St Nectan's Waterfall — Attraction in Tintagel

St Nectan’s Waterfall – A Spiritual Retreat in Nature’s Heart

Nestled in the picturesque landscape near Tintagel, St Nectan’s Waterfall offers a calming, almost spiritual escape into nature. The 60-foot cascade, framed by lush ferns and mosses, feels like something out of a fairy tale. But while the destination is breathtaking, the journey to reach it is an adventure in itself.

The path leading to the waterfall is not without its challenges. After rain, the route becomes muddy and slick, with wet roots and rocks adding a certain unpredictability underfoot. There are high steps along the way—at points nearly three times the height of those in your average home—so a good level of fitness is recommended. A handrail helps you navigate the steeper sections, but do take care, especially in damp conditions.

We left our 14-year-old dog at home and were glad we did. The steps and rugged terrain would have been too much for him, particularly given the height and steepness in some areas.

For those venturing close to the waterfall itself, flip-flops and a towel may prove handy, as the path to the falls crosses through shallow water. Though not essential, getting up close to the spray is an experience many visitors cherish. However, you needn’t stand face-to-face with the rushing waters to appreciate the magic of this place; its calming energy envelops you from the moment you arrive.

Despite the muddy challenges after rainfall, the walk is undeniably worth it. As you follow the river through ancient woodland, you’ll be surrounded by a stunning array of mosses and ferns, which only adds to the sense of tranquillity. For anyone in search of peace, beauty, and a deeper connection to nature, St Nectan’s Waterfall is nothing short of...

Myself and my family today were inherently disappointed with the service provided by the skinny bald guy taking payment to visit the waterfall.

For those reading this that haven’t visited before, the waterfall and surrounding areas are a spiritual place to pilgrimage and visit, for many such reasons including sightseeing, relaxation, self-healing and spiritualism.

All of this is deeply ruined however, when you are having your payment to visit such a place, being taken by somebody that could not have given off more of a ‘I don’t want to be here’ vibe and atmosphere. Which then followed with passive aggressive comments about not knowing where to stand while paying. “You’ve been here before? Then you should know that you have to get out the way and wait at the outside terrace.” Last time we visited was over a decade ago!

This waterfall is such a lovely place to come and visit, and when there’s signs that detail explain the spiritual nature of the environment you’re entering, and asked to turn your phones to airplane mode in order to respect such ideas, you would wish and expect for the first customer facing member of staff to embody these values and have interest in their job role, however this was not the case.

The negative comments, demeanour, and body language that we were met with, despite our politeness, was unacceptable, and does not reflect our expectations for our trip.

One star goes to the amazing waterfall, and another star goes to the lovely staff in the cafe at the end of the walk, who were all absolutely amazing and the total opposite of the first guy we met. The 3 stars that are missing from this review, are a result of the rudeness and behaviour from the man taking...

You park in the village and the signs point you in the right direction, The initial walk up the valley is great with a nice path alongside the babbling brook. As you reach the waterfall the climb is quite severe but hopefully worth it, with very uneven and varied height steps. We made it to the entrance about half an hour after leaving the car park and paid our entry fees, we were told that the stepping stones were very sound and fine to walk across. Exiting the entrance it became clear that signs are a low priority at St Nectan's Glen. Firstly there is little if any information about St Nectan after which the place is named but there is a statue of Buddha as you make your way through. There were no signs to explain what is where - you reach a crossroads in the walkway with no clue what goes where. Eventially we made our way down to the bottom of the waterfall which features a "no return" football stadium style turnstyle, so no going back. It transpired that the stepping stones were less available than we had been lead to believe. The first one was missing completely and the others were all under two or three inches of water. This is a place that has spent thousands of pound on walkways and handrails but they can't provide real stepping stones across the river? We got our feet wet but, thankfully, we were wearing shoes that are used to that. The place cries out for better signage and functioning stepping stones - we watched people taking of the shoes and socks so they could cross the river The place isn't cheap for what amounts to a few minutes lookinhg at a decent waterfall so I'm inclined to say could do better The picture is of the submerged...