Surfing beaches on Cornwall's north coast

Facing directly into the Atlantic Ocean, this stretch of coast picks up plenty of swell. The coastline from Land's End to Newquay has some of the UK's best surfing beaches including the most well known, Fistral Beach.

The beaches below are by no means an extensive listing but are the most consistent and accesible. They are ordered from east to west

Mawgan Porth

Watergate Bay

Lusty Glaze

Towan Beach

Fistral Beach

Fistral is and always has been the home of British surfing, it's where surfing really began in the UK and it hasn't looked back since. Whether this is good or not is debatable, as it is probably the most crowded beach in Britain (although Croyde competes for this title) becoming somewhat of a zoo in the summer months.

It's difficult to visit Fistral without being reminded you are at the HQ of Newquay - 'Surf City UK'. The National Surfing Centre at the northern end of the beach and the anual Rip Curl pro surfing competition you should be left with little doubt.

It's easy to assume that with all the hype and it's status, Fistral would also be the UK's most overrated beachbreak. Well, actually no - it is in fact still one of the best beachbreaks in Cornwall. Suprisingly consistent, on it's day Fistral is capable of producing powerful, hollow waves and holding a good sized swell. It even has the bonus of being sheltered enough and sufficiently north-facing in places that it can get away with a south westerly wind.

The beach is divided up into South Fistral at the Pentire end, Fistral and Little Fistral at the Towan end. Whilst South Fistral provides a good escape from the bulk of the crowd, Little Fistral provides the best waves. On a good day you can score long, walling, barreling waves here, but there are quite a few rocks so maybe not ideal for the beginner.

Fistral is also home to the legendary big wave spot, The Cribbar. Breaking at up to 20ft, the Cribbar has only been surfed a handful of times as it requires a pretty monsterous swell to break. First surfed in1967 the wave has gained increasing media interest over the years and most recently was featured on national TV with tow in surfers riding 4X overhead waves.

Crantock

Holywell Bay

Perranporth

St Agnes

Chapel Porth

Porthtowan

Good quality beach break, capable of providing punchy waves at most states of tide. The beach faces pretty much due west so is offshore in an easterly wind, although high cliffs provide some degree of shelter towards hightide.
When it's good here it's very good with decent barrels to be had and the ability to handle a decent sized swell. This is reflected in the standard of surfing and the beach's popularity.
At low tide the beach is much bigger and joins up with Lushingtons to the south which is reknown for it's barrelling left handers.

Probably not one of the best beaches for beginners, particularly towards high tide when it becomes a little narrow and rocky. Plus the local crew aren't the most tolerant!

Portreath

Hayle Beaches

Hawks Point

Porthmeor

Gwenver

Sennen

Whitesands beach at Sennen is a long, crescent shaped, sandy beach. It's shape makes it resonably consistent with regards to the wind direction - any wind from ENE round to SW is vaguely offshore. Having said that it does mean you'll be surfing different ends of the beach so the size of the swell is a factor. Although Sennen doesn't really hold big surf, a big swell isn't really a problem as the southern end of the beach is well sheltered. Due to it's position in the far west of Cornwall it does tend to pick up any swell that' going.

There are a variety of banks which work at different states of the tide, although the best wave is probably to be found on smaller swells, just off high tide towards the northern end of the beach. Sennen is often a rather 'fat', slopey wave making it ideal for beginners, however there can be strong rips here and when it's bigger it does have some power.