St Ives Pictures
Cornwall, England

A popular St Ives pub on the harbour front.

In 2007 St Ives won the Guardian newspaper's UK seaside town of the year. However...warnings:
- Parking is an absolute nightmare and practically impossible for strangers to find, other than the large park on the top of the hill by the leisure centre, which means a steep walk down into town. If staying in town and travelling by car you might try to get a place with parking, which will probably cost extra.
- beware accommodation on St Ives Rd or Carbis Bay. This may be quite a way out of the centre, meaning a bus ride or 30 minute walk to get into town, so confirm the exact location if you wish to stay in the town centre.
- Entertainment facilities other than eating, drinking and beach-going are very limited, so if the weather turns nasty options will run out speedily.

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Porthmeor beach

Visitor parking is up on the hill to the left (quite a steep walk down!) and the Tate gallery just about visible as the big building off the beach in the centre. The Blue Flag beach has a surf rental shop and café/restaurants on the beach. Two other beaches are about 5 minutes walk away, back left of this picture - Porthgwidden and Harbour beach (photos below).

One of many cute little B & Bs in St Ives town.

Within easy drive of St Ives is the slightly interesting Penzance, the staggeringly gorgeous Porthcurno beach, hideously commercial Land's End, great surfing and mad teen drinking at Newquay, and big beach/pretty liitle town of Marazion beside truly fascinating St Michael's Mount.

Porthgwidden beach offers safe bathing, rental beach huts, a café, kisok and toilets close by. Porthminster beach is visible in the centre-distance.

Porthminster beach, another Blue Flag water-cleanliness winner, is conveniently adjacent to the main St Ives railway station. The beach is excellent for families as it's protected, calm and the golden sand shelves gently. It has good café facilities, a pretty cliff walk along to Carbis Bay on the South-West Coast Path, beach huts, toilets and easy access to the town centre.

St Ives harbour is a full working fishing port but also hosts a sheltered beach of fine sand and all the facilities of the town - including toilets - nearby. Porthmeor beach is just 60m on the other side of the houses on the left and Porthminster a few yards behind/below the camera.

The St Ives Tate gallery is an exciting concept for a little seaside resort town but proved to be an underwhelming experience for the bugcrew. The building is spectacular and views massive but the summer show was fairly juvenile. The sculptures, however, are impressive.

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