St Ives is a popular and bustling Cornish seaside town with a choice of eight great beaches, all with different characteristics. Three of St Ives’ beaches are dog-friendly. St Ives is very busy and can get some bad press, but it is still one of our favourite locations to base a stay in Cornwall, with great beach options, town and easy access to Cornwall attractions.
This article focuses on the beaches, with links to our more detailed beach information pages. We will start on the Atlantic coast and go clockwise into St. Ives Bay.
Porthmeor Beach
Porthmeor Beach is the only St Ives beach with an Atlantic-facing aspect, as all the others face into St Ives Bay. If you want good surfing on Atlantic rollers, Porthmeor is the beach to head for and where the surf schools are based.
Porthmeor is an excellent family-friendly surfing beach with local options for food, and it’s located in front of the Tate St Ives. A visit in the evening for the sunset is a must.
Porthgwidden Beach
The next beach, located around St Ives Head, is Porthgwidden Beach, a smaller, sheltered beach backed by a row of beach huts and featuring some interesting rocks to explore.
Often missed by visitors, but has a great local cafe.
Bamaluz Beach
Just outside of the harbour wall is the small sand and rocky Bamaluz Beach, which is a dog-friendly beach that all but disappears at high tide. In the summer, it can get very busy as it is thought of as the main dog-friendly beach in St Ives.
Although we say eight beaches, at a very low tide, you can get to a beach outside the harbour wall. We don’t recognise this within this article, as you have to be very lucky with the tides to get access. The beach, known as Breakwater Beach, features a sandy stretch as well as rocky areas to explore.
St Ives Harbour Beach
St Ives Harbour Beach is a sheltered beach within the harbour walls, backed by the promenade and harbourside shops, cafes and restaurants. Great safe location to rent out boats, kayaks or stand-up paddle (SUP) boards.
Lambeth Beach
The next beach after the harbour is Lambeth Beach, and at high tide, you will walk straight by this as it disappears. But when the tide is out, you get a rocky beach with some sandy areas, and you can walk around to the harbour beach. This is the second dog-friendly beach in St. Ives.
This beach is well-known for its pebble sculptures created from the rocks, and it is also the best beach for collecting seaglass.
Porthminster Beach
The next sandy beach is the large Porthminster Beach, situated near the train station and is probably the main family-friendly beach in St Ives, offering plenty of activities and options for food and drink.
Carbis Bay Beach
The beach at Carbis Bay is just along the southwest coast path, and you can either walk from the town or take one stop on the St Ives branch line train. It is a large beach but with fewer facilities than Porthminster, as it is linked to the Carbis Bay Resort.
Porthkidney Sands
The last beach on our trip is the large dog-friendly Porthkidney Sands, and as it is harder to reach, it also has plenty of space and an extensive dune system to explore. The beach has no facilities, although it does have seasonal lifeguards by the Hayle estuary. To access it, you will need to take a 10-minute coastal path walk from Carbis Bay or park at the estuary end.
As well as the seven listed St Ives beaches, you can choose the 3-mile Hayle beach and dunes over the estuary. This beach experiences similar Atlantic rollers to Porthmeor Beach and is very popular among surfers.