After the Indian variant it looks like the Yorkshire variant is on the way, I'd take some confidence in the fact that the UK has more people with first jabs in just about anywhere, some of the highest vaccine take-up in the world, roughly 50% of all the virus rna testing in the world and the 12 week delay between dose 1 and 2 is now recommended for countries without enough vaccine. You're coming somewhere relatively safe.

Mind my asking what the name of the hotel is, mjs? [It's ok, I won't come and try to find you, it's just out of curiosity!]

As for safety I echo what bilbo says, especially here in Cornwall. You might also like to know that Cornwall is very popular with home-based tourists at the moment, so much so that when I phoned a local pub just now to try to book Sunday lunch for tomorrow I had trouble getting a table at my first choice.

Booked the Tudor Court Guest house on 55 Melvill Rd. Was not a lot of availability for anything that looked decent in Cornwall. We never travel during the summer normally.
Prefer April through May or September through November for most of the northern Hemisphere. We often travel through London so visiting Cornwall at another time is starting to look more attractive. We would prefer to spend most of our time outdoors considering COVID. The weather in the UK may not allow us to do that but it looks like there are plenty of things to do indoors in Cornwall if necessary. I do have a good supply of N95 masks (your FFP2) so maybe things will workout.

Sounds great , you did well to get anything. Will you have a car?

Weather - it is what it is. The reason the U.K. is so green is well you know....

Cornwall probably has the best weather in the U.K.

I don't know the Tudor Court more than to drive past it but the position is a very good one. You will be able to walk down to the beach on one side, and the town on the other and you are right by Gyllingvase gardens which are lovely and offer another way to get to the road that runs along the edge of the sea and down to the beach. If it's open it has a pretty good restaurant in side the Princess Pavillions. It looks as if it's shut at the moment but it might be open by the time you arrive.

There is a very good restaurant down on the beach - the Gylly Beach cafe - https://www.gyllybeach.com plus the nearby hotels all have restaurants where you can book tables which you might prefer. We've also eaten well at the restaurants near the Maritime museum which is just at the bottom of the road where you are staying on the town side. You won't be short of choices. As for indoor activities as well as the Maritime museum you might enjoy the Falmouth Art Gallery down on the Moor, [both already open] and there are lots of private galleries around which could be interesting. Further afield the Penlee Gallery in Penzance is stunning and there is plenty to see there too. You might also be thinking about the Eden Project but it does tend to get busy in bad weather though lots of the outside is interesting too. Still it's big enough for most crowds. With the time you've got you'd be unlucky to run out of things to do.

<<Cornwall probably has the best weather in the U.K.>>

BC - loathe though I am to disagree with you, having lived in Kent, no it doesn't. I'd agree it has the best climate though, but that's something different.

FFP2.... you'll find everyone with cotton ones

Still watching to see if we are going or not. Booked hotels in Lisbon and Porto if Portugal opens up. Also considering flying through LHR to Chania or possibly NCE or CDG as alternatives since Greece and France appear to be opening up

Well Englands is out. Portugal just opened up. Guess I will leave Cornwall for another time

Well thanks for letting us know. I hope the info here will come in useful sometime, mjs.

Have fun in Portugal.

So sorry to hear that, this year’s planning horizons are measured in hours not months !

I just wanted to thank everyone for your help. All your input will be useful in the future when I plan again for Cornwall. Will book accommodations well in advance next time.
Planning for Portugal has become a ordeal. Lisbon has become quarantined for every weekend due to an increase in the Delta strain. This may not affect us but I have only seen news reports without anything official. Considering skipping Lisbon ( although flying in/out )and making our trip one of Porto and the Douro plus the Algarve or possibly Bilbao, San Sebastian plus Porto.

no probs, mjs. I hope that you can get your Portugal trip sorted without too many more problems. You may be happier with your choice when I tell you that since the G7, our numbers in the places where it was based, like St Ives and Falmouth, have gone through the roof and are now some of the worst in England if not the UK.

Not quite the legacy we were hoping for.

Towns are now heaving, Looe is very packed with tourists

<<Towns are now heaving, Looe is very packed with tourists>>

Exactly why we don't go anywhere at the moment.

​​​​​​​Anyway Looe is a loooong way from here - at least an hour in the car!

I should probably make another post for this but just wanted to let everyone know that we altered our plans again due to the shutdown of Lisbon last weekend. Flew SFO-FRA-LIS on the 25th than took TAP to Bilbao. Arrived 2300 and spent night at hotel Ercilla on a Marriott free night. Toured the Guggenheim with lunch at their lovely Bistro. Late checkout than returned to airport to pick up our car at Sixt rental. Turned out renting through TAP with Sixt was about 40% cheaper than going via Auto by Europe. Upgraded for free from a Mercedes A class to a Audi 4 station wagon (an estate to you brits). Was offered an S Class but declined as we both drive Audis at home. Drove to San Sebastián. Found that at least in this part of Spain you can pay with cash at the tolls. Also found Garmin pointing out all the speed cameras that Google ignores. Arrived at the Maria Christina hotel which is quite nice. Had
pinchos for dinner. Spending the 27- 28-29-30-1- some of 2 here. One day to explore the town. One day to explore between San Sebastián and Bilbao including Guernica. One day for the Pyrenees if someone has a sample itinerary. Alternatively possibly exploring the French costal towns nearby. Moving onto to Marquis Riscal hotel in Rioja for the second than returning to Bilbao for the night of the 3rd before flying to Lisbon on the morning of the 4th for 2 nights at the Barrio Alto hotel before leaving back home on the 6th. Now trying to get sleep via Lunesta

Breaking news Germany has banned flights from Portugal as of today. Fortunately we are in Spain. Now how to get home? Gotta call
UA as our return flight was from
lisbon

Reading this is a reality check for people like me who are still making plans to travel outside the USA in September...

<<Reading this is a reality check for people like me who are still making plans to travel outside the USA in September...>>

I agree LucieV. Here in the UK things seem to change on a daily basis and often on the dodgiest of grounds, eg the recent decision to retain restrictions for travellers from France which appear to be based on data from the island of Reunion, 6000 miles away.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...rantine-change

So a follow up since we are now home. After hearing about the new German travel ban I called United Airlines who were of no help in interpreting the new travel restrictions on Portugal, which was now an area of variant of concern. An Internet search did not help much. United offered to fly us home via our scheduled flight via MUC if we could get ourselves there or fly us out of Lisbon via EWR to SFO. An alternative would be to fly us out of Bilbao with a 1-2 hour connection in MUC with our original flight back to SFO for an extra $570 each. We decided to take the last option for several reasons. First, although fully vaccinated we preferred not take any more risks with COVID by going to Lisbon for 1-2 days. Secondly a day in Lisbon would not be sufficient to explore the city and we would have to return at another date. Third, not having to fly to Lisbon gave us an extra full day of holiday as we would only be flying one day back to the US instead of on two separate days. Fourth, we had only paid $500 for RT SFO-LIS so the extra $380 RT LIS-Bil and $570 Bil-MUC was not onerous.
We enjoyed our stay in San Sebastian at the Maria Christina which was perfectly situated near the old town with underground parking below. Reasonably priced for the quality although rates doubled on July 1 when we departed. Treated ourselves to dinner one night at Arzak. Drove the cost road to Bilbao with a seafood lunch in Getaria. Visited Gazteluxgatxe but unfortunately the trail was closed. Spent a day driving through the Pyrenees. Spent a day driving up the French coastline. Had two excellent meals in Hondarribia. Best Pixtos Bar Sadara. and really interesting restaurant Gastroteka Danontzat. These last were recommendations from Nagori who ran the wine shop in the hotel.
Now we were faced with what to do with three extra days. We decided not to go to Rioja although the weather was best there because wine tasting would be the major activity and since I have to limit my alcohol intake 3 days of drinking did not sound sensible. The other options had us with driving two hours to Bordeaux or 4 hours to the Dordogne. Chatted with St Cirq who described lousy weather in her area. Weather reports were not good at either location. We decided on Bordeaux for the shorter drive with the thought that there more things to do in the city in the rain than in Dordogne countryside. I had spent 10 nights in the Dordogne a few years ago but my girlfriend had never been. I think the Dordogne needs more than a few days so going for short time now meant a return visit anyway. Easy drive ups to Bordeaux. Stayed at the Le Boutique hotel.Nice location. Staff Parked our car in the public lot next door. A pleasant hotel but no Maria Christina. Lots of outdoor restaurants and a booming social scene. Went to the wine museum which was not particularly helpful to me and killed my back as many of the exhibits were quite low. Nice restaurant on the 7th floor although a bit overpriced. Bought some hard cheeses in vacuum pack in a nice cheese shop we found. Bought some old Armangnac and some Normandy butter with salt crystals that my daughter likes. Froze the butter at the hotel and they gave us ice packs to keep the butter and cheese healthy for our tip back to Bilbao. Returned car at airport and took cab to the Catalonia Gran via Bilbao which had a very nice junior suite for cheap. Actually a very nice hotel. Spent the afternoon trying different Pintos bards. Flew back home via MUC the next day
.

mjs, you must be either very young or extraordinarily good-natured. Though I consider myself somebody who can roll with the punches, I don't think I've got what it takes to handle the amount of hassle you had to deal with.

(Based at SFO here also, btw....and really itching to fly across an ocean or two, but the more I read and hear about others' 2021 travel stories, the more l think I may need to wait a bit longer...)