How to Visit Cornwall Sustainably

Sustainable travel might be something you’ve researched when going abroad.

But it’s just as important to apply those principles of responsibility when exploring your home country too! So on your next trip down to Cornwall (or Devon, Wales, Scotland etc, I’m not discriminating!) keep some of these points in mind:

1. Consider public transport

This isn’t just a suggestion to help the environment, this is also a suggestion to potentially help your sanity, or avoid an unwanted breakdown on the A30! Traffic into Cornwall during the peak Summer months of July and August is pretty horrific, and you can expect to gets stuck in hours worth of stand-still queues of tourists, caravans and disgruntled locals when trying to get into the county.

Getting the train helps with the congestion, and will likely get you here in half the time! If you’re not worried about how much time it takes, but want to save some pennies, consider the Megabus – it’s super cheap!

2. Re-use your plastic bottles, and recycle!

Cornwall has perfectly delicious tap water that you can drink, so no need to buy bottled water. Bring your own re-usable bottles and fill them up when you’re hiking/swimming/exploring.

And just as you do at home, try to recycle where you can to keep the rubbish from building up our landfill sites!

3. Be considerate of locals

This is a rather vague statement, but you can apply it to a range of situations. Just think twice before you park directly outside someone’s driveway when you want to avoid car park fees, or when you think it’ll be fun to feed your left over lunch to the seagulls.

4. Respect the environment and don’t litter!

The whole reason people love Cornwall is for the beautiful coastlines and countryside, so we need to protect them as much as possible. That means when you’re out for a picnic, barbecue or camping trip, you should always leave the area just as you found it (pick up your litter, take everything with you, and make as little disturbance to the nature around you as possible).

6. Support independent/local businesses

Last but not least, I urge you not to be the person who comes to Cornwall and stays in a national chain hotel, shops in national, chain supermarkets and eats at national, chain restaurants. Not only is that really boring and unadventurous, it also contributes nothing to the Cornish economy. It means you basically use us for our beautiful landscape and give nothing back.

Stay in local and independent hotels and guest houses, find gems in our boutique, independent shops and grocers, and eat delicious local food in our family-run cafes and restaurants instead! I promise it’s much more fun.

Got any tips for visiting Cornwall sustainably? Share them below!

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