Crackington Haven is a little charmer of a beach. The winding road down eventually leads you out to the hamlet which contains a couple of cafes, a shop, a pub and a small pay and display car park (there is another overflow car park slight further up the hill). There are a surprising amount of good things crammed into this small beach.

The beach itself is a sequence of pebbles, shingle and sand as you get closer to the sea, with the sand covered by the tide as it draws in.

There’s some pretty robust surf, a nice collection of rock pools and impressive scenery formed by the steep hills and cliffs which is also why it’s popular with walkers.

rightbeach wholeheartedly recommends (and frequently uses) Crackington Haven for a crab sandwich lunch with the children followed by an ice cream on the beach hunting for interesting pebbles to plop into the pools.

Beach blurb

• Tide and weather »
• Lifeguards: RNLI Lifeguard service July 2nd – September 4th
• Water quality: Recommended »
• Dogs: Dogs not allowed April 1st to September 30th

See Crackington Haven beach on a map …

Things to note to ensure your trip goes well:

• Check the tide times – if sand is a must for your beach trip then there’s little point going if the tide is in.
• In order to get a space in the closest car park, you should aim to get there for 10am at the latest (however there’s always the one up the road as a back up).
• We always make a point of having fresh crab sandwiches at the excellent Haven Cafe, followed up by an ice cream from next door (rightbeach loves candy floss flavour, and hokeypokey, and rum and raisin…oh and raspberry pavlova, and good old-fashioned strawberry, you get the idea!).

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Area	Rating	Observation
Beach		What it lacks for in wide expanse of sand it makes up for in character.
Crowded (1=deserted)		It’s never too bad there although the car parks and cafes can get busy.
Surf		Body boarding is big on the beach.
Sand		There’s nothing wrong with the sand but it’s covered by the sea around high tide and at other times it remains wet.
Toilets		Nice and close to the beach.
Parking		One small (50 spaces) pay-and-display close to the beach which always seems to be on the full side. There’s an overflow car park somewhat up the hill.
Food		Two cafes – our favourite being the excellent Haven Cafe (not the cheapest but good food). Plus there’s a pub with its own car park for patrons.
Shopping		Two shops pretty well stocked with beach goodies.

reviewed by The rightbeach Team