St Ives Head

The walk out to St Ives Head takes about twenty minutes from the town centre, and it's genuinely worth doing. You get proper coastal scenery - the sort where the path narrows, the sea cliffs rise up on both sides, and suddenly you're standing on a headland with views that stretch for miles. On a clear day you can see right along the coast towards Godrevy Lighthouse. The head itself is fairly modest - a grassy outcrop rather than some dramatic peak - but that's rather the appeal. It's working landscape, not theatre.

This is one for walkers more than dawdlers. You won't spend hours here admiring a single thing. The path itself is the main event: coastal path at its best, with proper Atlantic wind and the sound of waves against the rocks below. In summer the cliffs are covered in thrift and sea pink, which softens things a bit. Winter feels wilder and more honest somehow.

If you're based at Polmanter Touring Park or Haven Riviere Sands, it's an easy hop into town and then out to the head - maybe two hours total if you amble. St. Ives Holiday Village is a bit further but still manageable. The town itself is chocka with cafés and galleries, so you can build a proper day around it rather than treating the head as a standalone stop. The walk takes nothing, costs nothing, and gives you the best sense of why people moved here in the first place.