Escape to Paradise: Why You Should Stay at a Beach Hotel in Cornwall

If you’re looking to spend time in a beautiful beach hotel in Cornwall, you need look no further than the St Moritz. Our standards of service, brilliant food and drink, in-house amenities and facilities, as well as our proximity to some of the finest beaches Cornwall has to offer mean we’re an unmatched proposition for a truly memorable beach holiday in Cornwall.

If you were to randomly land anywhere in Cornwall, you’d never be far from a fantastic beach of one kind or another. Some are small, sheltered coves, others vast open stretches of unoccupied sand. Some are conducive to calm-water pursuits, others have wild and rolling waves tempting you to try and ride them. The point is, Cornwall teems with them, and where we are on the north coast offers particularly rich pickings which are, in their own way, representative of the variety to be found county-wide.

Daymer Bay, for example, is usually a little quieter than its more famous neighbours. It’s a generous size, though, with dunes, a gentle, safe slope to the sea, shelter provided by proximity to the Camel Estuary and good conditions for swimming. If you’ve energy left, try walking up Braey Hill for brilliant local views (and near the hill’s base, inland, is St Enodoc Church where the former Poet Laureate, John Betjeman, is buried).

Greenaways Beach, close to Trebetherick, near Polzeath, is arguably even more hidden. Maybe that’s due to the fact it’s only really accessible at lower tide, or that it’s quite small, with cliffs and rock-pools, or the fact you need to use steep steps from the coast path to reach it.

More famous than either is Rock, on the east side of the Camel Estuary, which separates it from Padstow. A holiday favourite of celebrities, it’s what many imagine when they think of summer in Cornwall: vast swathes of sand with dunes behind, safe and clear waters, all on a scale which means no matter how busy the day you should find a little room for yourselves.

Close by is Polzeath: a great combination of a large, vibrant village and beautiful beach (which is vast at low tide but tiny when high). It’s rated as one of this stretch’s safest beaches, has a Blue Flag and easy parking. Like many local beaches there’s also the chance to see plenty of wildlife here, whether birds, sea life or dolphins.

Our beach hotel in Cornwall offers lots of great ways – and is closer to even more – to spend your time, both close to and actually in the sea (and on dry land as well, of course).

We have developed great long-term relationships with established local businesses who know the sea, and how to help people get the most from it. The Camel Ski School and Wavehunters work with people of all ages and levels of expertise, providing the knowledge, patience and equipment that will get you water-skiing, wake-boarding, paddle-boarding and surfing. They also offer guided trips out to sea or, if you’re confident enough, boat hire so you can go where you fancy.

Padstow Sealife Safaris, which is near our beach hotel in Cornwall offer this too. Whether it’s out to the open sea or inland up the Camel Estuary, they’ll steer you in the right direction for puffins, seals and all kinds of sea-life. This being their speciality, they’re a great store of local knowledge for what can be seen at what time of year (especially useful if you have the know-how to hire and pilot a boat, but lack the local knowledge about where best to take it).

The kind of knowledge on offer at the National Lobster Hatchery is even more specialised. They’ve become established and earned themselves an international reputation for their pioneering research, as well as their conservation and educational work. Although they’re a working charity, they’re open to visitors too and can be found in Padstow close to the start of the Camel Trail.

And if you were wondering, the Camel Train is an easily-accessible, mainly flat stretch of 18 miles which has been made suitable for cyclists, walkers and horse-riders. Don’t worry about not having brought your bike on holiday: they hire out many kinds (electric included) at Camel Trail Cycle Hire. Most of the trail’s accessible for disabled users: it’s built on the old Padstow to Wadebridge railway. (Back in the day, it used to run all the way into London Waterloo.)

That old railway’s a similar vintage to (but actually not as old as) Bodmin Jail, which dates back to 1779, when George III ordered its construction. Appropriately imposing and oppressive, but recently upgraded, the jail’s now a brand new immersive attraction, the £8.5m investment yielding paranormal and guided tours as well as a ‘Dark Walk’ experience.

Of course, plenty of other ways as well as these exist for you to spend your time close to our beach hotel in Cornwall. If you’d like to know more about them, or others, why not just ask any of our staff for their tips too?

If you’re staying put, of course, there’s plenty to enjoy in our beautiful beach hotel in Cornwall. Lovely food and drink, luxury and comfort as standard, the Cowshed Spa and easy access to any number of high-quality, in-house facilities, from air-conditioned and well-equipped gym, indoor pool, sauna, steam room and jacuzzi, to the asphalt tennis court with a sea view and a biomass heated outdoor pool (kids’ pool included).

And as far as that lovely food and drink go, the Shorecrest restaurant’s vibe is fine dining: we use what’s local and seasonal as much as we can (menus change daily) we chargrill in an open-plan kitchen and we specialise in flair, imagination and great presentation. There’s a bar attached too, where no less care is taken of how we mix cocktails.

Meanwhile, less formally, the Seaside restaurant is all about amazing, fresh, stone-baked sourdough pizzas, as well as great, fresh-from-the-sea seafood which we grill for you right there, close to the pool, looking out over Stepper Point and the Camel Estuary.

Much as it might seem the most obvious (or patronising) thing to say, you’ll probably want to plan your days around the tide. Some beaches all but disappear when it’s high, others offer reliably safe bathing and bags of space when low. Whatever the specifics of your chosen beach, you definitely need to know whether those distant breaking waves are still on their way out or coming back towards you, and fast. You can easily google to find sites with all the info you need, but tideschart.com and cornwall-tides.com are as accessible as any.

Also, if you’ve never heard of Weever fish, they’re the single most compelling argument for kitting the family out with beach shoes. In summer months, they tend to rest up and hang out just under the surface of the sand, with their spines inconveniently, and painfully, sometimes sticking out. If you tread on one, you’ll feel its sting, a bit a bee’s, but maybe worse. They don’t do any lasting damage, apart from to your day’s enjoyment: if you encounter one, then painkillers, tweezers to remove the spines, and soaking the foot in the hottest water you can handle is the way to go. It’s one of the things beach lifeguards see most of (but if you use beach shoes, you won’t have to worry).

Clearly you’ll recognise a blazing hot day when you see one, both from what you can see and feel, and what your weather app / forecast tells you. And in such cases you’ll no doubt equip yourself with all the SPF, hydration and headwear you need. But many days in Cornwall fall somewhere along a continuum which has heatwave at one end and monsoon at the other. And Cornwall being coastal and no stranger to strong winds, where you are on that continuum can change very quickly, so although carrying everything might feel like a pain, it’s best to plan for change and go prepared.

And, lastly, why not let us take some of the strain and add some of the magic to your day with a Sea For Miles backpack full of irresistible snacks and luscious lunching? Just have a word with our staff in advance and they’ll rustle you up something to your liking, leaving you free to plan your lovely day at the beach …