St Ives, Cornwall: A Family Day Out in the Artists’ Town

Cornwall · Updated July 2026

A family day out in the artists’ town

St Ives is one of the best family days out in west Cornwall: four sandy beaches within a ten-minute walk of the centre, a working harbour for crabbing and boat trips, Tate St Ives for a rainy hour, and the freshest fish and chips we have found in the county. It has drawn painters and photographers for more than a century — a tight huddle of whitewashed fishermen’s cottages wrapped around the harbour, under a famously clear quality of light. There is paddling and rock-pooling for the children, galleries and coffee for the grown-ups, and enough fresh fish and pasties to keep everyone speaking to one another.

We have been coming back for years, and this is the honest version — the beaches worth your towel, the one place we always eat, the coffee stop we plan the morning around, and the single piece of advice that turns a stressful arrival into an easy one. Come in the spring or autumn shoulder if you possibly can; St Ives in August is glorious but heaving, and the shoulder seasons give you the same light with room to breathe.

The fish is so fresh it is, hands down, the best we have eaten anywhere in the UK.

Three things we never skip

Every family builds its own version of a place. These are the three fixtures of ours — the bits that, if you did nothing else, would still make the drive worth it.

Things to do in St Ives with kids

1. Tate St Ives

Tate St Ives stands right above Porthmeor Beach, showing twentieth-century and contemporary British art with a specific focus on the artists who made their names here. Even if modern art is not usually your thing, the building and the sea views earn the ticket. The combined ticket with the Barbara Hepworth Museum is the one to buy: better value, and both are run by Tate.

2. Barbara Hepworth Museum & Sculpture Garden

The Barbara Hepworth Museum is the sculptor’s house, studio and garden, kept much as they were when she died in 1975. The walled garden is the highlight: her bronze and stone forms set among sub-tropical planting, with the sound of the town somewhere beyond the wall. It is small, calm and quietly extraordinary — and a good gentle stop when little legs need a rest.

A short walk inland on Higher Stennack, the Leach Pottery — founded by Bernard Leach in 1920 and still a working studio as well as a museum — is worth an hour for anyone taken with the town’s craft history, and you can often see the studio potters at the wheel.

3. The four town beaches

Few seaside towns give you four proper beaches within a ten-minute walk of one another. Porthmeor faces the Atlantic and gets the surf (boards and lessons in season). Porthminster is the big, sheltered, lifeguarded stretch of golden sand with the famous beach café. The Harbour beach is calm and shallow, perfect for small children and crabbing. And Porthgwidden is the little sun-trap cove tucked behind The Island, with its own good café — our pick with toddlers. Pick your beach by the wind and the tide.

4. The working harbour

The harbour is the heart of St Ives and still a working one. You can buy crab and lobster off the slipway from the boats, watch the day’s catch come in, and — if you are lucky — spot the seals that hang around the harbour mouth waiting for scraps. Walk out along Smeaton’s Pier to the old white lighthouse for the best view back at the town, and look for the harbour-wall plaques that tell you, in passing, that a local lugger once sailed 600 miles from Scarborough in fifty hours.

5. Climb The Island and St Nicholas Chapel

Do not be put off by the name — The Island is not an island at all but the grassy headland at the end of the town, and the walk up is short and steady. At the top sits the tiny medieval St Nicholas Chapel, a granite box restored in 1911, with a Celtic cross and a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view over the whole bay. The National Coastwatch station up here still keeps watch over the water. It is the best free thing to do in St Ives, and the ideal place to blow the cobwebs off before lunch.

6. The South West Coast Path to Zennor

For older children and hardy walkers, the six-mile clifftop path west to Zennor runs through some of the wildest coast in England — no railings, no ice-cream vans, only gorse, granite and the Atlantic. Reward yourself with a pub lunch at the Tinners Arms and a look inside Zennor’s ancient church of St Senara, with its famous carved mermaid, then catch the bus back if small legs (or grown-up ones) have had enough. Keen walkers can follow the same path on around the peninsula to Land’s End and the Penwith tip.

And in between all of it, wander. The old fishermen’s quarter — Downlong — is a maze of granite cottages, worn doorsteps and cobbled lanes where the sea appears at the end of every alley. Duck into St Ia’s, the fifteenth-century parish church whose tower you can see from the harbour, for a few cool minutes under its painted wagon roof — then let yourself get mildly lost, which is one of the great pleasures of the place.

More to do, and more to eat

If the children want to actually meet the seals rather than squint at them from the wall, hour-long boat trips run from the harbour out to Seal Island, a rocky haul-out along the coast where a colony of grey seals basks; the boats often pass seabirds, and dolphins on a lucky day. They leave from the slipway by Smeaton’s Pier through the season, sold from the little kiosks on the harbourfront.

For a wet afternoon — not unheard of in Cornwall — the Tate and the small, characterful St Ives Museum are both indoors, the leisure centre at Trenwith has a swimming pool, and the harbourfront keeps the usual galleries and amusement arcades. A rainy day here is no disaster.

And beyond the chippy, the town runs on pasties and ice cream. Pick up a Cornish pasty from one of the bakeries and a Moomaid of Zennor ice cream to eat on the harbour wall; for a proper sit-down meal with a view, the Porthminster and Porthgwidden beach cafés are the ones to book ahead.

Where to stay

If you are making a weekend of it, Cornwall has more good self-catering than is reasonable. We use Sykes Holiday Cottages for most of our family breaks here — their holiday cottages in St Ives and around the Penwith coast cover most of the price brackets and most of the dog-friendly properties. Book early for the school holidays; the best cottages near the harbour go months ahead. (Affiliate link — we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.)

Practical bits

Mobile signal is patchy across much of west Cornwall, so a paper or downloaded OS map is more reliable than your phone for footpaths, car parks and the way home. The harbourfront is flat and easy going for buggies and for grandparents, though the steep, cobbled lanes of the old town can be hard work — and arriving by train spares anyone the drive. Whatever the forecast, pack a jumper and a waterproof: the weather here changes its mind quickly, and the light after a passing shower is the reason artists came in the first place.

St Ives family day out: your questions answered

Where should you park in St Ives?

Do not try to park in the town centre in summer — spaces are very limited and the one-way system is slow and stressful. Use the St Erth Park & Ride instead: more than 500 spaces, open 24 hours, with the branch-line train running straight into St Ives (about £4 return for adults, £2 for children). The old Lelant Saltings park-and-ride has closed. Carbis Bay is a smaller station alternative up the line.

Can you get to St Ives by train?

Yes — and it is one of the best ways to arrive. Take the mainline to St Erth, then change onto the short St Ives Bay branch line, which runs along the coast above Carbis Bay and drops you right in the middle of town, a two-minute walk from the harbour and Porthminster Beach.

Where is the best fish and chips in St Ives?

Our pick is Harbour Fish & Chips on the wharf, where the fish is delivered daily by the local St Ives fishmonger and the Cornish chips are cut fresh each morning. You can have it battered or grilled, sit in with a harbour view, or take it away and eat on the harbour wall.

Is St Ives good for families with young children?

Very. The Harbour beach and Porthgwidden are small, sheltered and shallow for paddling and crabbing; the town is compact and walkable; and there is plenty to do beyond the sand — the climb up The Island, the working harbour, the beach cafés and the branch-line train, which small children love as much as the beach.

Are dogs allowed on St Ives beaches?

Yes, but with summer restrictions. Porthmeor and Porthminster ban dogs from 15 May to 30 September (10am–6pm), and the Harbour beach and Porthgwidden from 1 July to 31 August (10am–6pm); a breach can bring a £100 fine. Bamaluz Beach and the north side of Smeaton’s Pier allow dogs all year, and every beach is open to dogs outside those hours, so an early-morning or evening walk on the sand is always fine.

Can you see seals in St Ives?

Often, yes. Grey seals hang around the harbour mouth waiting for scraps from the fishing boats, and you can sometimes spot them from Smeaton’s Pier. For a closer look, hour-long boat trips run from the harbour out to Seal Island, a haul-out colony along the coast, usually taking in seabirds and the chance of dolphins on the way.

How long do you need in St Ives?

Half a day is enough for a beach and fish and chips; a full day lets you add the Tate, the climb up The Island and a harbour boat trip without rushing. Many families use St Ives as a base for a few days and explore the wider Penwith peninsula — Land’s End, St Michael’s Mount and the coast path — from there.

What is there to do in St Ives when it rains?

Plenty. Tate St Ives and the Barbara Hepworth Museum are indoors, as is the small but characterful St Ives Museum; the leisure centre at Trenwith has a swimming pool; and the harbourfront has cafés, galleries and amusement arcades. A wet day in St Ives is no disaster.

When is the best time to visit St Ives?

For families, the spring and autumn shoulder seasons — roughly May and June, or September — give you the same famous light and warm sea without the full peak-summer crowds and parking crush. School summer holidays are glorious but very busy; go early in the day if you visit then.

More Cornish days out: if St Ives has you planning a wider trip, we have family guides to Padstow, Falmouth, Mevagissey, Polperro and the Lizard and Kynance Cove.

Planning more? Browse our other ideas for family days out, and if you are timing a Cornish trip around the school holidays, see how many days there are until Easter.

Written by Linda Garrould for Saturday & Sunday. Correct as of July 2026 — opening times and services change, so please check before you travel, especially on Bank Holidays and over Christmas and New Year. This article contains affiliate links (Sykes Cottages, Ordnance Survey); if you book or buy through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.