Porthminster Beach St Ives Cornwall

Porthminster Beach - A Beautiful, Family Friendly Beach In St Ives

Porthminster Beach - Can This Really Be In The UK?

Porthminster Beach is the lovely, big, sandy beach that sits below the train station in St Ives. It nearly always looks amazingly tropical, like a beach from a beautiful, hot island! It's not though, it really is right here in St Ives!

Porthminster Beach St Ives Cornwall Empty Beach

The beach sits nestled below a leafy promenade full of tropical plants. This is a lovely place to walk and sit just to admire the view.

Porthminster Beach St Ives Cornwall Walk

The beach itself is a fine, sandy beach. Because of the direction it faces, the sea is usually much flatter and calmer. Surfers are best off going round to Porthmeor Beach. Porthminster Beach is great for flatter activities such as Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP), Kayaking and swimming.

Because it is usually much flatter and calmer, Porthminster Beach is very popular with young families.

How To Get To Porthminster Beach

Porthminster Beach St Ives Cornwall Location Map

If you get the train into St Ives, the station is right behind Porthminster Beach.

There is a car park above the beach (St Ives Station Car Park), but like all town car parks, parking can be tricky to find!

If you are in St Ives town, go down to the harbour and take the pedestrianised walk called Lambeth Walk (Pednolva walk according to the official maps). This turns into The Warren and will take you past the Pedn Olva hotel and over to Porthminster Beach.

If you are staying at the Carbis Bay side of town, you can walk along Hain Walk and down the pathway, across the railway bridge and down onto the beach.

Access Onto Porthminster Beach

Porthminster Beach is one of the best ones for access, as all of the ways onto it bar one are along slipways and slopes. There is access down the side of the hill by Pedn Olva - these are steps that get cut off at high tide.

Please do note that you can't get a car close to Porthminster Beach. Some people do get access, but these are few are far between and I wouldn't want to take my car along there!

Porthminster Beach St Ives Cornwall Green

Facilities On Porthminster Beach (seasonal)

  • Very close to St Ives train station and car park
  • Toilets
  • Fish & Chip takeaway
  • Beach bar (snacks, burgers, chips, drinks, ice creams)
  • Award winning seafood restaurant (with cracking views!)
  • Beach shop
  • Deckchair, windbreak & parasol hire
  • Garden bar
  • Porthminster Garden
  • Beach chalet hire
  • Watersports (St Ives surf school)
  • Mini golf
  • United Beach Missions
  • Merry-Go-Round
  • Lifeguarded during the Summer months
  • Beach wheelchair hire (contact Porthminster Beach cafe)
  • Access onto the beach is down a slope

Porthminster Beach St Ives Cornwall In Summer

Porthminster Beach Lifeguards

Porthminster Beach is lifeguarded between 10am and 6pm 13th May to 24th September 2023. Please check the RNLI website for more details.

Porthminster Beach Dog Rules

Dogs are not allowed on Porthminster Beach between 10am and 6pm 15th May to 30th September. Please check Cornwall council website for more details.

We don't visit Porthminster Beach as often as we should. The closest beach to our house is Porthmeor, and Porthminster is a walk across town, which can be annoying with children and beach stuff. Today I had a little bit of time to myself after going to the Post Office, so I took myself off to Porthminster Beach.

I walked down The Warren and onto Porthminster Beach via the Pedn Olva shelters. The weather down here has been very cold for May, especially if you think back to May 2020 when we were roasting in the garden during lockdown! However, it was good to see lots of people about (yes we have missed you!) and little children playing on the beach. There were even people swimming in the sea, good on you, whoever you are!

I hope you enjoy my little video I made of the walk.

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