Is Falmouth a good place for a base for several days to leisurely tour Cornwall? And do you know of nice seaside hotel in Cornwall, possibly Falmouth, that you would recommend (wife and I in late 50s)
If you really want to see all of Cornwall, you need to change spots every night or two. Otherwise you're looking at making a two-hour out-and-back or a three-hour loop every day. This is too much transportation time the way I look at it. But, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Falmouth in itself.
Larry, Falmouth is lovely and I hope to be there next spring myself. My sister and I stayed in Mevagissey at the Buckingham House B&B. We love Mevagissey and want to go back soon. From there we did drives to Tintagel, Lands End, Bodmin ( to see Jamaica Inn..nice scones and thats about it),The Lost Gardens of Heligen, Mousehole, etc. etc. I am no longer in my late 50s. We became temporary locals at a pub, my sister bought desserts "all round" and even went to trivia night. Tiny narrow streets and you can walk everywhere in town. Check it out on your map.
Falmouth would make a good base. Land's End it only 36 miles, Penzance 26 miles, Truro 10 miles, St. Ives 26 miles. Driving 36 miles in Cornwill will probably take close to an hour. Cornwall is so beautiful, you will enjoy it.
.....and Torpoint and Bude are both sixty miiles away (an hour and a half each)........it takes more than an hour to get to Lands End from Falmouth......you need to think about driving time, not just distance.
Larry - We spent my 60th birthday in St Ives last October and it was wonderful! Picture perfect! And the weather was lovely. I second Ed's advice about moving around - the miles seem short but the drives take much longer than in the US but we had no problems driving there. The Minack Theatre is spectacular! There are not performances in October but it is well worth visiting. We also stayed in Mevagissey and the Lost Gardens were beautiful. We stayed one night in Bude - we had visited Clovelly in Devon - so pretty but we walked up the hill and it is killer! I highly recommend Cornwall! Linda
Stay here. Service is impeccable. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FypR17bDbw&feature=channel
Pretty funny. I'd stay if it was real!