Fowey

Fowey's accommodation is shaped by its geography: a steep, compact harbour town with a handful of grand houses on the hillsides above it and a scatter of historic inns down by the water. At the top end, expect converted Victorian mansions and boutique townhouses making the most of estuary views, often with their own restaurants built around the day's catch. A notch down, the town's old coaching inns and quayside pubs offer comfortable, characterful rooms above bars that have been serving sailors and visitors for centuries, usually at a friendlier price than the headline hotels. For a quieter alternative, a short drive or ferry ride upstream and across the water brings you to country house and eco-lodge B&Bs set among woodland and farmland, better suited to travellers who want space and a slower pace than a room in the thick of the harbour bustle.

Booking ahead matters more here than in many Cornish towns, because Fowey is genuinely small and its best-placed rooms are limited. Regatta Week in August and the main summer school holidays see the town at capacity, with prices to match, so anyone wanting a harbour view or a central address in July or August should book months rather than weeks in advance. Spring and autumn offer a good compromise: the town is calmer, rates are noticeably lower, and the coast path and estuary walks are arguably at their best. Whichever category of stay you choose, proximity to the water counts for a lot in Fowey; even a short uphill walk back from dinner is worth it for the sound of halyards clinking against masts below your window.

Fowey rewards slow exploration on foot, but there is plenty to fill a few days beyond wandering the lanes.

• Fowey Harbour and the Town Quay is the natural heart of any visit, a working waterfront where fishing boats, yachts and the passenger ferries to Polruan and Bodinnick come and go throughout the day.
• St Catherine's Castle is a small Henrician artillery fort on the headland above Readymoney Cove, reached by a short coastal walk with fine views back over the harbour mouth.
• Readymoney Cove is the town's own sandy beach, a short walk from the centre and a good spot for a swim before the castle walk above it.
• Fowey Museum, housed in the old town hall, tells the story of the port's maritime and literary history, including material connected to Daphne du Maurier.
• The Hall Walk is a circular route across the estuary via the Bodinnick and Polruan ferries, following wooded paths with some of the best views of the harbour from the Lanteglos side.
• Polruan, reached by passenger ferry, is Fowey's quieter twin across the water, with its own working harbour, boatyards and a good pub or two.
• Lanhydrock, a short drive inland near Bodmin, is one of Cornwall's grandest National Trust houses, with extensive Victorian service quarters and formal gardens.
• The Eden Project, around 25 minutes away by car, makes an easy day trip from Fowey for its biomes and gardens.

Fowey's food scene leans heavily, and rightly, on what comes out of the harbour and the bay beyond it: daily landings of crab, lobster, scallops and whatever the day boats bring in feature on menus throughout the town, often no further than a few dozen yards from where they were unloaded. Several of the town's hotels and inns run their own well-regarded restaurants serving Cornish seafood alongside local beef and lamb, and a proper Cornish cream tea, complete with the county's insistence on jam before cream, is easy to find at cafes along Fore Street and in the gardens above the Esplanade. St Austell Brewery, one of Cornwall's best-known independent brewers, has deep roots in this part of the county and its ales turn up on cask throughout Fowey's pubs, several of which occupy some of the oldest buildings in town. A small farmers' and producers' market operates in the town on a regular basis, good for Cornish cheeses, baked goods and local produce, while the fishmongers and delis along the main street are worth a browse even for self-caterers staying nearby. For a picnic on the coast path or a paddle on the estuary, the town's bakeries and pasty shops are reliably good, and it is entirely possible to eat extremely well in Fowey without once venturing beyond a five-minute walk of the quay.

Fowey itself has almost no room to camp within the town, so anyone wanting a tent, caravan or motorhome pitch needs to look a few miles along the coast, and the surrounding stretch of south Cornwall obliges with some genuinely good options. Sites cluster around the villages and beaches either side of the estuary, from working farms turned family-run campsites above St Austell Bay to small touring parks tucked into the fishing village of Polruan just across the water from Fowey itself. Most are within a ten to fifteen minute drive of the town, close enough for an evening in the harbour pubs without giving up the space, quiet and sea views that camping in this part of Cornwall is really about.

Expect a mix of grass touring pitches, tent fields and increasingly glamping options such as yurts and geodomes, generally with electric hookup available on at least some pitches and dog-friendly policies as standard. Facilities vary more than at big holiday parks further along the coast: some sites keep things deliberately simple, with a shower block and not much else, while others add playgrounds, on-site food and beach access within a short walk. Given the popularity of this coastline in summer, booking ahead for July and August is strongly advised, while spring and autumn give a quieter, cheaper alternative with the added bonus of the Cornish coast path at its best for walking straight from your pitch.