10 Best Surfing Beaches in Cornwall

North Fistral offers a very consistent beach break peak which can work well all year round. The beach break is quite exposed. Waves break mainly on the right from the peak, hollow on lower tides. The offshore winds blow from the southeast. Some shelter from southwest winds. Prefers a W swell with the best swell being from WSW with a SE wind. Mixture of groundswells and windswells. Best around low tide. Often crowded. Beware rips when the waves are above your height.

Large paying car park close to the beach. Facilities on the beach.
Headland Rd - Follow signs to Fistral Beach off one-way system

Little Fistral offers an exposed, a high-performance, fast, hollow beach break with consistent surf that can work well all year round. Offshore winds are from the east southeast with some shelter here from southwest winds. Prefers a W swell with an ESE wind. Mix of groundswells and windswells and the optimum swell angle is from the west. Waves at the beach are both lefts and rights. Best around low tide. Beware of rips and rocks. South Fistral offers an exposed, consistent beach break with lines of waves that break left from the peak over sand and occasional rock bottom. Works well all year round. The best wind direction is from the southeast with some shelter from southwest winds provided by Pentire Head. Prefers a WSW swell with SE wind. Mostly groundswells. Good surf at all stages of the tide but best at higher tides. At the beach the waves have a tendency to peel left. Beware rocks on an incoming tide and hazardous rips. Often crowded. Park on the Pentire Headland road if possible.

Esplanade Rd on Pentire Head. Most facilities are at the north end of the beach.

Fistral Beach

Road Directions

St Agnes offers a powerful, quite consistent, fairly exposed beach break which peaks over a rocky beach. Can be quite flat during summer months. Prefers a WSW swell with SSE wind. Works well in big SW swells and winds. Mixture of windswells and groundswells The beach breaks favour rights. Best around mid tide. Often crowded. Beware rocks.

Small paying car park a short walk from the beach with more pay and display parking beyond the pub, further up the coombe/valley.

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Porthtowan offers a fairly exposed beach break that has fairly consistent surf and can work at any time of the year with powerful, hollow beach break peaks if the sandbanks are good. The best wind direction is from the southeast with some shelter here from southwest winds.There is some protection from the wind in the southern corner of the beach. Porthtowan is a popular beach, so often busy and crowded. Most of the surf here comes from groundswells. Prefers west northwest swell It can have a rip with a large swell. Suitable for the more experienced surfer. Waves at the beach break both left and right. Beware rips and rocks.

Large pay and display car park and toilets near the beach.

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Kennack Sands offers a sheltered beach break with inconsistent waves. This is a good beach for winter surfing. Prefers SSW swell with NW wind. Mixture of groundswells and windswells The beach break offers both left and right hand waves. Good surf at all stages of the tide.

Can get crowded.

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Crooklets at Bude offers a fairly exposed west-facing beach break with quite consistent surf. Fast, hollow sandbar peaks. The beach breaks offer lefts and rights. Good at most tides. Works well all year round. Mixture of windswells and groundswells. Prefers west swell with offshore E wind. Several great spots for experienced surfers. Wrangles Rocks at the north end of the beach are good at low tide, Tower Rock has a shallow wave at high tide. There is also Crookie Shorey. Can get crowded.

Beware submerged rocks, backwash at high tide and occasional rips.
Pay parking just behind the beach adjacent to the skatepark.

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Whitsand Bay offers 4.3 miles (7km) of exposed beach break peaks. Waves here can be inconsistent. On the positive side, with so much room it’s always to find a quiet peak. A good beach for winter surfing. Mixture of groundswells and windswells. Prefers SW swell with NE wind. The beach offers left and right hand waves. Good surf at all stages of the tide.

The beach is accessed from Tregantle, or other points around the bay. Access is sometimes limited in areas of the bay by the military. Often Crowded. Beware strong rips.

No parking near the beach.

Road Directions

Pentewan Sands offers a sheltered, rarely-breaking beach break which needs a huge swell. Prefers SSE swell with NW wind. Can become hollow. Summer tends to be flat. More windswells than groundswells. Waves at the beach are both lefts and rights.

Car park by beach.

Road Directions

Praa Sands offers an exposed, fast, tubular, beach break with fairly consistent surf. Some shelter from W winds. Prefers SSW swell with offshore NE wind. Mixture of groundswells and windswells. Waves at the beach are both lefts and rights. Summer is mostly flat. Always busy and crowded when conditions are good.

Beware dangerous rips at low tide.

Several pay and display car parks and toilets at western end of the beach.

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Sennen Beach offers an exposed and very consistent beach break with very reliable surf which works all year round. This is Britain's most westerly beach. Punchy peaks with barrels when offshore on a medium swell and tide. Prefers W swell with E offshore wind. Mixture of groundswells and windswells. Waves at the beach break both left and right.

Can get crowded. Beware strong rips.
Large Pay and Display car park with toilets just above the beach.

Road Directions

Perranporth Beach offers a fairly exposed beach break with reliable surf which can work all year round. Peaks are better at low tide. Prefers W swell with ESE wind. Mixture of Windswells and groundswells. Well known for long lefts which break underneath Droskyn Point if the sandbar is working. Waves break both left and right. Popluar beach. Can get crowded

Backwash at high tide. Beware rips.
Car parking on the cliff above the beach and adjacent to the beach.

Road Directions