Travel distances

Falmouth to St Ives

Falmouth to St Ives on the map

Start and finish

Open this route in Google Maps ↗ for live traffic and turn-by-turn directions.

Distance

36 miles

by road

By car

About 55 minutes

in normal traffic

By bike

About 3 hours 30 minutes

steady pace

By foot

About 11 hours

on foot

Before you set off

The miles are quick; both ends of the journey are not. Getting out of Falmouth along the Penryn bypass can queue in summer, and arriving into St Ives from mid-July is a separate exercise in patience. Leave early or accept it as part of the experience.

Which way to go

The fastest route

Take the A393 north from Falmouth through Penryn, joining the A30 westbound at Redruth and following it through Camborne and Hayle to the A3074 turn for St Ives.¹ It is the fastest line and mostly dual carriageway through the middle.

The scenic route

Take the A39 north from Falmouth to Truro, then pick up the A30 west, leaving at Hayle for the B3301 coast road through Gwithian and Godrevy to St Ives.¹ The cliff road above St Ives Bay is one of the finest approaches to any town in Cornwall. Add about thirty minutes.

Caravans and motorhomes

Caravans and motorhomes should take the A39 and A30 and avoid St Ives town centre altogether. Park on the outskirts and walk or take the park-and-ride bus. Falmouth's approach on the A393 is straightforward for large vehicles.

Stops along the way

Start
Falmouth
Penryn
0.3 miles off the A393, adds roughly 4 minutes
The older of the two towns, with a granite high street running down to the creek and the ruins of Glasney College nearby.
Redruth
0.8 miles off the A30, adds roughly 8 minutes
The heart of the Cornish mining World Heritage Site, with Carn Brea standing over it.²
Hayle
0.4 miles off the A30, adds roughly 5 minutes
Three miles of dune-backed sand on the Towans, just across the estuary from St Ives.
Godrevy
0.5 miles off the B3301, adds roughly 6 minutes
A National Trust headland with the lighthouse Virginia Woolf wrote from, and excellent seal watching from the point.
Arrive
St Ives

Practical information

Parking

St Ives has a park-and-ride that runs in season from the outskirts — use it rather than attempting the town-centre car parks in summer. The main town parks at Trenwith and Barnoon fill early. Arriving before 9am secures a space without queuing.

Train and bus

By rail it is a change at Truro or St Erth onto the St Ives Bay Line,³ one of the most scenic short branches in Britain. From Falmouth Docks the total journey runs to about an hour and three-quarters by train.⁴ In August, the branch line is often the fastest option in either direction.

The best time to travel

Early morning, before 9am, to clear both towns at once. The return journey in the afternoon is easier heading east, as the main summer queue runs into St Ives rather than out of it.

About the Falmouth to St Ives journey

Thirty-six miles across the width of west Cornwall, from one harbour to another. Falmouth faces the Channel across a deep-water anchorage; St Ives faces the Atlantic across a bay whose light has drawn painters since the 1880s. The drive is unremarkable for most of its length, which is precisely what gives the coast road its effect — you drop off the A30 at Hayle and suddenly the sea is everywhere, the bay curving away south, and St Ives appearing at the end of it on a peninsula of its own.

What to do in St Ives

Walk the Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden first if it is open — it is the best small museum in Cornwall.⁵ The Tate St Ives on the headland above Porthmeor Beach is the other anchor.⁵ Porthmeor faces the Atlantic and is the surf beach; Porthminster faces south and is the sheltered one. The harbour below the town is the reason people keep coming back.

Read the St Ives guide

Going the other way: St Ives to Falmouth

St Ives to Falmouth is the same thirty-six miles in reverse. The morning queue runs into St Ives; the afternoon queue is on the A30 heading east. An early start or a late one avoids both.

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Article Sources

OpenStreetMap contributors (2026). Road network, road classifications and place names. Copyright and licence [online]. Available at: https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright OpenStreetMap[↩]
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site (no date). Home page [online]. Available at: https://www.cornishmining.org.uk Cornish Mining World Heritage[↩]
Great Western Railway (no date). Plan your journey: timetables and branch-line services in Cornwall [online]. Available at: https://www.gwr.com/plan-journey Great Western Railway[↩]
National Rail Enquiries (no date). Train times and journey planner [online]. Available at: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk National Rail[↩]
Tate (no date). Tate St Ives [online]. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-st-ives Tate[↩]
Project OSRM (no date). Open Source Routing Machine: route shape and detour calculations [online]. Available at: https://project-osrm.org Project OSRM
Ordnance Survey (no date). National Grid references used to position each place on the route map [online]. Available at: https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk Ordnance Survey
Google (no date). Google Maps: live traffic and turn-by-turn directions [online]. Available at: https://www.google.com/maps Google Maps