Christmas and New Year in St Ives, What's On and Where to Stay

Most people picture St Ives in summer, sunshine, surfboards and ice cream queues. Spend Christmas here instead and you get a completely different town, quieter, cosier and, we would argue, just as magical in its own way. And if you time it right for New Year's Eve, you get something else entirely, one of the biggest fancy dress street parties in the country, right on our doorstep. If you are weighing up a festive break in Cornwall, here is what you can actually expect.

The lights go up early

St Ives gets into the festive spirit well before Christmas Day itself. Winter street lights along the town typically go on in mid December, followed shortly after by the main Christmas lights switch on, when the town centre fills with locals and visitors for the occasion. It is a proper community event rather than a corporate affair, with stalls, music and genuinely warm atmosphere, the kind of thing that makes you understand why people who live here would not swap it for anywhere else in December.

Santa arrives the St Ives way

One of the town's loveliest traditions is Santa arriving by lifeboat into the harbour, greeted by crowds along the wall before leading a procession up through the streets to Royal Square for the illumination ceremony. It is a proper local occasion, and if you time your visit right, it is one of the best free things to do in Cornwall at Christmas. There is usually a grotto too, along with Christmas markets set up around the town selling local crafts and food, well worth a wander even if you are not buying.

The town's own Christmas traditions

St Ives has a few festive customs that are worth knowing about if you are here over the holidays. Boxing Day brings the town's traditional dip, hardy swimmers taking to the sea at Porthminster Beach at midday, usually in aid of a local charity, and it draws a proper crowd of spectators wrapped up on the sand cheering them on. On Christmas Day itself, a stop at one of the harbourside pubs for a mulled wine with a view of the water is as close to a local tradition as it gets.

New Year's Eve, one of the biggest fancy dress parties in the country

This is the one people who have never been to St Ives on New Year's Eve genuinely do not believe until they see it. What began decades ago as a small, local celebration has grown into something the town's own council now describes as the third biggest street party in the UK, behind only London and Edinburgh's Hogmanay, and it regularly pulls in somewhere around forty thousand people into a town that, on an ordinary night, is home to barely a tenth of that. It is organised these days by St Ives BID, but it has never lost its homemade, everybody joins in feel.

The defining feature is the fancy dress, and it is not optional in spirit even if nobody is checking on the door. From around 6pm, the main streets, Fore Street, Wharf Road and the roads around Virgin Street, close to traffic and fill with a genuinely enormous procession of costumes, everything from full Edwardian ball gowns and powdered wigs to inflatable dinosaurs, giant jellyfish rigged up from umbrellas and fairy lights, and entire families dressed as anything from seagulls to crayons. Turn up in your ordinary coat and you really will be the odd one out. If you have not brought a costume, a couple of local shops, including Osbornes on the harbourfront, sell fancy dress, and St Ives Theatre's costume hire, Kidz R Us, is another option, with the proceeds going towards the theatre's youth drama group.

The pubs along the harbour are the heart of it, most run live music through the evening, and children are generally welcome in them until around 9pm before the night shifts into a more adult affair. As midnight approaches, the whole town funnels down towards the harbour, where the crowd gathers on the beach and along the harbour wall for a proper fireworks display over the water, one of the best free New Year's Eve firework shows anywhere in the country and a genuinely spectacular way to see the year out.

A few practical notes if you are planning to be part of it. Book any restaurant table well ahead, the town is entirely full that night. Wear something you can walk and stand around in for hours, it is usually cold, and comfortable shoes matter more than an elaborate costume. And if you are staying somewhere in the town itself, expect roads to be closed and parking to be difficult from mid evening onwards, so plan on walking rather than driving once the party gets going.

Where to stay

Winter is also, quietly, one of the best times to book a stay in St Ives Bay. Properties that are fully booked months ahead in August are far easier to secure at Christmas, prices are noticeably kinder, and there is something wonderful about coming back to a warm cottage after a walk along a storm battered coast path, putting the fire on and watching the sea from the window. New Year's Eve itself is the exception, book that one early, the whole town fills up months in advance once people realise what they are missing. A base in St Ives itself puts you right in the middle of all the festive activity and means you can walk home after the fireworks rather than worry about transport, while somewhere in Carbis Bay or Hayle gives you a quieter retreat with the town just a short drive or train ride away for the nights you want a bit more peace.

Have a look at our properties across the bay if you fancy a Cornish Christmas or New Year this year, and get in touch if you want help picking the right base for what you have got planned.