Experience the best of Newquay

Newquay sits on Cornwall's north coast, where Atlantic swell rolls onto a string of sandy beaches. Fistral Beach, facing west, is the town's famous surf beach, and Towan, Great Western and Lusty Glaze are smaller coves between the headlands. The harbour holds fishing boats and the Huer's Hut, a whitewashed lookout from which watchers once signalled the arrival of pilchard shoals.

Watergate Bay, a long beach north of town, and the Gannel estuary, backed by dunes, are close by, and the cliffs towards Bedruthan Steps are dotted with sea stacks. Padstow and the Camel Trail, a traffic-free path along an old railway, lie to the north-east. The Eden Project and the china-clay country near St Austell are inland to the south-east, and Trerice, an Elizabethan manor house, lies a few kilometres from town.

Cornish pasties, saffron buns, scones with clotted cream and jam, and fresh mackerel and crab shape the local menu, with Cornish ice cream sold along the seafront. Surf can be found throughout the year, with summer the busiest season and spring and autumn calmer; winter swells draw dedicated surfers.