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Arriving in Penzance

Travel distances

Padstow to Penzance

Padstow to Penzance on the map

Start and finishThe route by roadSee the stops along the way on their own map ↓

Open this route in Google Maps ↗ for live traffic and turn-by-turn directions.

Distance

53 miles

by road

By car

About 1 hour 20 minutes

in normal traffic

By bike

About 5 hours 15 minutes

steady pace

By foot

About 17 hours 40 minutes

estimated at a 3mph walking pace

Before you set off

This is the longest of the Padstow journeys and the A30 carries it the whole way west, flowing freely for most of the year but slow on summer changeover Saturdays between Bodmin and Camborne. Penzance itself parks easily by Cornish standards, with long-stay car parks along the promenade and by the station, but Padstow's car parks fill early, so an early start helps.

Which way to go

The fastest route

Leave Padstow on the A389 to Wadebridge, take the A39 south to the Indian Queens junction and join the A30 west, following it all the way past Bodmin, Redruth, Camborne and Hayle to the far end near Crowlas, then into Penzance.1 Around an hour and twenty minutes in normal traffic, with the sweep of Mount's Bay opening up on the final descent.

The scenic route

For a slower coastal finish, leave the A30 at Hayle for the B3301 and the coast road through the mining villages, or carry on and turn for Marazion and the shore of Mount's Bay, with St Michael's Mount ahead the whole way into Penzance.2 It adds around twenty minutes and runs within sight of the sea, but the A30 is far quicker if you are pressed.

Caravans and motorhomes

The A39 and A30 are the main roads to the far west and take caravans and motorhomes comfortably from end to end.1 The coastal lanes around the mining villages and Marazion are narrower and busier in summer, so keep a large vehicle to the A30 and use the long-stay car parks at Marazion for St Michael's Mount.

Stops along the way

Stops along the way — tap or hover a pin for a photo, the detour and a link to its guideStart and finishThe route by road

  1. Start

    Padstow

  2. Wadebridge

    4.7 miles off the main route, adds roughly 15 minutes

    The town at the lowest bridging point of the River Camel and the hub of the Camel Trail, the first stop on the way inland from Padstow.3

  3. Redruth

    0.8 miles off the A30, adds roughly 8 minutes

    The heart of the Cornish mining district, once among the richest square miles in the world, ringed by the engine houses of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape.4

  4. Hayle

    0.4 miles off the A30, adds roughly 5 minutes

    An estuary town at the mouth of the Hayle River, with a long industrial heritage and the three-mile beach at the Towans stretching north toward Godrevy.

  5. Marazion

    1.3 miles off the A30, adds roughly 10 minutes

    The access point for St Michael's Mount, the tidal island crowned by a medieval castle and subtropical gardens, reached on foot across the causeway at low tide or by ferry at high.2

  6. Arrive

    Penzance

Practical information

Parking

Penzance is one of the easier western towns for parking, with long-stay car parks along the promenade, by the railway station and at St Anthony's near the harbour. For St Michael's Mount, use the car parks at Marazion rather than driving down to the causeway, which floods at high tide. In Padstow, use the Harbour car park above the town before setting off.

Train and bus

There is no direct train. The journey by rail runs through the interchanges: a First Kernow bus from Padstow to Bodmin Parkway, then the main line all the way west to Penzance, a scenic run along the south coast and across the causeway at Marazion.5 Penzance is the westernmost railway station in Britain.6 From Penzance, ferries and flights leave for the Isles of Scilly.7 Allow around three hours for the whole journey with connections.

The best time to travel

Any time outside the summer changeover Saturdays is easy on the A30. May, June and September give the best balance of weather and quiet roads, and an early start from Padstow gets you ahead of the holiday traffic heading west. Penzance is pleasant year-round and makes a mild winter base for the far west.

About the Padstow to Penzance journey

The fifty-three miles from Padstow to Penzance run almost the full length of Cornwall, from the north coast at the Camel estuary to Mount's Bay in the far south-west, and it is the longest of the everyday journeys from Padstow. For nearly all of it the A30 does the work, the fast spine road that carries the county's traffic down to Land's End.

Leaving the Camel at Wadebridge, the road runs south to join the A30 and turns west across the high central plateau, through the old mining country of Redruth and Camborne, the engine houses and chimney stacks of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape standing in the fields.4 Beyond Hayle the land narrows towards the toe of Cornwall, and Mount's Bay opens ahead, a great curve of coast with St Michael's Mount rising from the water offshore.

Penzance built its fortune on tin, pilchards and trade, and later on the railway that made it the gateway to the far west and the Isles of Scilly. Its promenade, Georgian town centre and the subtropical planting that thrives in the mild Mount's Bay climate give it a civic grandeur that the smaller harbour towns never had. It remains the natural capital of West Cornwall and the jumping-off point for Land's End, the Penwith moors and the islands.

What to do in Penzance

Penzance rewards a wander. The Egyptian House on Chapel Street is an extraordinary painted Regency facade, and Chapel Street itself runs down past the Admiral Benbow and old merchants' houses to the harbour. The Penlee House Gallery and Museum holds the finest collection of the Newlyn School painters who worked the fishing communities nearby,8 and the Jubilee Pool on the promenade is a beautiful Art Deco seawater lido, now partly geothermally heated.9 Marazion and St Michael's Mount are a couple of miles east and easily combined with a visit,2 and the harbour is where the ferry leaves for the Isles of Scilly.7

Read the Penzance guide

Going the other way: Penzance to Padstow

Penzance to Padstow reverses the A30 and A39 and takes about the same hour and twenty minutes. The run east is usually clear once past Camborne, and the roads move well all the way back to Wadebridge and the Camel estuary. Break the journey at Hayle or Redruth if you want to stretch the legs on the way.

Related journeys

Truro to Penzance26 miles

Truro to Penzance

40 mins by car (About 40 minutes)2hr 45mins by bike (About 2 hours 45 minutes)

Truro to Penzance is 26 miles and about 40 minutes by car, or 35 minutes by direct train. Routes, the Marazion approach, parking and where to stop.

Padstow to St Ives42 miles

Padstow to St Ives

1hr 5mins by car (About 1 hour 5 minutes)4hr by bike (About 4 hours)

Padstow to St Ives is 42 miles and about 1 hour 5 minutes by car via the A30. Compare the fastest and scenic routes, the branch line, Park & Ride and stops.

Padstow to Newquay14 miles

Padstow to Newquay

25 mins by car (About 25 minutes)1hr 25mins by bike (About 1 hour 25 minutes)

Padstow to Newquay is 14 miles and about 25 minutes by car via the A3059. Compare the fast inland route and the coastal beach road, parking and stops.

See every Cornwall journey →

Article Sources
  1. OpenStreetMap contributors (2026). Road network, road classifications and place names. Copyright and licence [online]. Available at: https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright OpenStreetMap[↩]
  2. St Michael’s Mount (no date). Home page [online]. Available at: https://www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk St Michael’s Mount[↩]
  3. Sustrans (no date). Camel Trail (Padstow to Bodmin) [online]. Available at: https://www.sustrans.org.uk/find-a-route-on-the-national-cycle-network/camel-trail Sustrans[↩]
  4. Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site (no date). Home page [online]. Available at: https://www.cornishmining.org.uk Cornish Mining World Heritage[↩]
  5. Great Western Railway (no date). Plan your journey: timetables and branch-line services in Cornwall [online]. Available at: https://www.gwr.com/plan-journey Great Western Railway[↩]
  6. First Kernow (no date). Bus services, routes and timetables in Cornwall [online]. Available at: https://www.firstbus.co.uk/cornwall First Kernow[↩]
  7. Isles of Scilly Travel (no date). Ferry and flights to the Isles of Scilly from Penzance [online]. Available at: https://www.islesofscilly-travel.co.uk Isles of Scilly Travel[↩]
  8. Penlee House Gallery & Museum (no date). Home page [online]. Available at: https://penleehouse.org.uk Penlee House[↩]
  9. Jubilee Pool (no date). Home page [online]. Available at: https://jubileepool.co.uk Jubilee Pool[↩]
  10. Project OSRM (no date). Open Source Routing Machine: route shape and detour calculations [online]. Available at: https://project-osrm.org Project OSRM
  11. Ordnance Survey (no date). National Grid references used to position each place on the route map [online]. Available at: https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk Ordnance Survey
  12. Google (no date). Google Maps: live traffic and turn-by-turn directions [online]. Available at: https://www.google.com/maps Google Maps