The best of St Ives for Van Lifers

St Ives is the sort of place that makes you want to pull the handbrake and stay a while. The light is different here, the harbour still works for a living, and the coast road west out of town is one of the finest drives in Britain. For van-lifers, though, St Ives asks for a bit of strategy. This is a town built long before cars existed, let alone a 6-metre camper with a fixed bed and a roof box. Height barriers, narrow lanes and a firm council ban on overnight van parking mean you cannot just wing it. Plan the parking, though, and everything else falls into place.

The good news is that St Ives is genuinely worth the faff. Five beaches within walking distance, a proper food scene, and a scenic branch-line train that does the last leg for you so you never have to thread the van through the Downalong lanes. Here is how we would do St Ives on four wheels and a water tank, with an honest take on where you can and cannot park up.

The reality of parking a van in St Ives

Let us be straight with you: you are not going to find a quiet clifftop park-up above the harbour. St Ives council car parks have a blanket ban on overnight van and motorhome stays, and the smaller central car parks fill by mid-morning in season. Most of the popular Cornish beach car parks have height barriers to keep vans out, and St Ives is no exception around the busy spots.

The trick is to separate your two problems: where the van sleeps, and how you get into town. Solve those independently and the day gets a lot easier.

Park the van, take the train

The smartest move for a van lifer is the St Erth Park & Ride. You park once at St Erth station, then ride the St Ives Bay Line into town, a roughly 10-minute single-track journey that hugs the edge of the Hayle Estuary before running right along the bay. Trains go about every half hour year-round, and the approach into St Ives from the sea side is worth the ticket on its own. It means no wrestling the van through town, no circling for a space, and you can come and go daily. Note that the old Lelant Saltings Park & Ride is now closed, so St Erth is the only active P&R option.

If you need to bring the van closer

• St Ives Secure Car Park, on the Penbeagle Industrial Estate about a mile from the harbour, is a gated compound with CCTV and keypad access. You must book ahead, and your space is held for the full period, so it suits a longer base. It runs cheaper in low season, and you can taxi or take the seasonal park-and-ride bus into town.
• Trenwith is the biggest car park in town at 759 spaces, sitting up on the hilltop with a shuttle bus running down into the centre until late in summer. It is a long-stay option by day, but remember the overnight ban applies here, so it is not a sleep spot.
• St Ives Rugby Club offers day parking with a cheap return bus into town, another good way to keep the van out of the lanes.

A week’s stay is best served by the 7-day rover ticket, which covers the Island, Park Avenue, Station and Trenwith car parks for a single price if you are day-parking rather than riding the train.

Where you actually sleep

St Ives itself has no van-friendly overnight parking, so plan to base up at a campsite in the wider bay. The stretch around Hayle, the Towans and Gwithian is your best bet for pitches within an easy drive or train hop of St Ives, and a campsite solves your water and waste in one go. Book ahead in July and August; Cornwall’s van numbers peak hard in summer and the good sites go early. Apps like Park4night will show you what is currently open, but be considerate and move on if a park-up already looks full.

Water, waste and laundry

Here is the honest picture: Cornwall’s van infrastructure has never kept pace with the number of vans, and dedicated service points are thin on the ground around St Ives. Plan your resupply around campsites.

• Water refill: Campsites are the reliable option, with fresh-water taps and full facilities. Many service stations will let you fill a container from an outside tap if you ask nicely.
• Dump stations and grey water: Realistically, campsites are where you empty. Some will let you use their waste disposal for a small fee even if you are not staying the night, so it is always worth asking.
• Laundry: The spread of self-serve Revolution Laundry points across Cornwall is a genuine win for van life. You park up outside, load a machine and sit in the comfort of your own van while it runs.

Stock the water tank full before you head into St Ives for the day, because you will not be topping up in town.

The coast road you came for

The reason to have a van here at all is the drive west. The B3306 from St Ives out towards Land’s End, past Zennor, Morvah and St Just, is one of the great British coastal roads: moorland on one side, cliffs and sea on the other, and old mine stacks breaking the skyline. It is narrow, hedge-lined and stone-walled in places, so take it slowly and use the passing places. A van actually gives you the height to see over the hedges, which is half the joy.

Break the drive at Zennor, a tiny village a few miles out with a mermaid legend, a good pub and a solid stretch of the South West Coast Path. This is the sort of slow, one-view-at-a-time driving that van life is made for; wake up wherever the coast road stops looking good, then keep going when it does.

Beaches, with the van in mind

St Ives has five beaches within reach, each with its own character, and several are a short walk from the harbour once you are in town.

• Porthmeor is the surf beach, large and west-facing, with Tate St Ives right on the promenade and a surf school on the sand. Best for bodyboarding and learning to surf.
• Porthminster is the crescent of golden sand by the station, palm-fringed with the best all-round facilities and views across to Godrevy Lighthouse.
• Porthgwidden is small and sheltered, tucked past the harbour with pretty beach huts and a family-friendly cafe.
• Bamaluz is the elusive little one between the harbour and Porthgwidden, hidden at high tide and, crucially for van dogs, dog-friendly all year.
• Carbis Bay sits slightly further round the bay, quieter, and just one stop up the branch line.

A quick word on dogs, since so many of us travel with one. All St Ives beaches allow dogs all day from 1 October to 14 May. In summer, Porthmeor, Porthminster and Carbis Bay bar dogs between 10am and 6pm from 15 May to 30 September, and the Harbour Beach and Porthgwidden do the same through July and August. Bamaluz and Lambeth Walk stay dog-friendly all year, so keep those in your back pocket for a summer walk.

For sunset, skip the crowded beaches and walk a few minutes along the coast path towards Land’s End to Man’s Head. It is a better view and you will likely have it close to yourself.

Easy places to eat and refuel

After a day on the water or the coast path, St Ives feeds you well without needing a booking for everything.

• The Fish Shed, at the west end of Porthmeor Beach, is fresh off-the-boat fish and about as local as it gets; the obvious grab after a Porthmeor surf.
• Blas Burgerworks on The Warren is a tiny, eco-minded spot the Wall Street Journal once rated among Europe’s best burgers. It runs seasonally from Easter into autumn and gets busy, so arrive early or expect a queue.
• Talay Thai does harbour-view tapas plates, from fish cakes to chargrilled Moo Ping pork, if you fancy something different.
• The Sloop Inn is the historic harbour pub, right in the heart of town, for a pint after the drive.
• Moomaid of Zennor just outside the harbour area on Street-an-Pol serves proper artisan ice cream, and a Cornish cream tea is never far away when you want one.

For coffee in St Ives, the local pick is The Yallah Kiosk on the waterfront, single-origin beans roasted in Cornwall, plus doughnuts and a sustainability streak. Mount Zion Coffee is the other good shout, and relaxed about you bringing your own cake.

A quick word on shops

If you are restocking or after a rainy-day wander, the main shopping in St Ives runs along Fore Street and around the harbour, a tight cluster of independent shops, galleries and the odd Cornish name you will recognise, Seasalt among them for weatherproof layers. It is browsing more than a big shop, so do your proper grocery run at a supermarket on the way in rather than in the centre.

Van lifer’s bottom line

Do not fight St Ives on its own terms. Base the van at a campsite around Hayle or the Towans, park at St Erth and let the branch line carry you into town, and keep your water and waste sorted before you arrive. Do that, and you get all the good bits, the beaches, the coast road, the food, without the parking stress that catches out first-timers. Then point the van west on the B3306 and go find the next view.

St Ives Guides