We've just decided to add a short trip to Cornwall to the start our summer trip! There's so much to see in this area, we're having such a hard time narrowing down what to see/do. We'll be staying in Penzance and have 3 full days to explore the area. Our must sees so far are visiting St. Ives and St. Michaels Mount. Are there any must do drives, walks or coastal towns we just can't miss? I wish we had longer to enjoy, but we're hoping to maximize our 3 days! We have two kids, ages 5 &2 who love the beach, exploring, and the five year old especially would love to find a beach with great tidal rock pools to explore :)
Well, you’ve already listed a couple of what I’d consider “must sees.”
As you’re down the western end of Cornwall I’d suggest the Minack Theatre - you don’t have to see a play but just visit the site. It’s amazing. Newlyn, near Penzance, still has a feel of the traditional fishing village and is worth visiting. I would also add a tin mine: the Geevor Mine has an interesting heritage centre and you can also go underground into a (fairly shallow) bit of an old mine. http://www.geevor.com/mobile/index.html
Also I’m sure you’re aware that the SW Coastal path goes right around the coastline so you can do a few miles of it at any point. It can be quite steep & rugged.
The tide goes way out in St. Ives and other nearby port towns, so you can walk among the stranded boats, like the photo at https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/england/cornwall. With kids that young, I would not want to do any cliff-top portion of the coastal walk.
Love both towns already on your list. We really enjoyed Land’s End. The cliffs are steep and there are walking trails there if you wanted to enjoy them, but keep the children away from the edge.
I liked St. Ives a lot, though it suffers from tourist overload.
One thing to be aware of in that area is that it can be difficult to find a restaurant table, at least at dinner time (lunch may possibly be easier) if you don't have a reservation. It's the Poldark/Doc Martin effect, I guess.
Traffic around the towns can be slow, so be conservative in planning your daily mileage.
It would be further up, near St Austel, but we enjoyed the Eden Project botanical gardens.
I second the suggestion of the Minack Theatre. It is spectacular. We walked along the Southwest Coastal Path from the theatre to Porthgwarra Beach. It was about a mile walk and it was beautiful. There were beautiful views of the water all along the way. There is a little cafe there for lunch or snacks when you get there. If you're a Poldark fan, some Poldark scenes were filmed there so that was fun also.
We found the Eden Project overrated. It's a big botanical garden, like many others in the world. If we'd never been to one we might have enjoyed it more. Relentless selling throughout. Nothing to do with Cornwall really, the spectacular scenery is outside! I wouldn't recommend it for such a short trip.
You can hike the Lizard Peninsula in one day..... Or
I would recommend St Ives and St. Michael's Mount - both were really interesting
and took loads of photos.
We found the Eden Project overrated. It's a big botanical garden, like many others in the world. If we'd never been to one we might have enjoyed it more. Relentless selling throughout. Nothing to do with Cornwall really, the spectacular scenery is outside! I wouldn't recommend it for such a short trip.
I think the opposite! I found it very interesting and the kids loved it. The only selling we encountered was at the point of purchasing the tickets and it was only the option to buy a guidebook. There are refreshment areas dotted around but I didn't find anything objectionable about them. We went during a week long trip to Cornwall but I agree, with only three days you could easily fill them with other things to do.
I liked the Eden Project, too, but as a non-beach-lover, I had to come up with something else to do in Cornwall! The Lost Gardens of Heligan are also pricey but less over-developed. On the other hand, they don't have the rain-forest environment, etc.
Well I didn't like the Lost Gardens of Heligan much either. Guess I'm sorta grumpy about these things. Pay me no mind. ;-)
You don't like gardens; I don't like beaches or palaces. We're both weird.