick and Helford (Trebah/Glendurgan) look close on a map but aren’t easy to access without your own transport.

You could do another few days in Falmouth for a bit of variety - there’s loads of reasonable hotels and guest houses.

Can Tresanton help with the trains? The sleeper to Truro or Penzance is great. Or the countryside on a day train is lovely. Just don’t be caught on a Rushhour train without a seat or it will be packed for about half the journey.

Truro for St Mawes. If you are basing yourself at the hotel can you arrange collection via Tresanton. For three days I would not want to be messing about with rental car pick ups. Sailing. Enjoying the hotel. Taking the ferry. Driving through the lanes in summer is a hassle, as is finding parking.

Back from Penzance if you go to the Scilly Isles.

The South West Railways SWR website can be a hassle if you aren’t used to it.

Ok so you’d have to take a taxi from the airport to the car rental place? Good to know, thanks.

I've stayed in St Mawes absolutely beautiful place !
Make sure u do the mackerel fishing boat trip we did this and we got to eat the mackerel for dinner !!!
And make sure u enjoy a Cornish pasty 😀
If u don't mind driving id hire a car u will need it to get around x

Do you know which trains would be rushhour train by any chance..? 😅 Looking to go early Sunday morning.

If you want to stay in that area in Fa!mouth there is The Star and Garter. They have lovely apartments and the food is gorgeous. You could have a few nights near Newquay. There are beach cottages on Lusty Glaze beach that look fantastic. Or the Headland Hotel in Fistral Beach ( and make sure you go to The Fish House for dinner.

The drive from.Newquay to Falmouth is easy, no single lane roads.

No, car rental is right outside.

Star & Garter looks really nice, what a view!

If you're only there for a few nights you might not want to spend a chunk of time travelling there and back by car. Nor will you need a car if you're happy to explore the local area on foot or using ferry/taxi/uber/boat trips. If the hotel is lovely and the weather is fine you may not feel the need to go far anyway so I'd suggest train. Relax and view the scenery on the way, no worries about crowded roads, narrow lanes or parking.
When you say you might extend your stay do you mean in the same area or seeing another part of the South West?

@52user52 Sunday a great day to travel. Rushhour anything after 4:30 on a weekday, with Friday evening the worst.

Probably around the same area, just a different hotel. We are used to doing a lot on our holidays, so wouldn’t mind just taking it a bit easy.

If you go by train you want to get off at St Austell rather than Truro. It's an earlier stop but the drive time from there to St Mawes is the same.

I would fly to Newquay, hire a car, have your 3 days at the Tresanton, then stay another couple of nights at the Scarlet, Bedruthan or Watergate Bay. All very close to Newquay and right on the beach with gorgeous coastline.

Flying to Newquay would be the easiest, you say summer, is this August we are talking about, or earlier? Trains will be busy if it is the school holidays, at least if flying you will actually have a seat to sit in!

If you do take a train I'd suggest the sleeper train and hire a car from Truro station. We tend not to have cars waiting to be hired, they will need to be pre-booked.
If you want to extend then your options with a car are endless, you could have a few more days in Falmouth then head south towards Penzance, maybe look at hotels like The Godolphin or Marazion Hotel in Marazion both over look St Michaels Mount which is worth a visit. Then look at hotels on the North Coast around St Ives, Portreath, Porthtowan and St Agnes. All of these are still relatively close to Newquay Airport or Truro Station for your return journey.
Both the North and South coasts are lovely but also very different to one another.
It might be worthwhile looking into getting a National Trust pass too https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/membership/explorer-pass

@Boopydoo Thanks, going end of June beginning of July.

That's so much better than full on Summer season then! It won't be as busy as it can get at the end of July and throughout August.
It's a shame we've lost our daily service to Gatwick from Newquay very recently, but that was a different airport to the one you are landing at.
Can you share the drive, the A303 would be easy and the motorways won't be as busy as they are in the main summer.
Other than that take the Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station then get a train headed for Penzance.