Cornwall at the moment

[PeacheyPeach]

Has anyone been to Cornwall these summer holidays? Is it as bad as people have reported? Is it heaving

Local here. Hideously busy!! Roads rammed!! We avoid the towns and beaches sadly. Know of a few secluded coves we head to but otherwise spend a lot of time at home this time of year. This year is worst in memory though

West of England and Wales always rains in August East coast much warmer. We're holing up until things quieten down in our tourism area. As locals having to book ahead for meals is nothing new. BUT the pre-book in for kids entertained is annoying

Back from two weeks visiting family in Helston. Busy but not insane. A lot of places still doing pre-booked entry so actually less queuing than in "normal" times. Had lovely visits to Paradise Park, Ships & Castles Leisure Pool, Godolphin, Adrenalin Quarry & St Eval kart track. We did fail to find anywhere to park in Falmouth so just went elsewhere for lunch plus avoided the hot spots such as St Ives & Kynance. Also I needed a new wetsuit & there weren't any that weren't XS or XXL to be had. Pre-book where you can & avoid trying to visit anywhere off A30 on Fri or Sat - the change-over days, and it'll be fine, though more fun if the sun ever reappears.

We are getting a parking space at the beaches around here (before 10am)

Urgh. Sun loungers at dawn !!

We have been to padstow 4 times this year the first time for a fortnight, but that was private school holidays.

It was OK mid July, we left in time before state schools finished. But we booked restaurants in January so we had places to eat.

We have been for a couple of weekends since and it's been busier than we've ever seen it around the harbour in Padstow. Shoulder to shoulder and frankly mot enjoyable as there's no room to mooch between shops.

As PP said if you go early or late it's fine, the day trippers ease off. Also if you want Constantine beach you can get a parking space by 10.30 no problem, or on a Saturday 11 or even 11.30.

I had a week in Cornwall near padstow recently and it was busy but not insane, however I live in neighbouring Devon so am probably used to similar levels of tourists and tiny country lanes.

Devon (Woolacombe) was similar the first week of the hols. We didn't want to queue for hours to get chips (I have never seen a queue that long for a chippy!) so just went back to the caravan and had jacket potatoes. The big restaurant in the town was closed due to staff shortages. Parking wasn't too bad if you parked in one of the big ones for a fiver or so.

The drive back up the motorway was horrendous..what should have been a 3.5 hour journey took 5.5 hours due to delays.

We had a very good week in Cornwall earlier this month. Stayed in Bude and ate out a few times. A couple were booked well in advance and a couple we managed to book while we were there. The traffic started arriving at the beach car park by 8am and by 11am it queued a long long way back. The beach never felt too crowded but as it’s a narrow bay the area between the life guard flags wasn’t massive so the sea itself could be busy. Traffic was a bit slow on the journeys there and back (from Southampton) but not too bad.

Caitlin Moran whinging about queueing 2 hours to get chips... we booked our Friday night fish and chips online, paid online, collected in 10 mins. You just have to be a bit more organised. We would always take snacks and sandwiches to the beach in a cool bag rucksack. Everyone helped make the picnic and it took 5 mins in the morning. If a pasty was available at the beach cafe, bonus, but if not we had food. We bought our own wetsuits (nearly new) in the winter so we didn't have to hire them.

People say they don't want to plan on holiday but in this area you have to, otherwise you end up stressed out, hungry and wasting time in queues.

@HoppingHamster I agree. We went about 5 years ago and it was rammed. Really stressful and ruined the hol. I was gutted actually as I have really great memories of hols in Cornwall from my childhood. It made me quite sad.
We tend to go up north these days as less crowded & beautiful coastlines.

I work at a tourist attraction and we’re having a bummer summer - it’s absolutely mental.

Roads are so busy, haven’t even bothered to go to a beach since schools broke up because the car parks cannot handle the amount of cars.

I’m spemding time with friends in village parks and heading up to the moors and swimming in rivers and just keeping my head down until September 7th.

I hate living jn Cornwall in August, I hope this year peaks loads of people and somewhere else becomes fashionable soon.

Not Cornwall but we have a home in Devon and have just got home from a few days there. It is busy but not any busier than usual school hols. The motorway was busier and if you have not booked tables for food, there is no chance if getting one! All restaurants have signs up saying fully booked please do not ask. The queues for fish and chips are long too. However the beaches and coastal paths are not busier than normal in the height of Summer. Having said that we will probably stay away now until after the hols, love it here in early September when the weather is still warm but the crowds have gone.

I found it quieter than usual! I grew up there and have lived there for periods since and continue to go down & visit family on a regular basis.
As a child we never went to places like St Ives, Padstow or St Michael's Mount in the summer as it was too busy and wouldn't do now. Fortunately, we live near Truro so there have always been plenty of creeks to swim in and quiet beaches to enjoy.
On this visit, we went to Gyllyngvase twice and drove straight into the car park - including at 2pm on a Saturday afternoon. We avoided the north coast at first due to BoardMasters but went to Porth earlier this week, again arriving about 2pm, and there were dozens of free parking spaces ... possibly something to do with the grey skies and poor surf!
I went into Truro which can get really busy on grey days a few times for food and, again, the roads were quiet, no problems parking and the shops were quiet. Plenty of food on the shelves.
We'd pre-booked a couple of restaurants (as we would anywhere at anytime) and activities so had the times we wanted.
Everywhere we went was advertising for staff and a couple of places warned us service might be slow but we didn't particularly notice any delays.
The only downside was the constant grey skies. It was dry for the majority of the time - actually, surprisingly dry for August - but grey.

@Blessex

Thing I don’t get is why Cornwall? I went first time this year and thought it would be warmer as further south. But it’s not warmer!!!! The roads are super duper narrow and tall - nightmare for passing cars. There is no architectural style as there is in Norfolk (flint and brick) or Cotswolds (pale stone). I am struggling to see attraction. Please help someone.

Totally agree!! We do North Norfolk as often as we can and it's so much prettier!

There's something about Cornwall where tourists seem to visit all the attractions up and down the county thereby clogging the roads even more! I can't think of another county where this happens so much.

We were in Cornwall at the end of July and having never been before were surprised by how packed it was (even taking into account more visitors this year) and how expensive it was. We also struggled to get restaurant bookings in the evenings. Now we’re abroad, in Greece, and you wouldn’t guess Covid was even a thing except for wearing masks in shops.

I have a friend there so go to see her but out of season. Cornwall is ok. But there are far more beautiful, atmospheric and interesting destinations in the North of England. For UK based holidays it's north Yorkshire/Northumberland/peak District for us, or Scotland. Cornwall is over crowded, over priced and over rated and the roads are hideous.

We're here now, it's our second year coming, first was last year and we pre booked everything weeks and weeks ago.

We try and organise ourselves around the busiest times of the day- yesterday we went to Crantock beach at 5pm and it was quiet there. Kids went in the sea etc. The weather is very grey and drizzly but we're making the best of it!

Oh and the weather being better is a myth! Everytime I've been it's been warmer and drier at home (North West England). The best UK weather is the east of England. Cornwall is often wet and cold.

I've never heard of any claims of the weather being better in the summer in Cornwall but we have milder winters than much of the UK (hence being able to grow plants here that don't grow in other places). August here is usually crap weather- always go to the beach as much as possible in June and July as once the DC break up the weather will become awful - but usually once they go back to school it often turns warm and sunny.

A bit off topic and I'm not on commission, honest or related to any of these businesses! But anyone near Wadebridge please support the little independent shops in the town centre: a fantastic grocer The Vine with lots of Cornish produce and a freshly squeezed orange machine, two brilliant butchers with great BBQ food and local game, 2 branches of Malcolm Barnecutt amazing bakeries, another independent bakery too, lovely big stationers, bookshop, a fishmonger, a computer shop which fixed an iphone for £10.. oh I'm getting carried away now..... not to mention all the amazing cafés. Caraway is our favourite. Cornwall's economy needs you! And parking usually ok too!

@lilacpants - I thought that the Vine had closed - pretty sure it was shut up when I went a few weeks ago?

We’ve not found it much busier than normal, with the exception of the roads around the Boardmasters site last weekend. But that’s to be expected and actually made Newquay quieter with cars.

We always book a few restaurants in advance so that’s suited us, but we have missed out on fish and chips at Rick Stein’s a couple of times as they’ve had too many staff pinged. We just went elsewhere.

The only thing I would say is that many places haven’t gone as far with things like app ordering and electronic queuing/table booking. We live in a city and this is the norm now and really helps at busy times. I think some businesses down here could really benefit.

And to the PP who said they didn’t enjoy the Minack yesterday - our two thought it was hilarious and it was beautiful views. Worth it I think.

Heaving
Weather is grey and grim
Supermarkets with empty shelves
Queues everywhere
You can always get away from the crowds if you try to, but it is very busy

@FrauleinSchweiger definitely open, well last 4 weeks anyway. It does close early though like 3.30 pm.