Many of Cornwall’s most rewarding coastal spots require effort to reach them. Such is the case with Nanjizal Beach (which also goes by the more prosaic name of Mill Bay), a narrow, handsomely higgledy sea inlet that can only be accessed along the coastal path. It sits about half an hour’s walk south of Land’s End, although the contrast between the two sites could hardly be greater.
If headline-hogging Land’s End has become a theme park, hill-hidden Nanjizal lets you experience a very different Cornwall — a place where the seabirds serve up the soundtrack, where a set of steep wooden steps provide your entry point to the stony sands and where your chances of finding a pasty or cream tea are non-existent.
Land's End saw over 400,000 visitors in 2024.
Less of a crowd at Nanjizal Beach.
Parts of a now-missing episode of Doctor Who from the mid 1960s were filmed here, but many visitors today come to enjoy the so-called Song of the Sea, a tidal pool that fills an open-air fissure in the rocks at high tide. For sea swimmers looking to unleash their inner mermaid, it’s perfect
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