The West Cornwall Swimming holiday Menu!

…well, part of it. There are loads more options but we’ve included some of the main ones. West Cornwall is full of iconic swims and some real crowd pleasers but there are also loads that are just as stunning, that you simply wouldn’t have heard of!

Our standard swimming holiday groups swim an average of around 2 - 2 1/2 mins per 100m over a longer distance swim. It’s not so much about the speed, more about covering the distance. We then have ‘slower swimming holidays’ that cover shorter distances, at a slower pace and new to 2024…the ‘Short, Slow and Social’ swimming holiday. This one is designed for the ‘dippers’.

Some of the glorious swims on offer, with a video at the bottom :

St Michael’s Mount (various routes)

Mousehole (a number of different routes) including the island and Penlee Lifeboat Station

Porthcurno and Porthchapel

Porthgwarra

3 Bears Caves Swims

Praa Sands…various routes, including cave swims

Lamorna Cove (a couple of routes)

St Ives, including Carbis Bay, Porthkidney, Porthminster, the ‘Island’ and Porthgwidden

Porthleven

Nanjizal

Sennen

Penzance Prom/Battery Rocks/Newlyn

Safer Swimming Guide - Porthcurno

I can’t believe that we’ve written dozens of safe(r) swimming guides over the last couple of years but never written one featuring Porthcurno Beach.

Well here it is. A guide to safer swimming at Porthcurno. There are also a couple of suggested swim routes, over to Logan Rock and around the corner to the Minack Theatre (for a very unique perspective).

Porthcurno to Minack and back - approx 500-600m

Porthcurno to Logan Rock and back - approx 2-2.5km…if you swim Porthcurno to Logan Rock on a fairly large spring tide, at low tide you could walk large parts of it. So if you weren’t up to a 2.5km swim to could do a swim-walk-swim. Just watch out for the nudists!

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SWIMMING AT PORTHCURNO :

PREVIOUS PORTHCURNO SWIMS :

Top 10 West Cornwall Swims

We’ve pretty much swum every inch of the west Cornwall coast. Here are our top 10 swims-ish. It’s really hard!

10. Prussia Cove - it’s not just the swimming but the whole experience. Beautiful, fairly quiet cove. Magical walk down. You can swim around to Keneggy or go west and back round to the start. Typically fairly clear water, always a bit chillier than other local areas though!

9. Swimming out through Porthleven Harbour (we definitely wouldn’t recommend this without an experienced guide!) and swimming SE along the beach. This is a hard one to beat in the right conditions. It’s difficult not to be impressed with some a stunning harbour.

www.saltwaterimages.co.uk

8. Carbis Bay to Porthkidney and back. Crystal clear water and a white sand beach. Definitely worth doing at high tide.

7. Lamorna Cove. Can be a bit hit and miss. If storms and rough seas bring in seaweed it often gets stuck there for months. You get this beach right however, it’s like being in the tropics. Clear water, white sand, an abundance of fish…

6. Mousehole and St Clement’s Isle. Mousehole is one of my favourite places in the world. Stunning village and harbour. St Clement’s Isle offers a 1-1.5km swim (depending on how straight you swim!). Give the island a wide birth ensuring you don’t get too close to the seals.

Mousehole Harbour

5. Rinsey to Praa Sands and back. Loads of see on the way. A few caves and rock features to explore en route too. At the time of writing there isn’t much sand on Rinsey beach so might be difficult to get into the water.

4. Zennor. Again, this one is about the whole experience. Stunning village, followed by a stunning coastal walk. You have to scramble down the side of the valley to het to the beach…something that older, or less mobile readers may struggle with. For me though, it’s well worth the effort. Secluded bay, clear waters….don’t swim alone though and ensure someone knows where you are.

3. St Michael’s Mount. I think I’ve marked the Mount down, simply because I’ve taken so many groups around it. I don’t think I need to write much about the Mount.

2. Kynance Cove & swimming around Asparagus Island. Breath-taking swim. Incredible rock features, both on top and underneath the water. The walk down to the beach is worth a visit alone. Best swimming at low tide and get there early. It gets very busy in the summer months.

1. Porthcurno. World Class swimming here. Plan your swim for mid-low tide or on a small neap tide. It’s great at high tide but it just gets a bit deeper, a bit darker, the golden sands get lost a little under a high tide. You can swim over to Logan Rock or head west and take in the Minack Theatre.

*To help plan your swims in Cornwall we’ve created a Cornish swimming map book - where you can record, plan and get suggestions for your swimming trip or check out our Cornish Swim Trumps card game. CLICK HERE