Can St Ives be beaten?

[BeachesandSpaniels]

We go to St Ives in Cornwall every year. We have been told not to bother going elsewhere as it won’t compare. We didn’t like Newquay so haven’t bothered since but wondering if anyone here could provide us with some options/ suggestions?

We love food, beach walks with the dog and the fact we can walk everywhere - there is something about the feel of St Ives as well.

THere was a recent long thread about this ... I'll try to find it.

Depends what you like. I'd choose the Isles of Scilly over St Ives any day for walking and scenery. But if you like the more bustling atmosphere of a town, it might not suit you.

Look at Tenby on the Pembrokeshire coast.

Indeed or Abersoch on the Llŷn Peninsula. I don't understand the comment about not going anywhere else because it won't compare - that is someone else's opinion!

I've liked it more than any other part of Cornwall I've spent any time in (visiting friends who lived in Falmouth and Penzance), but it's a bit mad to accept someone else's opinion at face value. Surely you don't only stay in St Ives when you're visiting -- haven't you been anywhere else that you've liked?

We live in Tenby so West Wales is a bit too close to home.

That would be perfect! Thank you

You could try Padstow. The bike ride and vineyards along the Camel Valley are lovely.

I like St Ives - the coastal paths and beaches are hard to beat, and the quirky shops and cafes are good. It's also good if it rains, with a cinema, great art and pottery galleries and a theatre.

There’s not really anywhere else like St Ives. It’s got numerous beaches, so many good restaurants and bars, nice independent shops, scenic walks… very hard to find that all in one place and on the same scale.

There are of course many nice places but hard to find a substitute for St Ives.

Other places we like are Croyde in North Devon, Southwold in Suffolk, Lyme Regis in Dorset. Not a fan of Newquay but on the other side of the Gannel Crantock and then further down to Holywell, they are gorgeous places but complete opposite of St Ives.

I asked chatGPT and the three suggestions were Padstow, Fowey and Looe so have started initial research. We take the dog with us so that just an additional layer of headache because of the list of rules that come with having a dog in an Airbnb!

I love going to St Ives for the day but I also like the coast up near Padstow. As a general overview there are lots of beach choices and restaurants and harbour town vibe in Padstow. Cant recommend restaurants as out my budget.
Another favourite area of mine is the Lizard not so much on big sandy beaches there though, more small coves. But if you are in St Ives for a week you could drive over for the day.

Another one for Padstow so maybe I need to focus research there. We do a bit of exploring, Lizard, St Michaels Mount, Lands end, etc.

Looe is not like St Ives. It has lots of windy tiny cobbled streets but it is definitely more for the day trippers. It's way less upmarket.

I think Padstow is utterly charmless. It has all of St Ives' crowds but without the compensating factors of St Ives. The countryside around it is nice, though.