Welcome to Perranuthnoe

SAFETY FIRST - In flat calm conditions, Perranuthnoe can be a very safe beach. I’d still try and swim on an incoming tide and I’d avoid swimming around the ‘point’ or headland etc…unless you know exactly what you are doing. For flat, calm conditions you’d be avoiding swell from a southerly direction and moderate to strong wind from the south. Light northerly wind or cross-shore winds will do. With surf, Perranuthnoe can have some strong rip currents running off the beach. Last year, summer of 2024 there was a beauty of a rip current running diagonally across the beach all summer long! The beach is currently lifeguarded over the main peak weeks of the summer. Have a chat to the lifeguards before jumping in.

Perranuthnoe is on the bus route. You can also walk the coastal path, although it’s slightly tricky from the west and quite a long (but stunning) walk from the east. The beach has a small car park, approx 30 cars and an overflow for the summer of an additional 40-ish.

At low-mid tide there’s plenty of sandy beach and 2 delightful cafes. Beach Cabin Cafe, right on the beach - CLICK HERE or the Peppercorn Cafe just up the road.

To the west - we have what I call the ‘Moon Beaches’. Not ideal if you aren’t steady on your feet but perfectly manageable, if you are. Nice quiet beaches. Swims here are magical. You have an underwater forest, loads of sea life and some crazy rock formations.

To the east - some beautiful, remote and quiet sandy/rocky beaches. Does require a good 10-20 minutes of stunning walks, although the path can get muddy and wet. Especially in the winter months. Again, there aren’t many people around…so be careful swimming, adopt the ‘buddy system’ etc. Swim-wise, you have gorgeous rock formations to swim around. One we’ve called the ‘doughnut’ (low tide) and an arch way (at high), if you can find them.

There are also a number of amazing swims a little further out, in either direction!

West Cornwall Swimming Holidays

Like most of our activity we pick west Cornwall because you have options for swims in all conditions. Whether it be high wind or swell…or both. West Cornwall provides shelter from almost all conditions and we can put on safe and sheltered (and obviously enjoyable!) swims. In the last 9 years, we’ve only ever put on 2 (stunning) lake swim, as we couldn’t find a good option and we’ve never cancelled a swimming holiday.

West Cornwall is the ideal location for a swimming holiday, as it has coast facing pretty much every point on a compass! You have large granite cliffs in areas, offering shelter. Although it’s a little further out, you also have additional options on the Helford River and Lizard Peninsula. You also have some of the following options for swimming :

St Michael’s Mount

Porthcurno

Mousehole harbour & island

Praa Sands

3 Bears Caves Swim

Carbis Bay

Porthminster Beach

Porthkidney Beach

Lamorna Cove

Perranuthnoe

We offer both standard pace and slow swimming holidays in west Cornwall. Standard pace holidays generally average at approx 2-2 1/2 minutes per 100m or 20-25 minutes per km. We have multiple members of water safety on these holidays, so there’s no issue with the group splitting up…you certainly shouldn’t be too concerned about your pace, provided you can cover the distances. Slow swimming holidays offers shorter distances for head-up breaststrokers, all the way through to slower front crawl swimmers.

For all of our activity - CLICK HERE

Swimming Holiday Costs

Here at Sea Swim Cornwall we do our very best to offer great value for money and make swimming holidays accessible for all. When we first started we took a long hard look at the industry and it was very clear that the majority of swimming holiday out there were unaffordable for a lot of people…or it might be something you’d do once or twice in a lifetime. We decided that we wanted to change that.

We started by offering 3 day (2 1/2 day really) swimming holidays (5 epic swims). Part of the reason for this was that most people would only have to take 1, possibly two days off work to attend a great long-weekend. With a shorter trip, you also don’t have to pay a great deal for accommodation and/or meals out. We offer private one-off bookings, so if anyone did want a few more swims, they can simply get in touch and book either side of the holiday. You may also want to take in some additional activities, so could easily take a week off and do both.

This year we’ve actually put our prices down! During 2022 we tinkered with our usual formula and offered a larger group swimming holiday. It sold out in record time and was our most affordable and popular holiday to date. Whilst we had more people in the water, the ratio of water safety members to swimmers was better than our traditional style holiday and it gave us more flexibility when it came to the group spreading out…it was a very easy decision when it came to rolling out more of these holidays.

Most of the following budgets are based on an individual booking. If you come down as a pair (with a fellow swimmer), you obviously share accommodation expenses etc and benefit from lower accommodation, driving…expenses.

BUDGET HOLIDAY :

Swimming holiday (mid-week option) - £129

Fuel (mid-range, mid-sized car, approx 400 round trip) £70

Additional driving/parking in Cornwall - £50

Camping (2 nights). £15-30

Lunch out - £20

Total : approx £300 / £270 per person if you shared a car and tent

MID-RANGE BUDGET :

Swimming holiday - £139 to £188 (depending on the holiday)

Fuel (mid-range, mid-sized car, approx 400 round trip) £70

Additional driving/parking in Cornwall - £50

B & B (3 nights) - £300-400 (could book with a friend & share cost)

Lunch and 1 dinner out - £50

Total : approx £670 or around £500 per person sharing with a friend

HIGHER-RANGE BUDGET :

Swimming holiday - £188-£239 (depending on which holiday)

Fuel (mid-range, mid-sized car, approx 400 round trip) £70

Additional driving/parking in Cornwall - £50

B & B / Hotel (3 nights) £650 / 2 Nights £450

Lunch & dinner out £70

Total : approx £1,000 for 3 nights or £800 for 2 nights.

TO CHECK OUT OUR 2023 HOLIDAYS - CLICK HERE. We also take private group bookings and offer 1-day events.

Safe Swimming Guide - Lamorna Cove

This beach can get swell and chop from any southerly wind. Again, be wary of swimming here once the tide has turned and is going out, particularly with big Spring tides.