Eric S

We'll be in Northern Spain this summer and my wife wants to take a vacation to Cornwall for a week or so. We're thinking of flying into London and then renting a car and driving there. We figured it would be a good idea to have a car so we could get around the area easier. Can anyone suggest a good "base of operations" for us to stay while we're there? We have a three year old daughter, so we're looking for some place family friendly.

It would be nice to be walking distance to a beach. And nice to have some shops, restaurants, etc. close by as well. But it doesn't need to be a big resort or anything like that. A quaint town or village would be more our speed.

Also, if there are any "must see" places around Cornwall or on the way from London, please let us know.

Thanks in advance.
- Eric S.

missile

Unless you particularly want to visit London, you might be better flying to an airport closer to Cornwall e.g. Bristol. We flew to Newquay several years ago and found it a great family friendly place to stay. Not as scenic, but not as touristy as the more popular resorts.

Rosemary

I agree with Missile about flying to an airport that is closer to Cornwall because it is a long drive with a 3 year old.

Newquay, St Ives and Falmouth are the 3 main places that I would say fit your requirements. Obviously there are a great many wonderful beaches but a lot of them are purely that and do not have the other facilities that you are looking for.

Rosemary

Domino

as the others say, it is (in UK terms anyway) a long drive, you should anticipate 4-5 hours of driving.
a train would take the strain, especially with a youngster, and then get a hire car locally.

as a base Plymouth has most things - not actually in Cornwall but on the border in Devon and a good place for stopover before moving on with good train service from London.

You will find there are plenty of places to stay, large or small hotels, there is alot of catering for tourism in the county.

hth

Rosemary

A train from London to Plymouth is a good idea it is a historical place to visit but it does not have a beach so then the hire car to tour Cornwall sounds excellent. Cornwall has so many small quaint places that it would be difficult to highlight where you should go.

Rosemary

Domino

from Plymouth it is only a short hop to Looe, south coast beaches, whilst dad can go for a bit of shark fishing

other than that didnt do too much in Cornwall, always too busy putting ships out or getting on a train back home

Rosemary

There is a toll on the bridge into Cornwall. The list of places like Looe is endless.

Rosemary

cricketman

It may come as a shock to those of you based in the South, but there are only flights to London from Asturias, and then only 5 a week. It is a 2-3.5 hour drive to the next airport (Santander, Bilbao, Valladolid, La Coruna) and they only go to London too

Eric S. Just to say, Cornwall is pretty similar to Asturias, except no mountains and worse weather and food

paintermujer

Nothing wrong with a DECENT cornish pasty or Devon cream tea with lashings of clotted cream....weatherwise I agree with you.

Dick Dasterdly

So says our city dweller friend who recently moved from a trashy tourist resort to a flat in a drab northern town, which also has less than perfect weather.
As for the food, I'll settle for Cornish every time.

Regarding the journey, there's is always the option of the Santander/Plymouth ferry to get you near enough where you want to be.

jimenato

Yes - Madrid airport is probably the nearest which will get you to Bristol.

Don't underestimate driving times in the south west peninsula - especially in summer. Even Bristol to the far south west might take five or six hours.

Padstow has it all as far as I'm concerned but Cornwall is a big county and has many things to see.

sujee

I can recommend the Headland Hotel on Fistral beach (main surfing centre) on the outskirts of Newquay. Its the Hotel where they filmed The Witches (Roald Dahl). We stayed many times with young children and it has activities, early suppers for kids and they will even look after them while you have your dinner at leisure. That said I haven't been for a few years and so would suggest you look at the website.

Rotor

For sure there's plenty of very good restaurants in northern Spain but Cornwall has more Michelin star restaurants per capita.

Domino

but you keep telling us the only place for decent food is Asturias
load of rubbish

good food can be found in so many places in any town or city around the world, if only you got off your penny-farthing you would see it.

some of the best meals I have ever had have been in a street market in Singapore, cooked whilst you wait, and one of the places anyone could take mum or the girlfriend (so long as the wife doesn't know)

but you keep on winding us up with all this best and worse posting
enough to drive people away from the site

cricketman

Of course you can. Your can get great and terrible food in almost any city or country in the world. Only you will have to research harder to find it in some places than in others

Btw, I once spent a weekend in Granada and the food was amazing