Where to stay reasonably in Cornwall in April 2025

Cornwall doesn’t have a lot of college residences. I believe the only university is in Falmouth so maybe you’d find something there. A lot of students at colleges in Cornwall are local anyway so live at home.

Newquay might be worth a look for cheapish youth-oriented accommodation? It tends to target surfers and big groups of young people.

My top tip for cheap accommodation is a caravan. Look at ukcaravansforhire.com. These are privately owned static caravans that people rent out for holidays. I stayed in a luxury van near Mullion for £350 for the week last Easter. It had 2 bathrooms, wifi and heating included.

Thanks very much for your helpful suggestions! J

I don't know anything about demand for lodging in Cornwall during April; things are very tight in the coastal towns in the summer, and not just for lodging. Without a restaurant reservation, you may not be able to eat dinner anywhere except at a fish-and-chips truck.

I spent one night in Truro when I couldn't find anything affordable on the coast. I liked Truro a lot; it was comparatively non-touristy.

I really do not agree with needing to reserve a restaurant place nightly.

That simply is not true. This OP is trying to stay in the area on a budget (which is not that easy to do) so it is pretty unlikely that he will be eating at the kind of restaurants which are reservation type places.

Especially in April, on the cusp of the season starting at Easter, there are always pubs and cafes available- many of which wouldn't even know what a reservation was. That simply isn't how British families work on their holidays.

I am also laughing at fish and chip trucks. You will see a few but they are not common. Fish and chip takeaway shops yes, trucks mehh.

Newquay has probably the most affordable fish and chip shop in the County- with wonderful sea views from it's "restaurant".

Premier Inn (PI) has some pretty affordable prices currently for next April, as do Travelodge. Again, in Newquay, their property has a stunning cliff top town centre location. And there is a LIDL store next door for affordable grocery shopping. Opposite the railway station, and all buses stop straight outside.

There are a large number of places to stay in Newquay, which would probably welcome a long term stay that early in the year.

In popular places like St Ives or Padstow it is a really good idea to reserve in advance, especially in summer. I would recommend reservations for Easter weekend but after that it will be quieter. If you want to eat at a particular place then I’d go ahead and reserve if possible.

Personally if I’m going to Cornwall I don’t want to stay in a town or city like Truro. I have that at home. I stay either in a caravan or lodge type place or a cottage in a small village. To me that’s what Cornwall is all about.

Jaz, bottom line you will have to decide if you want budget accommodations or want to stay in higher-priced lodging in some of the quaint coastal towns. I was there for 5 nights earlier this year and stayed in Falmouth, which I liked. It's a larger town but is on the coast and would probably have more budget lodging available. I know there is a Premier Inn in Falmouth, which is pretty reasonably priced.

One important thing to remember is that if you do not have a car, it's going to be much more difficult for you if your lodging is out of the way. And any lodging in a city center is going to be more expensive, although Stuart has a point about Newquay. Just keep in mind that Cornwall is difficult to get around via public transport. It can be done (ask acraven), but it takes up more of your time.

If @ acraven was in Cornwall before 2022 then her knowledge is very dated about public transport in the County. Before then it was a hotchpotch of services and operators for all kinds of historical reasons.

We are now in Year 3 of a Government experiment of integrated ticketing and much expanded services in the County. Cornwall is the only English County with integrated credit card tapping technology across all operators. So you have a daily and weekly fare cap no matter how many operators you use, or who you start and end your day with.
This also applies into Devon- a few weeks ago I started and ended a day in Devon that was mainly Cornwall, but still had the Cornish cap for the day of £7.50 or £30 a week.

You can also download an integrated County timetable, so planning journeys is pretty easy. That is also widely available locally in printed format. What that timetable doesn't list (which the old County Timetable did in the days of Truronian and Western Greyhound buses, both long gone although Truronian has just re-appeared surprisingly) is the large number of ferries. Quite a few of those are foot passenger only. They provide a number of valuable short cuts, unavailable to drivers as well as opportunities for linear walks. You sort of just have to know about them, as domestic tourists do.
Even if you start from Plymouth there are a couple of foot passenger ferry routes connecting with buses which are great back doors into Cornwall. These are different to the Tamar vehicle ferry.
There is also an integrated rail/bus day ticket which is great value- Ride Cornwall for £18- all buses and all trains from Plymouth westwards after 9.30 am (anytime at a weekend).

Mardee drove the whole time she was in Cornwall and never investigated using public transport.

Mardee drove the whole time she was in Cornwall and never investigated using public transport.

That's true, Stuart, but I have read dozens and dozens of trip reports and posts here that talk about the availability (or lack thereof) of public transportation in Cornwall and the time factor it takes to use public transport as opposed to driving. I didn't say it could not be done, but it is easier and quicker to get around with a car.

Thanks to all for your helpful suggestions.
They are very much appreciated.

Happy travelling,

J

What do people think of Penzance as a place to stay without a car? We are thinking of staying there for 5 nights in May.

Penzance is ideal as a place to stay without a car. There are lots of good bus routes - there’s a bus that goes all around the west of Cornwall including St Ives and Lands End, and you can get a day ticket so you can get on and off when you want. It’s called the Lands End Coaster: https://www.firstbus.co.uk/adventures-bus/services/lands-end-coaster

You can also get a little bus to the lovely village of Mousehole (or walk). Ditto Marazion for St Michael’s Mount in the other direction.

It’s also easy to get to St Ives by train from Penzance.

I think it’s the best choice for exploring the far west of Cornwall without a car, and it’s a nice little town in its own right, without being overly quaint.

Logistically Penzance works very well, so long as you intend to be exploring the south of the County- for instance I wouldn't want to be doing Tintagel or Padstow from there. But then until recently, when the A30 roadworks were finally completed I wouldn't want to have done Tintagel by car either.

There is the hourly open top bus around Lands End and the peninsula, plus the faster "Tinner" (#17) bus for St Just and Penwith and frequent local direct fast buses to St Ives as well as the villages service to St Ives. I always say St Ives is worth doing by bus just for the arrival at the stunningly located Malakoff Bus Station.

Also the hourly service to Falmouth via St Michael's Mount. From Falmouth the little red OTS minibuses will take you to all the gardens in the area and Flushing. OTS are very useful for getting down the skinny roads in the area! For Trelissick Gardens train to Truro then bus or the ferry service from Falmouth to the garden's private dock. Some of those ferries extend up river to Truro.
Change off the Falmouth bus at Helston for the hourly bus to Mullion and the Lizard.

Also the half hourly bus to Truro although train is a lot faster.

You have two issues- there are two public holidays at either end of May when hotel prices are elevated. Secondly, irrespective of that, I am really struggling post pandemic to find decently priced places to stay in Penzance (even the PI is usually on what I consider to be on extortionate rates). Everywhere seems to have decided to go "boutique" (code for fancy furnishings, throw your rates right up and stop offering breakfast). Since the pandemic I have been having to travel in to the Penzance area daily from Newquay (not ideal) and am working on next year travelling in from Paignton (Devon)- even less perfect. Very frustrating- but then your budget will be significantly bigger than mine. My other ruse is arriving in/leaving overnight by Nat Ex bus which gains me 2 days but totally exhausts me on arrival day and the day after I get home. If doing that the far better way is the Great Western Night Riviera sleeper train- a far better service than the over specified and over priced Caledonian Sleeper.

For the Eden Centre and the Lost Gardens of Heligan take the train to St Austell (55 minutes) from the Transport Interchange at the station. Even Heligan has a two hourly service and a few extras via the tiny villages.

Clearly from the above comments I need to start doing trip reports. I don't because I am always on a "busman's holiday" in the UK and struggle to strip out the working element from the vacation element for the audience on here.

One of my more memorable day trips in the area (not possible for those driving) was Newquay to Falmouth, OTS to Helford Passage, the on demand foot ferry (which is really more of a tendering service for the moored yachts in the river) to Helford, time to wander up through the delightful Helford Village, bus round the tiny roads to St Keverne and Coverack then back to Helston and eventually Newquay.

Thanks for all this great info for getting around starting from Penzance and ideas of things to do while using it as a base! I’m excited!

Me too!

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to respond to our questions! Jaz