Enjoy a 360º virtual tour of Perranporth one of Cornwall’s best known and most popular beaches. Boasting an enormous expanse of golden sand, great surf, hundreds of rockpools, caves and Chapel Rock in the middle of the beach with its small natural tidal bathing pool.
Updated: 19th December 2020
- Added Sundial and South West Coastal Path Viewpoint to Virtual tour
At low tide the beach is huge, It can get very busy on the town end, but there’s always room further along the beach in front of the dunes. There is even a pub literally on the beach, the Watering Hole, here you can enjoy a pint and food all day. The atmosphere is very relaxed and welcoming. Usually there is live live music in the evenings, but the last time I was there strangely their wasn’t for a Saturday night. It’s also a great place to sit and watch the sunset. We usually buy ourselves a takeaway and then enjoy it while sat on the dunes watching the sun go down. There are plenty of bins around to discard of your rubbish. We didn’t think to check the tides before arriving as we came from town using the shortcut and the tide was ankle deep over the bridge, so we had to wade through to get to the beach. Thankfully the water wasn’t cold.
When we’d had enough or were cold we all head into the pub, even without music it still had a good atmosphere. Saturday nights The Watering Hole closes at midnight. As we left walking back toward the road using our phones for a torch as there are no lights, to our surprise there were quite a few fireflies amongst the grass along the path, something I had never seen before in the UK.
We had arranged a taxi minibus to drop us off and pick us up as there were 13 of us. This turned out to be a mistake as taxis in Newquay (maybe even Cornwall) are some of the most expensive I have ever experienced and I’d go as far as saying the most expensive taxi in the world!! We were picked up at Trethiggey Holiday Park and driven to Perranporth beach next to Percy Davy Close which is 9 miles and should take 16 minutes, but it was more 25. We rang A2B Taxis and on the phone we were quoted £3 or £4 per person with return for 13 people. However it was Pat’s Cabs that turned up, the driver asked again where we were going as we got in. Once we were in the minibus and travelling he then asked how many of us, we said 13 and he responded with that’ll be £130!!!!!! £10 each, £5 per person for each way. WTF we aren’t doing an airport run to Heathrow ffs!! He said they got the destination mixed up on the phone, which is a likely story. To make things worse he wanted the whole bill up front. We argued this as we said we had no guarantee that he would even come back as he would already have all our money and therefore could do a runner, so he wrote a receipt and signed it and still insisted on the full fare. To his due, he did pick us up again at midnight on the dot, but none of us were happy with the service and all felt that we had been totally ripped off. I expected the bill to be more around £70 and even then I thought that would’ve been on the expensive side.
If you don’t want to be completely ripped off DO NOT use A2B Taxis or perhaps any taxis at all, it’s probably best to drive yourself.
The beach is located on the South West Coastal Path where there is ample walking. The beach extends from Droskyn Point to Penhale Point, just over 2 miles. The stretch towards Penhale is backed by a dune system that includes St Piran’s Cross and the ruins of an ancient church. These dunes are also home to an array of wildlife from, lizards to butterflies. There’s are two rivers that flow onto the beach. Another really nice feature is the famous rock pool in the centre of the beach. You can only experience the rock pool during low tide. During high tide the whole area is floated by the ocean and invisible for its visitors. When the rock pool is exposed, it provides the perfect opportunity for kids to play around in the shallow clear waters and explore some marine life.
- The far northern end of the beach is used as a naturist beach.
- Lifeguards: Easter bank holiday, weekends during April, daily from 5 May–30 September and weekends during October.
- Beach cleaned daily during the summer.
- Dogs allowed all year. Must be kept on lead in July and August – 9am and 5pm.
- Easy access to the beach along with disabled toilets close by.
- Disabled sand chair for hire.
Deep shelving beach
Large breaking waves
Strong currents
Strong winds
Tidal cut-off
The town’s modern name comes from Porth Peran, the Cornish for the cove of Saint Piran, the patron saint of Cornwall. He founded St Piran’s Oratory on Penhale Sands near Perranporth in the 7th century. Buried under sand for many centuries, it was unearthed in the 19th century.
- Fishing
- Kayaks
- Millennium Sundial
- Paddle boarding
- Rockpooling
- Sailing
- Sea Canoeing
- Surfing
- Swimming
- Windsurfing
Zoning is in place for water sports.
Several restaurants and pubs are located around the beach. Prices range from rather high to customary, depending on location and quality.
- Del Mar Ristorante Pizzeria Italiano
- Pickwicks Fish & Chips
- Piran Thai
- Village Pizza
- Watering Hole
Access is easy. There is a disabled beach wheelchair available
Perranporth TR6 0DR. There is a large car park about as close to the sand as you can get. This makes it pretty convenient for just parking up the car and spilling out onto the beach.
- Bus, there are bus stops right next to the beach, but unless your coming from Newquay or Truro it will likely take a long time to get here.
- Car, There is a large car park right next to the beach.
- Walking, Easy flat pavements from the road or from the cliff paths with the South West Coastal Path running past the beach.
- Lifeguards: Easter bank holiday, weekends during April, daily from 5 May–30 September and weekends during October
- Potential Hazards: Strong currents, Large breaking waves, Tidal cut-off, Deep shelving beach.
- Beach cleaned daily during the summer.
- Dogs allowed all year. Must be kept on lead in July and August – 9am and 5pm.
- Easy access to the beach along with disabled toilets close by.
- Disabled sand chair for hire
- Type: Sandy
- Get £25 off your first Airbnb trip of £55 or more click here.
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