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By Air |
The only airport in Cornwall is in Newquay on the North Coast. This has four daily flights from Londons' Gatwick Airport, which has good connections with many worldwide locations operated by Air Southwest. These can be quite cheap (from £20 single excluding tax) and can be booked on-line. The low-cost airline Ryanair has also started running a daily service from London Stansted Airport to Newquay, which is ideal for connecting with other low cost flights around Europe. Skybus run flights from Newquay to St Marys (Isles of Scilly), Southampton and Bristol.
The Airport is a few miles outside of Newquay, but the town centre can be reached by bus and taxi services. From the town centre the are rail services to Par on the South Cornwall Coast and frequent bus services to St. Austell station near the South coast of Cornwall.
There is also an airport at Plymouth, which is near to the South Cornwall section of the coast path. Plymouth airport has regional flights to and from London Gatwick and Newquay operated by Air Southwest who will also be starting a service from Plymouth to Bristol and Manchester on 1st March 2004. Air Wales also fly to Plymouth with services from Dublin, Cork, Jersey and Swansea.
The London airports at Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton and Stansted have connections by train and coach to Cornwall. From Heathrow, there is a rail - air coach service operating to Reading station from where there are trains to Cornwall. From Gatwick Airport, there is a frequent rail service to Clapham Junction from where you can catch trains to Exeter and Plymouth (from where there are connections to Cornwall) or to Reading from where there are direct services to Cornwall. From Stansted or Luton you will need to travel into Central London then onto London Paddington station from where the are trains to Cornwall.
By Coach |
National Express run a long distance coach service which has coaches from various parts of the UK to many parts of South Cornwall, including Falmouth, Helston, The Lizard, Penzance, Saltash and St Austell, . Tickets can be booked on-line.
By Car |
North Cornwall has good road access to the rest of the UK. However during the summer months (especially July and August), the roads can get very congested. It is best to avoid travelling on Friday or Saturday to avoid the worst of the traffic in the summer if at all possible. The A30 runs through Cornwall with local roads to the South Coast. This connects with the main M5 Motorway at Exeter. The A38 also connects with the M5 at Exeter and provides a good route for the South East coast of Cornwall. The AA have a useful route planner.
By Sea |
The nearest Ferry port to North Cornwall is in Plymouth. Brittany Ferries operate from here to Roscoff, Cherbourg, St Malo and Santander. This is useful if you are travelling from Europe and wish to take your own car with you. From Plymouth, it is a short drive to the South Cornwall coast, crossing the river Tamar either over the bridge (a toll applies), or over on the Torpoint ferry (costs the same as the bridge).
By Train |
There are several rail stations in Cornwall. There are main line stations near the South Coast of Cornwall at Saltash, Par, St. Austell and Penzance. There are local branch lines from Liskeard to Looe and from Truro to Falmouth. There are bus connections from Liskeard to Polperro, Par to Fowey, St Austell - Mevagissey, Truro - St Mawes, Mullion and the Lizard, Redruth to Helston and Plezance to Newlyn, Mousehole and Lands End. There are frequent services between the main line in Cornwall and London, The Midlands, South Wales, The North and Scotland. Train services to Cornwall are operated by First Great Western, South West Trains, Wales and Borders Trains, Wessex Trains and Virgin Trains.
Tickets can be booked on line using The TrainLine or QJump. First Great Western also run a sleeper and Motorail service from London which can be useful if you want to take your car with you.