The Gurnard’s Head, Zennor – good for food and quiet coves
Equidistant from St Ives and Penzance, this acclaimed coaching inn puts you within easy reach of granite cliff-backed coves washed by turquoise water, Bronze Age standing stones such as Men a Tol, Chysauster Ancient Village, the South West Coast Path and ruined tin mines.
Unmistakable with its sunflower yellow exterior, the pub takes its name from the nearby headland and is geared towards a local crowd while welcoming visitors in its homely rooms which have either sea or moor views.
The work of local artists hang on the walls and food, drink and flowers are all locally sourced, while bedrooms come with Welsh blankets and Roberts radios, as well as camp beds for children.
Expect plenty of seafood on the menu – from crab sandwiches and mussels to red gurnard and wild bass – as well as seasonal vegetables, and a small children’s menu. The farmhouse-style breakfast of Cornish yoghurt, local eggs, fresh juices, grilled kippers and crispy pastries is a treat.
Doubles from £255 B&B in August, plus £40 for children over eight years.
Tregenna Castle Resort, St Ives – good for car-free breaks and outdoor activities
Between Carbis Bay and St Ives station on the scenic St Ives Bay branch line from St Just, this crenellated hotel sits in manicured grounds high above busy St Ives.
The 18th-century granite castle was leased as a railway hotel by Great Western Railway when the St Ives branch line was built at the end of the 19th century. More recently, it hosted former President Joe Biden and his entourage during the G7 Summit in nearby Carbis Bay in 2021.
Despite the illustrious history, it’s a laid-back base for an active Cornish break. The 72-acre estate encompasses subtropical gardens, a woodland walk, garden topiary, a golf course, outdoor pool, playground and tennis courts, with the beaches and galleries of St Ives within half an hour’s walk.
There are family rooms with sofa or bunk beds, some of which sleep up to six, as well as self-catering cottages, lodges and dog-friendly rooms. And when the weather turns, there’s also an indoor pool, and plenty of free activities during school holidays such as arts and crafts.
Family rooms from £174 in August. Accessible rooms available.
The St Agnes Hotel, St Agnes – good for history and village life
“The Aggie” is a 17th-century inn that was upgraded when the railway arrived to service the tin mining industry at the turn of the 20th century and is now a lively village hub updated with warm, homely rooms.
The pub serves St Austell beers and has a summer pizza shack, bolstering its homely pub grub menu of local produce – fish from St Ives, crab from Newlyn, bread from Indian Queens and ice cream from nearby Callestick Farm. Next door, the St Agnes Bakery has been dishing out Cornish pasties and giant sausage rolls for more than a century.
Rooms match the homely style and are simple and comfortable, with deep mattresses and bright colours. Bolster has a king size and twin beds, sleeping up to four.
Surfers’ favourite Trevaunance Cove on the St Agnes Heritage Coast is around 15 minutes’ walk, the National Trust Chapel Porth beach around 40 minutes on foot while all around are remnants of the county’s mining heritage, including the iconic ruins of Wheal Coates.
Rooms sleeping four from £180 in August. Dog friendly rooms available.
SeaSpace, Newquay – good for flexibility and active families
From the team behind nearby Watergate Bay, this new addition to the outskirts of Newquay is a refreshing update to the apart-hotel concept, marrying the convenience of self-catering with lifestyle and leisure facilities. There’s a southern Italian feel to the bright and breezy rooms and public spaces, and plenty to keep you busy beyond, with Porth beach on the doorstep and surf breaks all around.
On arrival, your eyes are immediately drawn to the big, clementine-coloured pool and hot tub behind the reception-cum-shop (the hotel’s app tells you how busy the pool is if you’re wondering when to pop down from your room), beyond which there’s a playroom with books, table football, a Lego table and darts, and a complimentary laundry room.
Active families will love the shiny new Padel centre, maze and adventure playground, plus the health centre with gym and studio, and places in which to stash surfboards and bikes. The hotel works with Wavehunters surf school in Watergate Bay, which you can walk to along the South West Coast Path. There are also plans to introduce a contrast therapy area with sauna and plunge pools.
The cafe is busy from breakfast until teatime serving excellent brunchy dishes and Cornish cream teas, and restaurant Tallo takes over in the evening with an Italian-American menu of cicchetti, pizza, pasta and cocktails.
Rooms also have high-spec kitchens and living-dining areas, some of which are separate from the bedroom, while those with bunk rooms sleep up to three children for bigger families.
Studios from £373 in August, room only. Accessible and dog-friendly rooms available.
The Headland Hotel, Newquay – good for fancy frills
This distinctive landmark, perched on Towan Head between Newquay’s Towan and Fistral beaches, was the Hotel Excelsior in the 1990 film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s “The Witches”.
Built at the turn of last century in lavish style with terracotta columns and tennis courts, it hosted the future Kings Edward VIII and George VI while they recuperated from measles in 1911 before becoming an RAF hospital during the Second World War.
In recent years it has been significantly updated, notably with Adam Handling’s restaurant Ugly Butterfly 2.0 and an extensive spa.
Some family rooms are decorated with wallpaper inspired by archives from Castle Howard in York, others have bespoke bunkbeds, and there is also a collection of self-catering cottages.
All guests have access to the pools, including a splash pool, and activities can be arranged from surf lessons on Fistral beach to Segway tours and boat trips.
Family rooms from £315 B&B in May half term. Accessible and dog-friendly rooms available.
The Esplanade Hotel, Newquay – good for value
At the other end of Fistral beach, near the Gannel estuary, The Esplanade is focused on keeping guests busy. In school holidays that means free daily activities, from biscuit decorating and pizza making to crafts, painting and film screenings in the cinema room.
There’s also an indoor pool, games room, outdoor play area and an onsite surf school, and when the day is done, the Cove restaurant serves a pubby menu of crowd-pleasers.
The unfussy family rooms can sleep up to six, some with balconies overlooking the outdoor play area, while others are dog friendly.
Family rooms from £333 in August. Dog friendly rooms and one accessible room available.
Bedruthan Hotel & Spa, Mawgan Porth – good for food, views and wellness
Owned by the same family for 65 years, the Bedruthan was built in the late Fifties in Californian mid-century style. It’s arranged terrace-like down the cliff above Mawgan Porth’s deep sandy bay, connected by passageways that speak to its formative years.
However, rooms are now contemporary and Scandi-inspired, with cork headboards, clean lines and warm colours and many have epic views of Mawgan Porth below.
The spa has an indoor pool and thermal area, as well as a sensory spa garden with sauna, plunge pools and hot tubs set among wildflowers, herbs and tall grasses.
The family-oriented activities are where this hotel excels – there’s a sensory undersea playroom, creche for under-fives, soft play and craft sessions, as well as a programme of school holiday activities.
The food is good too – there’s the breezy, sea-view, all-day Wild Cafe and bakery for seasonal salads, pasta, fish and grills, and the more refined Ogo seafood restaurant further down the cliff.
Family rooms from £335 B&B in August. Accessible and dog friendly rooms available.
St Moritz, Polzeath – good for location, facilities, flexibility and value
The St Moritz is all icing-white Art Deco elegance, built in 2008 on the site of Thirties hotel of the same name by Steve Ridgway, former CEO of Virgin Atlantic and Visit Britain, and his brother Hugh.
erched between Polzeath and Rock, it faces Greenaway beach on which you can feast your eyes from the balconies of the higher rooms and apartments. Only accessible by the South West Coast Path, this is a big sweep of golden sand at the end of the Camel Estuary where you are almost guaranteed tranquillity on high summer days – it almost feels like the hotel’s private beach.
The liner-style hotel hugs lawns and gardens with an outdoor pool on one side, and a £2m spa complex, restaurant and bar on the other, where you’ll find the only Cowshed Spa outside Soho House properties (the treatments are deeply soothing).
There are hotel rooms with bunk beds, suites with private gardens and kitchens, as well as standalone self-catering houses and apartments (there’s a great deli a couple of minutes’ walk up the road for local supplies). All are done out in white and coastal colours, with coffee table books leaning into the seaside theme.
The spa has a large indoor pool, saunas, steam room and outdoor hydro pool, as well as a gym, while the restaurant serves excellent local produce, such as freshly caught hake with Mediterranean chickpeas and woodfired pizzas.
A free shuttle is available on demand for trips to Polzeath and Rock, so you don’t have to worry about traffic and parking on busy days, and a passenger ferry shuttles across the Camel Estuary from Rock to Padstow. Follow the South West Coast Path to Port Isaac (three hours), or grab the free-to-borrow crabbing nets and beach toys from reception for a day out on the sand of Polzeath beach. Sundowners at Surfside, with live music on the sand, is a great way to end the day with a rum cocktail or cold beer.
August doubles from £205 B&B. Accessible and dog friendly rooms available.
The Wellington, Boscastle – good for Cornish lore and value
Cornish villages don’t come much more atmospheric than in Boscastle. Authors and artists, such as Thomas Hardy, have been drawn by its rugged beauty and aura of mystery. Tumbling down the narrow Valency valley into a picturesque harbour, its limekiln, time-worn buildings speak of its long history as a fishing port and the resident witches who are said to have “sold wind” to departing sailors.
The hub of the village’s lower level is the grand Wellington pub, where a sobering marker in the first floor dining room wall displays the devastation of the floods that wrecked Boscastle in 2004. Local tradespeople poured their heart and soul into restoring the pub, and today it’s part of the St Austell brewery empire, with its period features resplendent once again and smart bedrooms offering all the style of a boutique hotel, without the price tag.
Some say certain bedrooms of the 16th-century pub are haunted (take a look at the centuries-old visitors’ book for inspiration), but the self-catering rooms in the adjacent watermill offer both calm and great value, with kitchens and comfy bedrooms and the benefit of a cooked pub breakfast in the morning.
The cosy and welcoming pub serves St Austell ales and good food including local fish, and it offers easy access to Tintagel Castle down the road, as well as Boscastle’s Museum of Witchcraft and Magic on the riverside harbour, beyond which the Atlantic churns.
Self-catering apartments sleeping four start at £153 in August. Dog friendly rooms available.