Portreath beach is a gently shelving sandy beach on Cornwall’s north coast. The bay has high cliffs on either side along with a small working harbour. The name Portreath means “sandy cove” and Portreath harbour is steeped in history as it exported copper and imported coal to support the Cornish copper mines and also some shipbuilding.
At low tide, this is a large flat sandy beach but when the tide comes in the beach is split into two with a small cove to the west and the main area in front of the car park.
You will not see so many surfers as on some other beaches on this stretch of coast but you can get a powerful wave alongside the harbour wall. What it is is a great safe family beach very popular for bodyboarding and at low tide you can get some good rock pools to explore by harbour wall.
Facilities at the beach include car parking, toilets, ramp access, seasonal lifeguards, beach cafe, pubs, shops including surf hire and the Portreath Surf Life Saving Club.
Portreath Beach is a Blue Flag Beach.
Portreath beach does not allow dogs during the day between Easter and October.
Why not check other beaches nearby as we have no beaches around Portreath, 215 beaches in Cornwall, or check our list of Cornwall Dog Friendly Beaches.
- Excellent: the highest classification meaning the water is cleanest
- Good: generally good water quality
- Sufficient: meets minimum standards
- Poor: You are advised not to swim. The beach will stay open and an action plan should be in place to improve the water quality.
Our tide forecast for Portreath Beach in Cornwall.
Our weather forecast for Portreath in Cornwall is split into two widgets. The first shows a timeline containing temperature, wind, sunrise/sunset and chance of rain, whilst the second shows the forecast for the week ahead including severe weather alerts when available.
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2 Reviews on “Portreath Beach (Cornwall)”
We stayed overlooking the beach and had a great time. Some days the beach was calm and other some strong waves. A nice shop/cafe/bike hire shop called The Hub.
Nice large beach.
A good beach and the harbour has some interesting history. The town is a little disappointing.