Gyllyngvase Beach, Falmouth · Hotel
Four-star seafront resort in Falmouth beside Gyllyngvase Beach, with a large spa, 20-yard pool, health club and subtropical gardens running down to the sea.
St Michaels stands on the Falmouth seafront, a few steps from Gyllyngvase Beach and about ten minutes' walk from the town centre and the harbour. The setting is one of the gentler ones in Cornwall — this is the sheltered south coast, with calm water, subtropical planting in the hotel gardens and a promenade that runs along to Swanpool. It is AA-rated four stars and has been substantially rebuilt over the past decade.
Accommodation covers standard and sea-view rooms in the main hotel, larger suites, and a separate group of self-catering hideaways and cottages within the grounds for families and longer stays. Rooms are bright and contemporary, with the front-facing ones looking across Falmouth Bay towards Pendennis Point. Room-only, bed-and-breakfast and spa package rates are all available, and the packages usually represent the better value.
Facilities are unusually extensive for a hotel of this size. The spa has ten treatment rooms, a hydrotherapy pool, saunas, experience showers and a rhassoul chamber, and there is a separate health club with a 20-yard swimming pool, gym and fitness studio running classes. The restaurant leans hard on Cornish produce and Falmouth-landed fish, with a more casual café and terrace for daytime eating.
Falmouth itself makes this an easy base for exploring the south coast: the National Maritime Museum, ferries to St Mawes and up the Fal to Truro, the Helford River and the great gardens at Trebah and Glendurgan are all close. It suits couples on a spa break, families who want a pool as backup for wet days, and anyone who would rather have a working town with proper pubs and restaurants on the doorstep than an isolated coastal position.