Because Cornwall is that bit further out than most first-time visitors expect, we always suggest building at least a couple of nights into your itinerary to make the journey worthwhile. How you get here really comes down to two things: your budget, and whether you’d rather deal with your own luggage or have someone else worry about it.
If you’re arriving in the UK via London, you’ve got two practical routes into Cornwall. Here’s how each one stacks up.
From central London, you can pick up the Heathrow Express to Paddington and join the mainline service down to Cornwall, or — quicker and more direct — take the Railair transfer coach straight to Reading and board the train there. Either way, you’ll roll into Cornwall on the same line.
Where you get off depends on your tour or your accommodation: Bodmin Parkway, Truro and Penzance are the main stops, with branch lines running out to Newquay, Falmouth and St Ives if you need them.
Coming from elsewhere in the UK, expect at least one change of train, and a longer overall journey than from London.
Visit Trainline to view available trains and times.
Cornwall Airport Newquay is a small regional airport right in the heart of the county. There’s no direct service from the US, but it connects well with airports across the UK and parts of Europe.
Most transatlantic visitors land at Heathrow and connect onward via Gatwick or Stansted; once you’re in the air, the hop down to Cornwall takes around an hour. Some carriers now route from the US via Dublin, which can be worth checking if you’d rather skip London altogether.
For the full list of routes and airlines, the Cornwall Airport Newquay website is the best place to look.
If you land at Newquay and would rather not sort out a taxi, we’re happy to collect you from arrivals and take your luggage straight to your accommodation or the start point of your tour.
We can also arrange pickup or drop-off at any station, hotel or point within Cornwall — for example, meeting your train at Truro or Penzance, or collecting you from your holiday cottage on the morning your tour begins.
Please note: Our pickup and drop-off service covers destinations within Cornwall only. We’re not able to collect from London, other UK airports, or ports outside the county — you’ll need to make your own way to Cornwall first using one of the routes above, and we’ll take it from there.