Tintagel Castle — Attraction in Tintagel

Visited Tintagel Castle yesterday for the very first time and it's one of the best days out I've had in Cornwall yet.

I've been holidaying in Cornwall for 30 years and I'll be honest I've never really been interested in coming here. My family have gone on occasions and asked me to come and I've decided to stay at the caravan or go do something else whilst they go. I never understood the hype I thought it was just a load of crumbling rocks on a hill. I can't believe how naive and disinterested I was I've missed out on so many memories with family there but I'm so glad I finally went and experienced it yesterday.

I didn't know what to expect or how long to anticipate being there so when I parked in the local car park a few minutes away I paid £4 for 4 hours parking. Although I had a great time in 4 hours and made it back to the car in time I think next time I would chose atleast 5-6 hours to stay there.

To start with we headed down to this beautiful little beach that had a stunning little waterfall, many caves to explore and a gentle bay to swim in. We spent a good hour and a half down there capturing photos of the incredible landscape and relaxing on the rocks taking it all in.

We then headed up towards the bridge and began our walk around the breath taking castle. I was captivated by the remains of the castle, the engineering and the incredible surrounding scenery.

We took our little Parrotlet Jeff and even he took it all in and had a great day out whilst drawing lots of curious people in, he became the star of the show 🤣 He was chirping and squeeking none stop for an hour back to Newquay I've never seem him so happy and full of life!

We spent the best part of 2 hours taking in all the views and capturing photos of the beautiful coastline from various points along the path.

We also went to the on site cafe for refreshments which were much needed and I have to say very fairly priced based on the location.

All in all we spent just over £40 for 2 tickets, £4 on parking and about £10 on bottles of water and Ice cream. I'd say £50-£60 for a couple to go and enjoy the experience is great value for money for a brilliant day out and I wish I had stayed longer and gone many years ago when I had the chance.

Also on a side note there is no fee to go to the beach. You can easily go and spend a few hours down at the beach for free and have a great time for £10 for just parking and ice cream.

I highly recommend a day out here it's a truly beautiful part...

I bought two tickets in advance for £20 each online (which meant we got a 15% discount), but I felt that even they were overpriced once I'd been.

I'm not sure what I expected, and guess I'd bought into the hype of it all, but there's very little there to see. There's the bridge, some minimal ruins and a statue. Yes, the views are nice, but you can get those views for free by walking various sections of the South West coastal path. It didn't even feel atmospheric.

I hadn't realised before going that it's one way... That means you have to cross the bridge to reach the castle, and climb down the steep, deep stone steps to leave it. The bridge itself was fine and sturdy, but was windy even on a calm day and does move a little. There's a 4cm gap across in the middle, which people may or may not like. The routes around can be uneven rock paths, slate walkways or steps (some of them are deep steps, which if you're short can make them harder).

There are toilets at the bottom of the site at the visitors centre, along with a cafe, but nothing at the top. We arrived at 9.15. The visitors centre is meant to open from 9, but we were told the toilets wouldn't be ready until 10 (the entry for for our timed tickets).

I'm glad I booked for a 10am slot because it meant the site was fairly quiet as we walked around. It took us a little over half an hour, and I'm slow! By the time we were leaving there were A LOT more people arriving (apparently 11am to 3pm is their busiest time).

We managed to park behind the bakery (it's really good by the way!) in Tintagel, near the site entrance in Tintagel. It cost £5 for the day, cash or card payments. There were still spaces when we left just after 11.

It's also worth knowing that there are 2 Land Rovers that ferry people up and down the steep path from tintagel village to the visitor centre. They charged us £2.50 per person and took card payments.

I'm glad I went so I could see what it was all about, but it feels disappointing and I can't see me...

Really interesting if you're into a bit of history! There is a very steep walk down and inevitably steep walk back up however there is an independent range rover 'taxi' service that is £2.50 per passenger that can take you back up or down. The 'castle' is very much just ruins but still interesting and picturesque. There's a small exhibit attached to the shop that gives a brief overview of what the ruins were. Cafe prices are near enough the same as any English Heritage sight so manage your expectations spend-wise (£3something for a large custard cream biscuit). There's two routes you can take, if you're visiting the ruin you need to pay before going down and there is a ticket checkpoint before going across the bridge. The bridge itself is very stable with very little wobble though it felt horrendous when we crossed due to the gale force winds blowing through. Once you follow the paths all the way to the top to reach the statue and back down again there is a 'coastal' path that takes you through the famous door and down to the cave beach. This area is also accessed via another route down that you DON'T need to pay to enter. Whichever way round you do it, time your visit to the beach to when the tide is going out to maximise exploration or relaxing time. The stairs down to the beach are fine but are completely cut off at the bottom so a bit of big boulder and rock hopping is required. This area bottlenecks quite easily as people try to get back up and get down. All of the caves are cool and when the tide is right out you can climb a fair bit for some really cool views and rock pools. Statue, beach and vast majority of ruins are not wheelchair accessible in the slightest...