Four-star One MICHELIN Key St Mawes, on the south coast, St Ives
Hotel Tresanton
Five whitewashed houses stepping down to the water at St Mawes, thirty rooms that all look out to sea, and a 1939 racing yacht moored for guests.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.
- MICHELIN
- One Key, 2026
- Rooms
- 30, every one with a sea view
- Reopened
- June 1998, by Olga Polizzi
- From the airport
- About an hour from Newquay, our estimate
The hotel
A sailors' hotel, brought back.
Tresanton began in the 1940s, when the yachtsman Jack Silley wanted somewhere for his sailing friends to stay. By the 1950s it was one of the best-known seaside hotels in Britain. The Queen and Princess Margaret were among the guests of that decade. From the 1970s it slid downhill, and by the 1990s the cluster of white houses above Tavern Beach, at the far end of the Roseland peninsula, needed rescuing.
Olga Polizzi bought it in 1997 and reopened it in June 1998. She furnished each room differently, with antiques, new pieces and paintings and drawings from Cornwall; West Cornwall drew modern British painters from the 1940s to the 1960s. Across the water stands St Anthony's lighthouse. Up the hill, she has also restored a Georgian chapel for the hotel's cultural events.
- Pinuccia An eight-metre yacht built in 1939 to race for Italy. From May to the end of September a skipper takes guests round Falmouth Bay and up the Helford and the Fal.
- The Beach Club Terraces fall down the hillside to a club just above the waterline, in the Mediterranean manner.
- The chapel A Georgian chapel on Chapel Terrace, restored by Olga Polizzi, hosts the hotel's cultural programme and a music festival each November.
Rooms & suites
Thirty rooms, thirty different looks.
The rooms are spread over five houses. All face the sea and many have a terrace of their own; the hotel numbers them in place of names.
- Rooms Sea-view rooms Each decorated on its own terms by Olga Polizzi, with antiques and Cornish art.
- Families Family suites Three of them. In the Larorran Suite one bedroom is fitted out as a ship's cabin with two built-in bunks.
- With a dog Dog-friendly rooms Four rooms take dogs, and there is a dogs' bar.
Dining
Seafood on a terrace over the water.
Venues as listed by the hotel. Shown for information.
- The restaurant Seasonal, Mediterranean leaning, seafood A mosaic floor and a south-facing terrace towards St Anthony's lighthouse
- The Beach Club Drinks and light meals Just above the waterline
- Private dining room Large dinners Seats up to 60
Recognition
Recent recognition.
- One MICHELIN Key 2026
- Condé Nast Traveller Readers' Choice Awards Winner, 2026
- The Sunday Times 50 best places to stay in the UK, 2026
Good to know
Before you go.
- Arrival Check-in from 2 pm, check-out by 11 am.
- Children Welcome at any age, with a children's garden and playroom. The gym is for guests aged 16 and over.
- Pets Dogs stay in four dog-friendly rooms; ask for one when booking.
- Sailing Pinuccia sails from May to the end of September and is booked separately.
Getting there
Flying to St Ives.
Cornwall Airport Newquay is the nearest airport for scheduled flights and for private jets, which Weston Aviation handles. The drive down to the Roseland peninsula takes about an hour, our estimate.
- London 45 min
- Dublin 45 min
- Paris 1 h 05
- Geneva 1 h 35
- Nice 1 h 55
Questions
What guests ask first.
- Does Hotel Tresanton have a MICHELIN Key?
- Yes, one. The MICHELIN Guide lists it with one Key in its 2026 selection.
- Can we bring a dog to Hotel Tresanton?
- Yes. Four rooms are kept for guests with dogs, so book one of those.
- Can guests sail on Pinuccia?
- Yes, from May to the end of September, with a skipper, around Falmouth Bay and up the local rivers. Sails are booked separately from the room.
- Can SkyCourtage arrange the flight to St Ives?
- Yes. We arrange Business and First Class seats on scheduled airlines and private jet charter to St Ives, with one final price, our margin included. The hotel is booked with the hotel or through our booking partner.
Also in St Ives
Other hotels worth the trip.
- Artist Residence Cornwall One Key for a Georgian house of eighteen rooms, each different, with a bar, smokehouse and garden in its Clubhouse.
- The Idle Rocks A whitewashed inn of twenty rooms right on the harbour, with seafood at the centre of its kitchen.
- Padstow Townhouse Six suites in an eighteenth-century house on the High Street, run by the chef Paul Ainsworth.
- Carbis Bay Estate In the MICHELIN selection without a Key: 97 rooms over 125 acres, from the nineteenth-century Main House down to beach houses on the sand.
- Boskerris Hotel A 1930s house of fifteen rooms above St Ives Bay, in the MICHELIN selection without a Key.
Staying at Hotel Tresanton?
Book the room, then the flight.
Rates and availability come from the hotel itself. For the journey to St Ives, a Business or First Class seat or an aircraft of your own: tell us the date and we come back with one final price, our margin included.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.