Whenever I mentioned that I was going to “Cornwall”, everyone told me how beautiful the place is. Little did I know that the most western area of England, would actually exceed my expectations in terms of natural beauty. They call this area the “English Riviera” and it’s not hard to believe why.

We caught a train from London Euston to St Ives in Cornwall on Sunday night and spent 2 nights in an Airbnb in St Ives.

St Ives is a charming seaside town with great beaches, restaurants, cafes and bars so it was a great place to base ourselves. There are a lot of great areas in Cornwall but we found this place to be super pretty and small enough to walk around and enjoy what the area had to offer.

When we got off the train, we went to get a Cornish pasty at Pengenna Pastries (however there are pasty shops everywhere in St Ives) and then got a mango and clotted cream flavour ice cream at Moomaid of Zennor. We then headed to our Airbnb to get ready and then headed back in town to walk around and for a drink at SilCo Searoom. Get a seat outside, grab one of their delicious gin drinks and enjoy people watching and looking out to the ocean!

For dinner, we went to Porthminster Beach Café and it was a lovely place to dine. It is right on the beach and had a great menu. We shared the bread with mackerel ponzu pate, beef short rib and I had the monkfish curry for a main.

Having a car is essential to be able to explore different parts of Cornwall. The next day was spent driving to Lands End which is the most westerly point in England. We then drove to Minack Theatre which opened at 9am and it was nice to explore the theatre with its stunning views across the ocean!

Next, we drove to Treen and decided to do a walk. We ended up going towards Logan Rock and saw some of the most beautiful coastline! It is so surprising that you can see this in England! We saw wild horses, a seal and went swimming in the crystal blue water, however it was super cold! It took over 2 minutes to warm up in the water!

After relaxing on the beach, we drove to Fraser’s Fish and Chips in Penzance for lunch. We got fish and chips and enjoyed it by the water.

We then drove to Gwithian Beach (just north of St Ives) which is meant to be a great surf beach. Courtney and I hired some surf boards and wetsuits (as the water was freezing!) and surfed for a couple of hours. It was so much fun and good to be back out in the water!

Making dinner reservations is essential in St Ives if you don’t want to miss out on the best places. We ended up at The Rum & Crab Shack but it was still a good meal!

Our last day was spent having a nice breakfast by the beach at Porthmeor Beach Cafe and checking out the Tate Modern in St Ives.

I would highly recommend Cornwall and in particular the St Ives area and the south of Cornwall area that we explored. I will definitely be back to explore more of the northern areas like Newquay, Padstow and Rock.