Best place to visit in Cornwall

[M78]

I am trying to arrange a long weekend in Cornwall as a surpise for my parents ( they are in their early fifties). Which is the nicest area to visit?I will be going with DH , DD1 (8y) and DD2 (19 mo) as well. They live abroad and will be travelling to the UK especially for this, so I really want to treat them to something nice, but I really don't know which area to start looking at!

TIA

I thought the Eden project very disappointing. Lots of queuing (though you can buy tickets in advance) and pouring rain made it thoroughly miserable.

Padstow in the rain is still very nice - a little crowded with tourists, but can't complain (as we were too). His part owned(?) pub is an easier meal than anything in town. Then a trip to Watergate Bay was fab to watch the surfers and it's huge too (for the UK). You can have lunch at Jamie O's place too as there's not much else to eat there.

Avoid Newquay.

Fowey is very pretty to visit - steep if you have pushchairs, though completely manageable.

I would've liked to go to the Lost Gardens of Heligan - maybe next time, this year.

Depends what you like. We tend to stick to the Padstow area. We like Trevone Bay or Harlyn but not much there apart from a beach..

I enjoyed my day at St Micheals Mount.

Agree Eden project very busy on wet days during school holidays and best to avoid.

Lands End over commercialised and a bit trashy.

A day in Falmouth is nice and there is a castle to visit plus boat trips up the river.

We stayed in Portreath once, that was a lovely beach. Train into St Ives from I think something like Levant? was pretty.

Tintagel castle good but very steep, so need to be pretty fit. Although I think they did offer a lift in a landrover to people who couldn't make it I seem to remember.

I also like Bude.

A drive through Luxulyan Valley is like going back in time, beautiful.

Truro's lovely.

I liked Lost Gardens.

Thank you for your replies, I am going to start looking now, DH was talking today about Padstow, I'm going to look and see if I can find a nice cottage to rent there.

St Ives - no contest

Sorry, was meaning Rick Stein's place (one of the many!) in St Merryn was where we ate here!

I have been trying to book something all evening, but most places we like are fully booked! We need self catering as DD2 goes to bed at 7pm the latest and only in her own bed. Have looked at Padstow, will check St Ives now. Thanks for your suggestions.

St Ives is lovely.

Perranporth beach = loads of space and rock pools.

St Ives = good for shopping . Bit of a maze and a bit tricky with a pushchair though.

I liked the Eden project, although I think that was because my pre-schoolers loved it and they could tear around.

We stayed in Portreath, it's quite central.

We love Harlyn and Trevone area too, but there isn't a lot there, nothing in walking distance except the beach. Try Coombe Mill Farm, it's about 25mins from Padstow, 25mins from Polzeath beach too. It's so quiet there but close to everywhere which works for us! We love being able to spend the morning on the farm with the animals, head out for the rest of the day, then retreat back to the peaceful, relaxing farm in the evenings for an early night!

Ooh a couple have mentioned my home!

Best thing you can do is look at the attractions they might like to visit and stay somewhere central between those points, as getting about in Cornwall takes a lot longer than it looks on a map :o

Try here

Very nice apartment and very near to the beach. We stayed there last year.

Thanks everyone, in the end my DH booked this www.rosehilllodges.com. It looks quite nice, it's central and will allow us to visit different parts of Cornwall. I hope it is going to be as nice as it looks though!

ahhhhhhhhh you are staying in the eco park porthtowen is a bit of a dive but you can get to most places fairly easily www.thisiscornwall.co.uk will tell you about whats happening localy

I don't think those lodges are actually in the Eco park, but further down the hill in Porthtowan.

You'll find it quite easy to get about from there, it's not far from the A30 at all, and the beach is just fine, Blue bar v trendy and popular. Porthtowan not really a dive, once was a bit dubious but a lot better in recent years.

Fowey.

The place looks really nice and has 5 stars ratings, I looked on Trip Advisor and it does have fantastic reviews. We just needed a place quite central as the plan is to visit different places during the day anyway.

I'll let you know how we got on!

Thanks for your advice