While most visitors head for the tourist honey pots of the north coast, the wild west of Cornwall receives fewer visitors outside the major draws of St Ives and Land’s End. But the real beauty of this corner lies off the beaten track: it’s a land where stone monuments rise up from the hilltops, ancient moorland butts up against gorse-topped cliffs, and forgotten mine stacks stand out in relief against the skyline.
With its sparkling seaside setting and artistic connections, the attractions of St Ives are very well known, and the town can feel uncomfortably crowded between July and September; visit in early spring or autumn and you’ll find things quieter. Similarly, the main beaches around Gwithian, Sennen and the Lizard can be very busy, but many more remote coves can be reached via the coast path. And for a real escape, the lesser-visited islands of Scilly feel like a whole different world.
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout West Cornwall.
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Looming up in the middle of Mount's Bay and connected to the mainland at Marazion via a cobbled causeway, this abbey-crowned island is an unforgettable sight, and one of Cornwall's most iconic images. Initially a Benedictine monastery, and later the seat of the St Aubyn family, it's a must-visit. You can catch the ferry (adult/child £2/1) from Marazion at high tide, but it's worth arriving at low tide so you can walk across the causeway, as pilgrims did centuries ago.
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After an 18-month, multimillion-pound refit, St Ives' most illustrious gallery reopened its doors, complete with a monumental exhibition space that's been added to the museum's original, spiral-shaped core. Focusing on the coterie of experimental artists who congregated at St Ives after the WWII and turned the little seaside town into a mecca of modern art, the museum showcases the work of luminaries such as Barbara Hepworth, Terry Frost, Peter Lanyon and Patrick Heron in luminous, white-walled surroundings.
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Tresco's key attraction – and one of Scilly's must-see gems – is this subtropical estate, laid out in 1834 on the site of a 12th-century Benedictine priory by the horticultural visionary Augustus Smith. The 7-hectare gardens are now home to more than 20,000 exotic species, from towering palms to desert cacti and crimson flame trees, all nurtured by the temperate Gulf Stream. Admission also covers the Valhalla collection, made up of figureheads and nameplates salvaged from ships wrecked off Tresco.
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A mile north of Lizard Point, this National Trust–owned inlet is an absolute showstopper, studded with craggy offshore islands rising out of searingly blue seas that seem almost tropical in colour. The cliffs around the cove are rich in serpentine, a red-green rock popular with Victorian trinket-makers. It's an impossibly beautiful spot and, when the seas aren't too rough, an exhilarating place for a wild swim. Drinks and snacks are available at the ecofriendly beach cafe.
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This wonderful medieval house and garden was the family seat of the Godolphin family who, during the 17th and 18th centuries, were one of Cornwall's great mining dynasties. The main house is still undergoing restoration by the National Trust: tours of the interior run on most days (check ahead), but the wider estate can be explored on your own. With acres of woodland, riverside walks and lawns to roam, it's hard to think of a more tranquil place for a stroll.
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These wonderful side-by-side beaches join up at low tide to form one epic stretch of golden, flat sand. At the eastern end is the small, National Trust–owned cove of Godrevy, with its island lighthouse (said to have inspired Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse). To the west lies Gwithian, a great sandy arc that extends to the Hayle River. The grassy cliffs (known in Cornish as towans) are an important wildlife habitat, and carpeted with wildflowers in summer.
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Clinging to the cliffs near Levant, this dramatic complex of mine-workings is one of the most atmospheric sights from Cornwall's industrial past. The main mine stack, properly known as the Crowns, teeters picturesquely on the cliff edge above a cauldron of boiling surf. It's famously photogenic and a frequent filming location, most recently used by the BBC's latest version of Poldark. It's a steep walk down, but well worth the trek; an audio guide can be downloaded from the NT website.
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Trekking out to Lizard Point is a fine way to while away an hour or two. A trail leads here from the village, past the lighthouse to the point itself, where another steep track winds down to the long-disused lifeboat station and shingly cove. At the time of writing, a landslip meant that the cove path had been closed for public access, so you might just have to admire the view from the cliffs instead.
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While other St Ives artists broke new ground in sculpture and abstract art, potter Bernard Leach was hard at work reinventing British ceramics in his studio in Higher Stennack. Drawing inspiration from Japanese and oriental sculpture, and using a unique hand-built 'climbing' kiln based on ones he had seen in Japan, Leach's pottery created a unique fusion of Western and Eastern ideas.