St Ives
A harbour town at the far west of Cornwall where Hepworth, Gabo and Heron worked, with Tate's gallery on Porthmeor Beach and a 2,744-metre runway at Newquay.
- Arrival
- Cornwall Airport Newquay · NQY
- To the town
- About 10 minutes from St Erth by park and ride
- Private jets
- Newquay, Weston Aviation handling, customs on site
- Best time
- June to September
The city
Light, sculpture and the Atlantic.
A handful of artists made this town on St Ives Bay known far beyond Cornwall: Barbara Hepworth, Naum Gabo, Patrick Heron, Marlow Moss. Tate St Ives now stands above Porthmeor Beach looking out over the Atlantic, and Hepworth's own house, studio and garden are kept as a museum.
The streets are narrow and parking is scarce, so the easy way in is to leave the car at St Erth and take the park-and-ride or the local train. Summer is beach season, with calmer seas for kayaks and paddleboards; September keeps the mild light and fills the town for a fortnight of art and music. In spring the Dolly P leaves the harbour to look for seals.
Arriving
Newquay for the runway, St Erth for the town.
Cornwall Airport Newquay, on the north coast, is the county's regional commercial airport and the nearest to St Ives. Trains from London Paddington run to St Erth, where a branch line and a park-and-ride finish the journey into St Ives.
- London 50 min
- Frankfurt 1 h 40
- Rome 2 h 30
- Casablanca 2 h 45
- Miami 9 h 05 long-range jet
When to go
June to September.
Mild and Atlantic, rarely cold and rarely hot. June to September is the season: highs of 17 to 19 °C, the least rain of the year in June and July, and a sea that reaches 16 °C by late summer. From October to January rain passes 110 mm a month.
- 9° J 132 10°
- 9° F 102 9°
- 10° M 99 9°
- 12° A 64 10°
- 14° M 66 11°
- 17° J 61 14°
- 19° J 58 15°
- 19° A 71 16°
- 17° S 84 16°
- 15° O 112 14°
- 11° N 127 13°
- 10° D 132 11°
What to see and do
Days in and around St Ives.
-
Landmark
Tate St Ives
The gallery of the artists who worked here, on Porthmeor Beach, facing the Atlantic.
-
Landmark
Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden
The sculptor's home, studio and garden, on a separate ticket from the gallery.
-
Landmark
Seals in the bay
Boat trips from the harbour to the seal colonies; pups are born between September and March.
-
Culture
Leach Pottery
Bernard Leach founded his studio here in 1920, and the site now holds a museum of his life and work beside a gallery of studio ceramics.
Official site -
Culture
St Michael's Mount
Crowned by a castle, the tidal island is reached on foot over a cobbled causeway at low tide, or by boat from Marazion when the sea covers it.
Official site -
Opera & music
Minack Theatre
Rowena Cade carved this open air theatre into the granite cliffs above Porthcurno, where The Tempest opened it in 1932 with the sea behind the stage.
Official site -
Nature
South West Coast Path, St Ives to Zennor
Westward from Porthmeor, the coast path climbs and drops over the granite cliffs to Zennor, its church and the Tinners Arms, a demanding walk of several hours.
Official site -
Golf
West Cornwall Golf Club
Established in 1889 on the dunes at Lelant, this seaside links looks over the Hayle estuary and St Ives Bay to the Atlantic.
Official site
Where to stay
Keys on both coasts, and two hotels on the bay.
Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.
- Artist Residence Cornwall One Key for a Georgian house of eighteen rooms, each different, with a bar, smokehouse and garden in its Clubhouse.
- Hotel Tresanton Olga Polizzi's revival of a post-war seaside hotel, thirty rooms all facing the sea and St Anthony's lighthouse.
- 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.
Where to dine
Stars on the north coast, seafood in Penzance.
From the MICHELIN Guide 2026, shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these restaurants.
- Ugly Butterfly by Adam Handling One Michelin star Modern British ££££ Newquay
- Paul Ainsworth at No.6 One Michelin star Modern Cuisine ££££ Padstow
- Outlaw's Fish Kitchen One Michelin star Fish and Seafood ££££ Port Isaac
- The Shore MICHELIN Guide Fish and Seafood £££ Penzance
Elsewhere in United Kingdom
More reasons to come.
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London
Mayfair, the West End, and Farnborough or Biggin Hill for the jets.
- Edinburgh The Royal Mile, the Georgian New Town, and the festival in August.
- Oxford The colleges and the Cotswolds beyond, with a business airport at Kidlington.
- Bath Georgian crescents and the Roman baths.
- Ascot Royal Ascot in June, forty minutes west of London.
- St Andrews The home of golf, on the coast of Fife.
Flying to St Ives?
Choose how you arrive.
A Business or First Class seat on a scheduled airline, or an aircraft of your own. Tell us the date and how many are travelling, and we reply with one final price, our margin included.