Destinations in Cornwall

Best towns in Cornwall

Discover Cornwall’s best towns and best places to visit — rated and voted for by visitors. Here are the top three destinations, ranked live from thousands of real ratings.

Voted No. 1 Best Town in Cornwall

The best place to visit in Cornwall

St Agnes

4.6/5from 409 votes

St Agnes doesn’t ease you in gently – one minute you’re in the middle of a village with a bakery queue spilling onto the pavement...

Explore St Agnes

Voted No. 2 Cornwall Town

Hayle

4.4/5466 votes

Explore Hayle

Voted No. 3 Cornwall Town

Fowey

4.4/5449 votes

Explore Fowey

Destinations

Bodmin

4.3/5

Tucked away in the middle of Cornwall, Bodmin is one of those places loads of people just breeze past on their way to Padstow or...

Boscastle

4.6/5

Boscastle ’s not the sort of place you just end up in. It’s tucked where the River Valency hits the sea, all steep lanes, old...

Bude

4.3/5

Welcome to Bude! This enriching little seaside town with its panoramic Atlantic views and coveted surfing beaches has not only been consistently nominated as the...

Callington

4.2/5

You don’t stumble across Callington by accident. It’s not on the way to the beach or part of the usual holiday loop, and that’s probably...

Camborne

3.6/5

Camborne is an understated town, but give it a minute, and it’ll surprise you, in a good way. Located right in the spine of west...

Camelford

4.1/5

You could drive straight through Camelford and barely notice it, but that would be a shame because this small town in north Cornwall, set just...

Falmouth

4.7/5

Did you know that Falmouth has the third deepest natural harbour in the world? Nestled on the shores of Cornwall’s south coast and founded by...

Fowey

4.4/5

Fowey (pronounced Foy to many people’s surprise) is a small harbour town on Cornwall’s south coast, right where the river meets the sea, full of...

Hayle

4.4/5

Keep travelling down the 238-mile A30 and you’ll eventually reach the oceanside town of Hayle. On the fringes of West Cornwall, this beach-lined idyll is...

Helston

4.0/5

Helston is the kind of place where you can be standing in the middle of town and feel like you’ve accidentally slipped into two different...

Launceston

4.2/5

Perched three miles from the Devon-Cornwall border lies the historic town of Launceston, which was once the ancient capital of Cornwall. Today, it still boasts...

Liskeard

3.1/5

Set between the coast and the open landscape of Bodmin Moor, Liskeard is a historic market town in south east Cornwall, close to Looe, with...

Looe

4.3/5

Looe doesn’t try to be anything it’s not, and that’s part of the charm – you’ve got fishing boats nodding along the quayside, gulls watching...

Lostwithiel

4.1/5

Lostwithiel isn’t big, and it’s not noisy, but there’s something about it that stays with you… Maybe it’s the way the river bends round it...

Marazion

3.9/5

Marazion is often somewhere people think they know because of St Michael’s Mount, but there’s a lot more to it once you’re here. This guide...

Newlyn

3.6/5

Newlyn doesn’t bother dressing itself up for visitors – the town still moves to the rhythm of its harbour, with the sound of engines starting...

Newquay

3.3/5

Newquay might be best known for surfboards and sandy feet, but there’s far more to this north Cornish town than just catching waves. Perched above...

Padstow

3.2/5

Padstow sits right on the edge of the Camel Estuary, and there’s something about it that stays with you. It’s not just the views...

Penryn

4.1/5

Imagine tiny cobbled ope ways (the name for a particularly charming type of alley way), sweet little stone cottages lining the streets and a main...

Penzance

4.3/5

Penzance sits low on the coast, looking out at Mount’s Bay, but the town doesn’t announce itself with grandeur… It creeps up on you instead...

Perranporth

3.4/5

Perranporth is the kind of place where you’ll end up finding sand in your shoes for a week afterwards, and you won’t even mind. It’s...

Porthleven

3.8/5

Porthleven is a Cornish fishing village with a stubborn streak… Perched on the edge of Mount’s Bay, it faces straight into the Atlantic and it’s...

Redruth

4.1/5

Redruth isn’t what most people picture when they think of Cornwall. No harbour views, no rows of pastel houses, no ice cream on the beach…...

Saltash

3.7/5

Saltash is the “first step into Cornwall” that sits next to two massive bridges and a wide stretch of the River Tamar, with Plymouth right...

St Agnes

4.6/5

St Agnes doesn’t ease you in gently – one minute you’re in the middle of a village with a bakery queue spilling onto the pavement...

St Austell

4.2/5

St Austell’s not here to perform for you. It gets on with its day – deliveries in the square, people ducking into cafés between errands...

St Ives

4.6/5

St Ives doesn’t introduce itself; it beams. The harbour turns like a mirror, lanes are just about wider than a surfboard, and the light makes...

St Just in Penwith

3.9/5

St Just hangs on to the very tip of Cornwall, like it’s the last bit of land before the sea takes over – the wind...

Torpoint

3.9/5

Torpoint has the sort of reputation that sneaks up on you. At first glance it’s ferries, Fore Street, and the Royal Navy keeping things ticking...

Truro

3.1/5

Did you know that Truro is Cornwall’s only city and capital...

Wadebridge

3.7/5

Wadebridge is one of those towns that feels busy in a good way. It sits on the River Camel, where a 15th‑century bridge first pulled...