St Ives or Carbis Bay by train?

[Lunaballoon]

A previous thread about holiday destinations that are easily accessible by train mentioned Carbis Bay. It looks ideal for me. I'd be travelling from London and would want to rent a one bed flat. As both Carbis Bay and St Ives have train stations, which would be best as a base without a car for a week's pottering, walking and general chilling or are they close enough to each other to not really matter? TIA.

They are very close to each other. There's lots to do in st Ives, but Carbis bay is much quieter.

You would need a car if you wanted to go anywhere else easily, though.

Thanks Lynette. Hopefully, if the weather's good, there should be enough in the area to keep us occupied without venturing too far. I'm thinking Carbis Bay would be good for a base as long as St Ives is easy enough to get to by foot.

I'm sure you'll have a great time.

My ds and I have done Carbis Bay by train a couple of times. We love it! Carbis Bay is quieter, and possibly there is more accommodation there, but you can easily get into St Ives on the branch line train, by bus, or walking. We went into St Ives most evenings to eat, using the train. We also got around a bit, Penzance is easy by train, so is Truro, and you can get the bus from Truro to Perranporth, St Agnes etc, although it takes a while. There's a Tesco in Carbis Bay for shopping, so you'd be ok for food if self catering.

Love Carbis Bay and St Ives. Walkable from one to another. I haven't done the train journey to Carbis but encountered several people who had. They had to change trains to get to Carbis Bay or take a taxi. Neither seemed a problem. Carbis Bay is at the bottom of a very steep hill but the train station is very near the bottom. There are good bus services for tourists and locals. If you have a freedom pass it is great. The tourist buses do a circuit to lots of places and are regular. We didn't use our car when we visited the hotel which being Cornwall was a blessing owing to car parking difficulties.

Thanks everyone. This is all sounding very do-able!