Katherine Sorrell
27 May 2025
Those who venture to the Lizard Peninsula will be rewarded with a ruggedly beautiful area that’s full of surprises. A unique and entrancing spot, it’s a little off the beaten track and all the better for being so. While its most popular destinations can be busy in high summer, in general, it tends to feel very tranquil, perfect for anyone looking for a quiet break surrounded by incredible scenery and wildlife.
The rare flora and fauna found on the Lizard Peninsula are complemented by its spectacular beaches, which range from those popular with families and surfers to tiny, secluded coves you may have all to yourself, if you’re lucky. As you wind along the country lanes, you’ll spot pretty thatched cottages and pass through picturesque villages, full of genuine communities. Almost everywhere you go, you’ll find a village pub, a beach cafe or a farm shop, and there are gastropubs and high-end restaurants to try here, too.
Discover the incredible Lizard Peninsula with a stay at one of our cottages. They cater for groups of all sizes, and many are family and dog friendly. Click the link below to find out more.
Skip to:
FAQs

Is the Lizard Peninsula worth visiting?
If you want to explore a less well-known part of Cornwall, it’s definitely worth visiting the Lizard Peninsula. Wild and beautiful, it’s a unique landscape where you’ll find stunning beaches, pretty fishing villages, rare plants and birds, and a variety of excellent places to eat and drink.
Why is it called the Lizard Peninsula?
It has nothing to do with reptiles! In the Cornish language, ‘Lys Ardh’ means ‘high place’ or ‘high court’ – and the Lizard is located on cliffs high above the sea.
What wildlife is on the Lizard Peninsula?
It’s often possible to spot seals in the waters around the Lizard, as well as dolphins, porpoises, sunfish and – occasionally – even a whale or basking shark. This is also an excellent place to see seabirds, including Cornish choughs, gannets, puffins, terns, skuas and shearwaters as they travel through the English Channel.
What is Lizard Point famous for?
Lizard Point is famous for being the most southerly point of mainland Britain. This is where the Atlantic Ocean meets the English Channel, and it was once infamous for its numerous shipwrecks. It still overlooks one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
About the Lizard Peninsula

The Lizard Peninsula truly feels like a different place from the rest of Cornwall, and it’s partly due to what’s underground. Rocks that formed 350 million years ago created a mostly level and open inland plateau, edged by dramatic cliffs that are punctuated by small, sheltered bays. In fact, the Lizard is almost an island, with only two roads reaching it, the sea on three sides and the Helford River to the north – no wonder it feels set apart.
This designated National Landscape and Site of Scientific Interest is home to some unique and rare birds and plants. Three Cornish choughs, a type of crow with a red bill and legs, were spotted at Lizard Point in 2001 after a 50-year absence from the county, and the birds are now a common sight in the area. Cornish heather, the county flower, is found only on the Lizard, along with around 600 other species of flowering plants, several of them threatened.
While the peninsula is not named after a reptile, it is famous, coincidentally, for serpentine stone, which has snake-like bands of green, red and grey. When polished, it looks like marble, and it was all the rage in Victorian times. You can still buy souvenir pieces from workshops in Lizard Town. Yet another surprise about the Lizard is that the tiny village of Poldhu was the site of Marconi’s first ever live transatlantic radio signal in 1901 – the forerunner of broadcasting, mobile phones and the worldwide web. Who would have guessed?
Full of beauty and wonder, history and inspiration, the Lizard appeals to walkers and beach lovers, photographers and painters, intrepid explorers and anyone who wants to escape the everyday.
Beaches on the Lizard Peninsula

When you’re looking for expanses of sand and clear, turquoise waters, do you head for the Med? Not when you can go to Lizard! Top of the list is Kynance Cove, renowned as one of the best beaches in Cornwall. Try to get there when the tide is low, and there’ll be more sand for sunbathing as well as caves and rock pools to explore along the beach. Bear in mind that this breathtakingly beautiful spot gets extremely busy in high season, and there’s a steep, 10-minute walk from the car park, which may not suit everyone.
Explore a little further, and there are plenty of other stunning beaches on the Lizard where you can set out your towel or shred some waves on your surfboard. Sandy, sheltered Poldhu Cove on the west coast, in particular, is very popular with families, and you can take surfing lessons, too. There’s another surf school at beautiful Kennack Sands, while the adventurous might want to try coasteering with Lizard Adventure – cliff scrambling, pool jumping, and cave swimming, exploring the coastline uniquely and thrillingly. Not to be missed, Mullion Cove, Coverack and Gunwalloe (aka Church Cove) are just a few of the many other excellent Lizard beaches for a day in the waves and building sandcastles.
Villages on the Lizard Peninsula

The largest village on the peninsula is Mullion, which has spread out from its medieval origins and now boasts shops, pubs and places to eat. Check out the church, with its 16th-century carved pew ends and north door with a dog flap – used in the past by local sheepdogs. The whitewashed cottages of St Keverne cluster around a central square, together with a church, two pubs and an excellent restaurant; a few miles south, charming Coverack is another postcard-pretty community, with a crescent-shaped beach and fishing boats bobbing in the water – a great base for a beach holiday, or for walking the coastal path.
In the north-east, Helford is stunningly pretty, surrounded by ancient woodland, while tiny Cadgwith is an archetypal fishing village which still has a working fleet – be sure to buy some fresh fish while you’re there. No trip to the Lizard would be complete without visiting Lizard village itself, almost the furthest south you can go. Here you can park and walk down to the southernmost point of the mainland UK, spending a few moments at the National Trust’s Wildlife Watchpoint, where you can borrow binoculars and chat to the volunteers about what they’ve spotted that day. Return for some food in one of the restaurants in the village, visit the farm shop and perhaps buy a serpentine ornament as a memento of your adventures.
Pubs and restaurants on the Lizard Peninsula

For fine dining or a picnic, pub grub or beach sustenance, there are a surprising number of places to eat and drink on the Lizard Peninsula. First, though, it’s all about the honourable Cornish pasty. Two establishments here vie for the title of best pasty in Cornwall: Gear Farm Pasty Company, in the countryside between Helston and St Martin, and Ann’s Pasties, a Cornish institution. Why not try both and decide for yourself? Follow your pasty with an organic ice cream from Roskilly’s, St Keverne, made from the creamy milk on their own dairy farm. Their Croust House restaurant serves food all day, and while there, you can see the farm animals and follow a walk through woodland and meadows.
If you’re on the beach all day, you’re bound to get hungry, and there are some excellent beach cafes on the Lizard, including those at Poldhu, Porthallow, Polpeor and Kynance. For a hearty meal and a thirst-quenching drink, great pubs include the Ferry Boat Inn, serving farm-to-table food in the idyllic location of Helford Passage, the Three Tuns in St Keverne, offering a fresh, seasonal menu and local craft beverages, and the Shipwrights Arms in Helford, with wholesome food, a superb view and live music on Sundays.
Looking for something extra-special? Fallowfields restaurant, in the Housel Bay Hotel, Lizard Point, boasts a place in the Michelin Guide for its ‘detailed and creative’ cooking, while Flora, at the Trelowarren Estate, is worth a visit for its delicious, seasonal food, created from produce grown either by themselves or their network of small growers, farmers, fisherfolk and foragers.
Things to do on the Lizard Peninsula

For family days out or if you feel like a change from a day on one of the many gorgeous beaches, there are plenty of things to do on the Lizard Peninsula. A favourite with many is the Sea Life Trust Cornish Seal Sanctuary in Gweek, which rescues stranded seal pups, rehabilitates them, and offers a permanent home to those who need special care. It’s cute as can be, and you can also see a small colony of rescued puffins, a paddock of sheep and goats, and stroll through Secret Creek, where you may spot beavers at work.
Walkers will find plenty to explore on the Lizard, but there are other ways to get active, including hiring a set of wheels from Lizard Bike Hire at Lizard Point, horse riding with Newton Equestrian (on the beach if you are an experienced and regular rider), or scuba diving with Porthkerris Divers, accessing shipwreck sites and colourful reefs.
For anyone with a sweet tooth, a tour of the Chocolate Factory & Craft Centre at Mullion is a must. Bonython Estate Gardens, Cross Lanes, offers all kinds of interest for garden lovers, including a traditional potager garden, a South African summer garden, colour-themed herbaceous borders and an apple orchard. And for a tranquil escape, wander through the three small meadows that straddle the coast path (about a mile walk from Coverack) where you’ll encounter the beautiful, monumental Terence Coventry Sculpture Park with pieces placed to enhance their wild surroundings.
Stay with us on the Lizard Peninsula
If you are enticed by the idea of unwinding on the beautiful Lizard Peninsula, discover our choice of high-quality, self-catering properties in the area. To book dog-friendly cottages and houses of all sizes, from romantic retreats to group getaways, just click the link below.
Disclaimer: Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information at the time of writing,
please ensure you check carefully before making any decisions based on the contents within this article.