UK Travel Guide To Newquay, Cornwall
Welcome to our Cornwall travel guide! Focusing on Newquay and the surrounding areas.
Newquay, Cornwall is one of the most beautiful places in the UK; if you’re into beautiful stretches of beaches, crystal clear water and cute English towns that is. It’s located in the most South Westerly point of the UK with Newquay bang in the middle of that on the Northside. If you’re planning a road trip within the UK or just fancy a weekend away, because we all know that 2021 is the year of staycations, then Newquay, or anywhere in Cornwall really, is your place to be.
Whether you’re a pro surfer, avid walker or hiker, camper or beach bummer – Newquay Cornwall is the place for you… and then some. In this Cornwall travel guide, we are going to share the best things to do in Newquay, the best things to see in Newquay and the best places to eat in Newquay and the surrounding areas.
Also, read A Guide To The Coastal County Of Dorset for some of the ultimate UK road trips.
When should you visit Cornwall?
Let’s talk about weather! (Because we all know how quickly it can change in the UK). In Cornwall, temperatures vary and can change very quickly throughout the day. Generally speaking though, as with the rest of the UK, July is the hottest month in Cornwall with an average temperature of 16°C and the coldest month is February. You’ll find your longest days in August when the average sea temperature is 17°C. In the winter, you’ll most certainly be needing a thick wetsuit if you fancy a dip! And don’t forget the umbrella, unless, in true English fashion, you fancy getting very wet.
How to get to Newquay
By Car:
From London: Drive along the M4 motorway from London and arrive in Cornwall in less than 5 hours.
From anywhere else, drive South-West until you can’t really drive any further (or until you say the signs that say welcome to Cornwall)
By Train or Coach:
Train services run frequently from London Paddington station. You can also find direct trains that run daily from Bristol to Cornwall. Prices and times can be found on Trainline!
Coach times from London or Birmingham take approximately seven hours as can the train and coach from Bournemouth, due to the awkward route it has to take!
By Plane:
Newquay airport has daily flights from around the UK, Ireland, Germany and Spain. With additional seasonal routes during summer. You could also fly into Exeter or Bristol, or there are regular links from London airports to Cornwall if you find flying a lot easier than a train or coach and don’t want to drive!
Where to stay in Newquay
Newquay accommodation is in wide supply so choosing can be a bit of a midfield. We stayed in Ocean Surf Lodge a great location for Fistral Beach and, well, pretty much everything. If you’re looking for a budget room, with no frills but clean and well located then this is your place to stay!
If however, you’re looking for somewhere a bit swankier then Newquay has an abundance of hotels, here are some options below:
Legacy Hotel Victoria
The Kilbirnie Hotel
Atlantic Hotel Newquay
Tolcarne Beach Colonial Restaurant and Rooms
Or opt for one of the many campsites about or choose to wild camp! Newquay is the perfect spot for it.
Our Itinerary for Newquay, Cornwall & the surrounding areas
Thursday – Day 1
After rocking up to Newquay and finding a spot to park (every cark park we seemed to find was £8.40 for 24hrs but *tip – if you do it via the app you can add the exact amount of hours you want and it worked out cheaper for us).
Once we were parked, first things first – Coffee! By a very happy mistake, we headed towards the beach ended up with probably the best view in Newquay as our first stop – 12 Beach Road. As it only opens at 11 am, and that’s the time we go there, we were sat inside with an incredible beach view. By the time we had left it was packed for lunch and we people were queuing to come in, so we would definitely recommend getting there when it opens if you just fancy a coffee!
We then checked into Ocean Surf Lodge and, in true Chris and Reanna fashion, found a spot for brunch! We’d previously found Box and Barber on Instagram and saw they had some incredible brunch dishes set to rival those we had in Australia and boy, we were not disappointed. Seeing as it was a bit later in the day opted for a mixture of their lunch and breakfast menu.
After we had refuelled we spent the afternoon wandering the town and the Towan beach. A beautiful Newquay beach, close to Newquay harbour. For anyone who hasn’t visited Newquay, Cornwall before, the town is a mixture of independent clothes/ surf shops and bigger chains and pubs. It seems to be split into two halves; the more quant Cornish side, full of independent shops, cafes and pasty shops and the bigger more built upside full of pubs, bars and hotels. Really, the shining star of our Cornwall travel guide.
Friday – Day 2
We woke up bright and early on the Friday ready for a day out exploring and headed to Perranporth for the day. Why visit Perranporth? Well apart from its miles of beautiful sandy beaches, sand dunes and cute village. It also has an awesome little beach cafe and a real surfers vibe. It also has a famous little cutout pool, perfect to swim in if you don’t fancy bracing the waves. Being just a short drive away, around 17 minutes from Newquay, it’s the perfect day trip.
We started the day exploring the little town (just a couple of streets but worth having a little look around). After this we headed in the direction of the beach bar, a whole load of picnic benches sat on top of a sand dune with a pub type place inside, we enjoyed some incredibly chocolaty tiffin and some coffees here. Our plan was to go for a cute lunch but instead, we got so carried away with the beautiful beach we ended up spending all of our time on it. It really was stunning and felt as if we were abroad, somewhere in Europe.
Friday Evening
After a long day of exploring This is when we had realised we’d made a tad of a mistake…. we hadn’t booked anywhere for dinner! We popped back to our hostel to get changed then headed out to attempt to find somewhere for dinner. After getting turned away from quite a few places we thought we would try our luck back at 12 Beach Road. With a bit of sweet-talking from Chris, we managed to get seated in their couches downstairs and enjoyed a lovely evening of amazing food and cocktails, all topped off with great service. A place we would definitely recommend.
Saturday – Day 3
Our final morning in Newquay, with slightly fuzzy heads from the evening before, we hit the road and travelled to another beautiful corner of Cornwall, Padstow. Padstow is located along the coastline, around a 30-minute drive from Newquay. Padstow is a charming little village known for its fishing ports and sandy beaches (although not when the tide is out). It’s famous for housing the original Rick Steins, something which the whole village seems to play on. It’s a beautiful little town in which we spent the afternoon wandering around and enjoying ice cream. The perfect addition to a Cornwall travel guide!
Saturday Evening
We cosied up in The Two Clomes, a country pub a short drive outside of Newquay where we enjoyed a very well cooked pub meal, perfect for a Saturday evening. Once we were full, we ventured down to Fistral Beach, Newquay’s most famous beach, hoping for a small glimmer of a sunset, what we got instead was incredible. Totally unexpected and proof that a cloudy day doesn’t necessarily mean no sunset at the end of it!
We really hoped our Cornwall travel guide will help you plan your trip!
