The 8 St Ives Beaches in Cornwall
St Ives is a popular Cornish seaside town that has a choice of 8 great beaches all with different characteristics and three St Ives beaches are dog-friendly.
We will walk you around them in a clockwise order starting with Porthmeor.
Porthmeor Beach
Porthmeor Beach is the only St Ives beach that has an Atlantic-facing aspect as all the others face into St Ives Bay. This means if you want good surfing on Atlantic rollers then Porthmeor is the beach to head for and where the surf schools are based.
Porthmeor is a good family surfing beach with local options to get food and is located in front of the Tate St Ives.
Porthgwidden Beach
The next beach is around St Ives head and is Porthgwidden Beach which is a smaller sheltered beach backed by a row of beach huts with some interesting rocks to explore.
Bamaluz Beach
Just on the outside of the harbour wall, we have the small sand and rock Bamaluz Beach and this is a dog-friendly beach that all but disappears at high tide.
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 at low tide, you can walk round to the harbour beach. This is the second dog-friendly beach in St. Ives.
This beach is well known for people making pebble sculptures in the rocks.
Porthminster Beach
The next sandy beach is the large Porthminster Beach which sits near the train station and is probably the main family-friendly beach in St Ives with plenty of activities available and options to get 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. A large beach but with fewer facilities than Porthminster as it is a beach linked to the Carbis Bay and Spa Hotel.
Porthkidney Sands
The last beach on our trip is the large dog-friendly Porthkidney Sands and as it is harder to get to is also the one that has plenty of space and a large sand dune system to explore. The beach has no facilities although does have seasonal lifeguards by the Hayle estuary. To access 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 also have the option of the 3-mile Hayle beach and sand dunes over the estuary and this gets similar Atlantic rollers as Porthmeor beach and is very popular with surfers.