10 of the best dog friendly beaches in Cornwall
With many of the seasonal dog bans coming into force in Cornwall after the Easter weekend, we’ve put together a selection of our favourite beaches to visit with your dog all year round!
Whitsand Bay
Located in Cornwall’s forgotten corner, we think Whitsand Bay offers everything you could wish for in a dog friendly day out. Whitsand Bay really comes into it’s own at low tide. Only then do all of the little beaches join together to become one huge 3 mile long expanse of sand for dogs to run free. Rock pools are scattered along the all the beaches, perfect for splashing around in.
Mexico Towans
Mexico Towans forms part of a glorious three miles of sand that starts from the mouth of the Hayle estuary and stretches all the way to the lighthouse at Godrevy Point. The beach is backed by a huge expanse of sand dunes, known as 'towans'. Dogs are allowed all year round on the central stretch of the beach, but their are restrictions at the southern end near the estuary and towards Gwithian to the north.
Porthkidney Sands
An enormous sandy beach perfect for the dogs to run around and play frisbee. Visit at low tide to make sure there's plenty of beach there. Tip: If you want to avoid trying to drive into St Ives (total nightmare!), park in Lelant and walk along Porthkidney Sands and the coast path into St Ives before catching the train back.
Watergate Bay
A popular surfing beach with the best sunsets! With 2 miles of sandy beach there's plenty of space for the dogs to run around. Plenty of dog friendly cafes and restaurants to choose from too!
Daymer Bay
A beautiful long sandy beach that connects to Rock beach at low tide. We walked along the beach to Rock and caught the ferry over to Padstow for lunch.
Bedruthan Steps
This may well be our favourite Cornish beach. The views from the clifftop are spectacular but if you don’t mind A LOT of steps (all 120 of them) head down to see the truly incredible beaches dotted with enormous stacks of rocks. (Make sure you go at low tide, the beach isn’t there at all at high tide!). (Note - unfortunately the steps to the beach are currently closed due to unsafe rockfall. It's still worth a visit to view from above though! Then you can walk along the coast to Mawgan Porth.
Porthcurnick Beach
A lovely sandy beach in South Cornwall, which connects to Portscatho Beach at low tide. Make sure to pay a visit to the Hidden Hut cafe overlooking the beach for some amazing food!
Mawgan Porth
We found this beach almost by accident on a walk along the coast path from Bedruthan Steps. A big sandy beach with lots of space for dogs to run around!
We’re always on the lookout for more dog friendly beaches, and this list certainly isn’t exhaustive but hopefully gives a few nice year round options for you to explore.
Thanks for reading,
Cara, Andy, Poppy and Maple x
