When's the best time to visit Cornwall?
It’s tough to pick one stand-out season, but if pushed we'd be tempted to say autumn is the best time to visit Cornwall. The roads are a little quieter, it’s a great time to find a bargain on a Cornwall break, and the sea is at its warmest after a full summer’s worth of attention from the sun. Of course, there’s another school of thought that says the best time to visit Cornwall is… whenever you can. Sure, summer can be busy but there’s plenty of space to play with. And don’t write off winter in the west (see here for five reasons why) as there’s always something to do round here.
Spring: The Cornish magnolia in full bloom is almost reason enough to schedule a springtime visit to the Westcountry. Choose any of the officially designated Great Gardens of Cornwall for the best places to see them. Foodies will want to mark the Porthleven Food Festival (usually around mid-April) in their diaries.
Summer: A bevy of world-class beaches, the allure of watery pursuits and the promise of more sunshine hours than anywhere else in the UK give Cornwall universal appeal among UK holidaymakers. As a result, it gets busy here in the summer, with families flocking to holidays homes and hotels, buckets and spades at the ready. Plan ahead to get the best rates if you plan on visiting at the height of summer.
Autumn: There are so many good reasons to visit Cornwall in the autumn. Aside from the crowds (mostly gone), weather (still reliably warm) and the sea (at its warmest all year), it’s prime time for foodies, with a net-full of food festivals to plan your trip around. In mid-September, there’s the Newquay Fish Festival and the Great Cornish Food Festival (Truro), while October sees the Falmouth Oyster Festival roll round.
Winter: Visit in winter if you fancy feeling like you have Cornwall all to yourself. This is a time to layer up, pull on the walking boots and explore frost-flecked moorland, or set off on a bracing ramble along the South West Coast path.