wrenwood

I'm looking at a self catering apartment in Carbis Bay next to St Ives. Appealing to be able to hop on a bus or the train and head down to St Ives for dinner.

Are there good restaurants in St Ives to be recommended?

Is it a good base to see SW Cornwall? I'm thinking 4 or 5 nights?

Thanks
Wrenwood

wrenwood

TTT

wrenwood

TTT again....No one?

Still haven't decided between St Ives area or Penzance area

rambleral

wrenwood:
We stayed one week in a self-catering flat in Mousehole near Penzance. We liked St. Ives best and that is where I would stay in the future. We enjoyed the waterfront area and overall environment. Good bus service from both cities and we didn' use our rental once.

Cathinjoetown

There are good restaurants in St. Ives--wish I could remember names! The harbor front has been cleaned up a lot over the past 8-10 years--we had lunch at a place that was quite good while watching the incredible tide receding.

This is so vague but if you find the church (great Barbara Hepworth Madonna inside if open) and face away from the church, the street off to the left has some good restaurants and shops.

While in St. Ives, be sure to see Barbara Hepworth's studio and the Tate.

wrenwood

Thanks guys, I found some other posts (from long ago!) where others thought St Ives was a nice place to base near.

Cathinjoetown, love the directions, sounds like something I would say. And believe it or not I will probably remember your directions over a street name!

Good to hear your experience rambleral. I'm guessing from what I've been reading that Mousehole and some of the villages are definite "must sees" but not necessarily a good base.

I've read some postive things on The Beach Restaurant, Mermaid, Alba, Blue Fish and The Garrack. Any of those sound familiar?

NanBug

We spent several days in St. Ives 3 years ago. We originally going to just stop for the day, but ended up staying 4 nights right in town (not in Carbis Bay). We loved it, even in March.

The town is very compact, with lots of coffee shops, restaurants, gift shops and galleries. There's the Tate Modern, Bernard Leach's pottery studio, and the excellent coastal walk along a sandy cliff-side trail.

You will love it. Definitely visit the ancient pub on the harbor, the Sloop Inn, built in the early 14th century.

Have a great trip!

opus

Carbis Bay is a lovely beach--which also means great tourist/holiday/weekend attraction/many holiday cottages/few year rounders--but not as many as St Ives by a long shot.

The Bay has a sort of quite wide crescent beach, popular with strollers, walkers--and dogs-- with holiday homes perched up the rather steep hill behind it. You can actually fairly easily walk into St. Ives if you are at all a walker and if so you will appreciate that the Southwest Coastal Path passes through it. If you keep walking opp end St Ives good places to head for a nice meal and glass of real ale-- Gunnard's Head as well as the Tinner's Arms Zennor side.
St Ives has a number of very nice places to eat, cozy pubs (gotta have a place to snug up when the weather turns)and numerous summer events--you don't say when you are going? It is often very, very packed during the summer but don't let that discourage you--still a great location. The Ouse Valley Way passes through as well with the St Ives to Earith section about 10k--
The idyllic Ferry Boat Inn (the oldest thatched inn in England) is also on the Ouse--in Holywell and well worth a visit.
cheers,

GeoffHamer

There are at least two places called St Ives in England, one on the coast in Cornwall and the other on the River Ouse in Cambridgeshire. "Opus" is getting confused: Carbis Bay is near St Ives in Cornwall; the Ouse Valley Way and Earith are in Cambridgeshire.

wrenwood

We are headed to Cornwall 28th of September for a little over 2 weeks, St Ives area (Cornwall) would be October 6-10. So I'm not anticipating St Ives would be crazy touristy.

Gunnard's Head and Tinners Arms are bookmarked, will check out The Sloop Inn.

NanBug, was getting in and out of St Ives a problem? What about parking?

Cathinjoetown

If you drive into St. Ives for the day, follow the signs for parking at the leisure centre which is at the very top of the city. From there, a small bus takes you into the city for a very small fee, or you can walk down.

There are car parks and some street parking further down but after looping around the one-way system several times with no luck, we now always head to the leisure centre car park.

If you're actually staying in the town, many of the hotels and guest houses have parking or I remember once in our case they directed us to the train station car park as the hotel was on a foot path.

NanBug

Hi, Wrenwood...

Sorry for the delay, I didn't see this thread.

I don't remember parking or driving being a problem. The town is a maze of tiny, one-way streets, but if you have a good map and can find the parking lots on it ahead of time, then you should be fine.

We kept driving toward the old part of town, aiming for the Tate St Ives. We parked in the huge lot right behind the Tate. Lots of spaces (but this was in March). Once we got into town, we didn't move the car for 4 days. Our B&B was a few blocks away.

The Leisure Center car park is a good idea, too, but it's a bit further out, as Cath says.

Have a great time, I'm envious.

Mimar

One of the worst driving experiences of our traveling life was driving into St. Ives from the north and trying to find our hotel. Lots of tiny streets, few signs. And all the people we asked were visitors. I wouldn't bring a car in there.

We stayed at the Garrack and soon found how to make daytrips that avoided driving in St. Ives. The food at the Garrack was good, and it has a nice view; it's a bit out of the way on the hill south of town. The Blue Fish was good. The other place I remember, not as much for its food, was the cafe at the Tate. Nice rooftop view over the town to the sea.

wrenwood

Any other suggestions for favorite restaurants around or in St Ives?