The Isles of Scilly are an archipelago of islands located 28 miles off the coast of mainland Cornwall. These beautiful islands have a sub-tropical climate and some wonderful beaches and a stunning coastline. Whilst not part of the South West Coast Path they are part of the ceremonial county of Cornwall and all of the larger islands have a coast path, so make a natural addition to this site. The main inhabited islands are St Mary's (the largest of the islands and with the largest town, Hugh Town), Tresco, St Martin's, St Agnes and Bryher. Gugh is also inhabited but is only truly an island at high tide, it being joined to St Agnes by a sand bar at low tide.

Boats link the inahbited islands regularly whilst it is also possible to visit some of the uninhabited islands such as Samson, Tean and St Helens on occasion. The islands are known for both their beautiful flowers and wildlife, with many of the uninhabited islands having extensive bird colonies.

There are year-round air links from the mainland to St Mary's and Tresco and a ferry service that runs for much of the year. For details of transport to the islands, please see Getting to the Isles of Scilly. For details of travelling between the islands, please see Travelling between the islands

The walks can be accessed by clicking on the islands on the map below, or use the links to the individual pages at the bottom of the page.


The Isles of Scilly

This map image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license Sourced from Wikimedia Commons.


Bryher
Bryher
Bryher is one of the smaller of the inhabited islands and is an island of many contrasts. It's east coast overlooks the sheltered narrow straight to Tresco (which can be walked on particularly low tides), with beautiful beaches backed by dunes. To the west however, Hell Bay takes the full force of the Atlantic, with a more rugged and rocky coastline and large waves. The town on the island has a shop and a pub.
Gugh
Gugh
Gugh is the smallest of the inhabited islands, with just two houses and 3 residents (in 2001). Although it is really only an island at high tide, as it is connected to St Agnes by a sandbar which can be crossed at low tide. The island is small at only half a mile tall by a quarter of a mile wide, so can easily be walked around in an hour or two.
St. Agnes
St. Agnes
St Agnes is the most south-westerly of the inhabited islands and has a varied coastline, with several sandy bays, rocky outcrops and an area of heathland to the south of the island. This walk goes around the coast of the island offering lovely views over the neighbouring islands of Annet and Gugh (the latter reached via a sandbar at low tide). There are several sandy beaches on the way to make for a relaxing walk and there is also a pub and shop on the island.
Tresco
Tresco
Tresco is well known for it's beautiful Abbey Gardens, which thrives due to the mild climate on Tresco with it's shallow water and relative shelter offered by the other islands. Like all the islands, Tresco has a wonderful variety of scenery on it's coastline and this walk takes it all in, from the beautiful sandy beaches on the east coast of the island to the rockier northern coast.
St Martins
St Martins
St Martins is the third largest of the Scillies and has a wide variety of scenery along it's beautiful coastline. The south coast has several good sandy beaches whilst the north coast is more rugged and rocky. You can also walk out to the uninhabited White Island at low tide and there are good views of Tean from the western most point of the island.
White Island
White Island
White Island is a small uninhabited island off the north west coast of St Martins. It is accessible at low tide by walking accross the exposed rocks. It is a real get away from it all destination with no buildings and despite it's small size has quite a variety of scenery including a sandy beach on the south coast and rocky areas on the north coast.
St Mary's
St Mary's
St Mary's is the largest of the Isles of Scilly and has the islands capital, Hugh Town. Hugh Town occupies the low area of the island and has sandy beaches on both sides. To the east the main island has a mixture of rocky cliffs and sandy beaches whilst to the west the Garrison is mostly rocky, with a garrison wall running around it.

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