The 15 best free attractions in Falmouth

The parking signs for the disabled parking are ambiguous and incorrect,so it's not very clear. Friendly staff and great afternoon spent looking round Penndennis Castle and grounds. Whilst looking around the fun room within the main part of the castle we were approached by Don,one of the English Heritage staff who could see that our disabled daughter was enjoying reading the information in each room. He approached me and asked if we wanted an explanation and tour of the castle, which we agreed. He was fabulous taking time to explain what each room was for and pitching it at a level that our daughter could understand and relate to. He checked in after each room to ensure she had understood the information.He was interesting and very informative and especially kind and compassionate with our daughter as he took time and effort to ensure she took something from the experience. I asked if he had any experience with Additional needs as he was so good with our daughter, he hadn't I'm particular but had experience of working with young people. Don was definitely an asset to English Heritage and made our trip informative and memorable. The grounds and views were amazing and we felt very much connected to that part of history from his storytelling. The station the teashop were also good and cakes delicious.. All staff were friendly and great,I'd it hadn't of been for the confusion over the signage for disabled parking I would have given this a 5 star review. Definitely worth a visit.

Chose a sunny day and you'll be rewarded with stunning views over to St Mawes and Falmouth. The Military history spans the moments of crisis in British history; 16th century, the Nepoleonic wars and WW1/ 2. Superb info boards and exemplary English Hetitage staff dealing with an unexpected group of cruise ship visitors. Coffee in cafe to finish was just as good!

Absolutely loved our trip to Pendennis Castle. History with beautiful view's. A must for families & History buffs. Great cafe with friendly service and an amazing gift shop within something for everyone.

We went for the jousting tournament, which was brilliant, but there was a huge range of entertainment which was suitable for all ages and it was all included in the price. We also visited the castle and museum. There’s a lovely cafe, but the food and drink is expensive. There was plenty of car parking.

Lots of history around this castle and World War Two! It’s dog friendly and they are also allowed in the castle. We went in for free as we had an English Heritage membership - definitely worth doing.

Great place to It's truly a wonderful destination, offering a unique experience. The atmosphere is pleasant, making it easy to relax and enjoy your time. With its beautiful scenery, it provides a perfect backdrop for creating lasting memories. You will find yourself wanting to come back for another visit.

Taskmaster activities were well pitched and entertaining. 10 year old had fabulous day enjoying the history. 7 year old like exploring the castle grounds. Scones were good, but watch out for the wasps who would very much like to get the jam!! Dogs very welcome.

A small but lovely art gallery with a charming little shop (prices are on the higher side, but that’s expected). What really stood out was how engaging the installations were — not just for adults, but for kids too. It’s wonderful that children are encouraged to interact with the exhibits, which makes the whole experience more fun and memorable. The current exhibition on technology and art was especially interesting and thought-provoking. Also, very convenient that there’s a toilet nearby — makes a big difference when visiting with kids. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area!

Visited the exhibit of ‘The Legend of King Arthur: A Pre-Raphaelite Love Story’. I had always wanted to see The Lady of Shalott in person. I visited Tate a while ago but it was being exhibited elsewhere at the time. Now it’s exhibiting in Falmouth and it was just great to see. Such a great exhibit overall. Displayed well and with a shop.

Small gallery with limited display space. Enjoyed what was on display but some of its better works weren't exhibited, which was a shame.

A small FREE gallery but I found the exhibition on automata fascinating. I admire the exhibitors (most of whom are local to Falmouth) for allowing some of the exhibits to be played with (most people are careful but I was concerned about the child who was seeing how fast he could turn the handle - why wasn't the parent explaining that for everyone to enjoy these exhibits, we most all be respectful and careful not to break them). Beautiful, detailed work - often very complex scenes - as well as larger models/automata. Activities for children (everyone, probably) to try. Show your support for this small free gallery as we were told that the council needs to see that it is worth keeping it open by the number of visitors it attracts.

Free gallery above the town library. Real good exhibition of local interest artists and some good multi media (video art). It is small....free but very well curated and a pleasure and surprise to visit. Well done.

It's ok. Smaller than I thought it would be and a whole section was filled with rocks which don't interest me much. The central bit about Falmouth history was good and upstairs was a bit forgettable. Overall good but too expensive.

Free art gallery with a gift shop. Had an exhibition of Arthurian legend paintings and exhibits on display until end of Sept 2023. Including tapestries.

The beach was nice. I took a pleasant walk along the coast. It was windy, so I didn’t go into the waves. I just enjoyed it from the shore.

Lovely city beach. Seems to be a reasonably flat sea bay, so safe for kids to splash in the water. Sandy white beach (coarse) and clear water. Blue flag beach (clean). Lovely view of pendennis castle, pendennis point and st anthony lighthouse. A beach cafe just over the sand, a takeaway and car park right next to it. Lifeguards on site.

Nice place to be with friends, family and good amenities in and around with the connecting coast path close by and a pay and display car park only minutes away from both beach and path. Extremely busy in summer time but all year round good place to come.

Nice little beach, and a nice walk from Falmouth,watch out for seagulls,they will take food from you just when you are putting it in your mouth.

Gylly Beach has clear, fresh water and soft, clean sand. The atmosphere is welcoming, with friendly people all around. It’s a beautiful spot to relax and enjoy the seaside ❤️

This beach was a nice place for me to relax after a lengthy coastal walk. It wasn't too crowded and had plenty of benches available to sit on. Also, it was located just a 5 minute walk away from Falmouth Town Station where I was able to get the train back to Truro from.

Public toilets, co op right outside beach entrance, sauna £8 for 30 mins, surfing schools, Swanpool beach is a walk around to the right side

We are very lucky to have The Poly here in Falmouth. Very! It’s not just a cinema, gallery, shop, place of learning and a venue it’s a hub for creativity and culture in the town and beyond. Over the years I’ve been involved in Poly exhibitions, I’ve organised exhibitions, events and talks at The Poly, and partnered with them when I was running StreetDraw24 to raise funds for St Petrocs and their work with people experiencing homelessness. It was always a pleasure. A great team and a great institution.

Brilliant theatre, so many different events, high quality, great ambience, excellent staff.

I went to see a Christmas-themed play yesterday evening and I must say I enjoyed the production and the quality of the venue. It had a comforting feel and staff were very kind and helpful. Would highly recommend!

This historical place has been through a lot to keep alive and alive it very much is. With events happening continuously and local art being put on show this place is like a giant display of local talent conducted by passionate volunteers. It offers so much and asks very little of its customers. Pay a visit to see what happening that week, you will find something to interest you for sure!

Lovely gaff, bar staff chelsea was great and friendly . Would come again

It's an ok venue for a gallery. I visited the 2nd Year Fine Art exhibitions and whilst the art was fantastic, the venue felt a little tired. They have a cinema which is always showing the latest films, and the gift shop looked extensive - so maybe it's worth another try.

Great events, the auditorium is comfortable if a little warm in the summer. Drink and ticket prices are fair. It's good that Falmouth has an independent arts venue like this, please support it.

We had the most amazing visit at Falmouth lifeboat station - made our grandson's day thanks to Yvonne's ability to engage our family's 3 generations that visited today - our 5 year-old got to be fully involved wearing the gear and helmet, learning how to raise the alarm and even better go on the boat and be navigator for the day. The rest of us were equally enthralled to learn about the volunteers and amazing work of the service that risks their lives for us. This is certainly not the first lifeboat station we have visited but was by far and away the best.Thank you Yvonne for making it better than Pendenis castle with jousting. (Which was great too.)

This is a must-go in Falmouth. We booked this tour earlier through emailing their station and got a reply promptly. The tour was around 45 minutes and Yvonne showed us around and talked about RNLI’s history and missions. We even got the chance to go on board the lifeboats and took some nice photos. We learnt much more about the organisation and its operation. The sacrifices of these lifesaving heroes are truly admirable. RNLI wouldn’t be making such a big impact without volunteers like Yvonne. Thank you once again for this amazing experience!

Interesting, engaging and funny tour today learning about the RNLI. Kids loved sitting inside the boat. These teams and the people within do amazing work - thank you!

The Penryn Camera Club braved a stormy sky (it didn’t rain) for a visit to the Falmouth RNLI Station. This included a trip around the station and even on the larger lifeboat. A real treat, accompanied by a knowledgeable and friendly guide. A fabulous visit to this public-funded facility, loads of info and facts, and some great pictures. Strange fact; They do not even get VAT relief on their fuel!! so they are always looking for donations to help save those in need. Highly recommend visiting and supporting this RNLI station.

You can visit an operating lifeboat station and the boat itself. There is a little tour with general background information and insights in the daily work. We, as a family of 3, realy enjoyed the short tour (with Derek) and recommend a visit.

Thoroughly enjoyed our visit - a guided tour by volunteer Chris, during our stay in a nearby apartment. Very knowledgeable & committed to the aims and purposes of the Institution, as am I, for many decades. Visits need to be prearranged but may be disrupted at short notice by operational requirements, eg, should the crew have "a shout" (launch). After a detailed safety briefing, we were invited onto their Severn Class AW Lifeboat, with a great explanation of its operational areas, capabilities & purposes, safety features, et al including onto the bridge & its admittedly limited on board crew quarters. The engine room is "out of bounds" for safety grounds. Followed by a visit to the station itself, including the crew rooms and their inshore RIB, that is launched & recovered via an adjoining slipway. As an aside - and also reported widely on various MSM & other news sources - their Severn Class vessel is being replaced, after a quarter of a century of service, in coming weeks by the RNLI's most modern boat, the Shannon Class. Well worth a visit to better understand the commitment of those living &/or working in our coastal communities, to the saving of lives and preservation of safety at sea.

Great tour.Very interesting.Highly recommended.

Lovely grounds and a good walk. You can also walk along the beach there too.

Visited the gardens in July, the flowers and plants were lovely to see. The gardens were very well maintained.

Lovely colourful gardens with car park and beach nearby

One of the most beautiful town in UK 💙

Beautifully kept gardens with interesting array of plants. Loved the Monterey pines.

Although small there's a wonderful range of plants. Next to it is a lovely beach, cafe and toilets. The garden is a hundred years old and nearby is a separate dog friendly area and a lovely cove and another beach with nature reserve.

It's called Queen Mary Gardens but the truth is I went to the beach not the Gardens though they looked nice and peaceful. Parking is just over the road and from memory I paid £5.80 for 4 hours, I think it was £8.50 for the day. The beach on the other hand was really nice with plenty of room for all. There was a public toilet and showers. And there were a few food and drink outlets. And the beach had life guards on duty. Oh and the beach was very clean.

Small but comprehensive local history museum. Set in a 16th century building. Lots of great artifacts and oral history by residents remembering Penryn in the past. You sit comfortably in an old armchair, whilst hearing this. Free admission.

Not the biggest museum I've ever been to and a bit hard to find, however it was very nice when we finally got in the, interesting to find out about the history of Penryn, the staff were very helpful and they even have a fun activity for the kids all in all a good way to spend an hour or so and it's free

I'm tracing my Penryn ancestors so found this museum fascinating. The Ladies were enthusiastic & extremely knowledgeable, willing to share their expertise on the town. One knew lots of information about one of my ancestors as her family live in their house - a family history buffs dream come true. Thank yoy

Excellent museum with a chance to look back at a large part of Penryn's. very well laid out with lots of things to see and read about. Very helpful and knowledge staff and it's free to visit!

Small but very interesting little game for the kids to find the mouse lady in there was very helpfull and kind

Beautiful little building filled with Penryn's rich history. Wonderful and friendly staff.

First started in the early 1970s after a visit to the Museum in Mevagissey by the then "Borough" Town Council. The Town clerk at the time was Eric Dawkins.

“I walked by the sea to the castle, it was awesome, and I was lucky to catch some sunshine.”

Stunning views amazing at sunset Cafe is also a bonus some good rock pools too

This place has a great view and Pendennis Castle close-by, but the beach itself has a rancid smell, which attracts lots of midges/flies. Me and my daughter went for the rockpools but only managed to catch endless amounts of tiny crabs and a couple of baby Goby's.

Parking would be free on the main road, which will be quite full during holiday periods. Access is down wide, fairly steep concrete slope to the cafe and seating. There is a further slope or steps down to the beach. The beach is narrow but sandy. The sea floor slope off quite steeply from the shore so watch little ones. Not sure about loos? The cafe has a very good range of beach side food and drinks.

This beach completely disappears at high tide. There are rocks and boulders in the water which makes getting in difficult.

Beautiful beach with amazing rock pools. The sea does cover the beach at high tide so watch the tide times. Has toilets. There are a few little secluded spots off to one side above the rock pools. We had a lovely afternoon here.

Really beautiful area to go for a walk. If you're brave enough you can get into the water as the beach is more rocky than sandy. The weather usually is really good but sometimes you'll get that rain that will be annoying if you're not from these lands.

Great views. Just wish noisy people would turn off radios Also a lack of public toilets. Many people go here to eat and drink but no toilets near at all. Views to die for and great photo opportunities.

The beautiful seascape to capture the glorious sunrise the sights of St antonys light St Mawes and around to gyllyngvase beach something to saviour

Stunning place by day, plaqued by boy racers at night

Beautiful seas ...amazing colors

Wether spoons will always hold a place in my heart mostly convenience & price drives this. Today's breakfast represented Halloween perfectly, I do wonder how you mess up a microwave breakfast so badly and let something like this leave the kitchen

Lots of people here tonight, looks like a fancy dress thing going on somewhere later.

Steak looks like it's not freshly cooked, and meats look dry. I just like the inside the restaurant and refilled hot drink. The food cost is quite cheap, so it's not too bad if you want the cheap food and good a place to chill out.

Pasta dish very poor value for money compared to other meals but even worse staff not interested in my complaint and offered nothing to address my views. They could of given a portion of chips! I work in the trade so am aware of how these places trade and a little customer care could have gone a long way !!

Boxing Day lunch wasn’t fantastic. Chips uncooked, Vegan pizza didn’t have vegan cheese and other meals poorly cooked. 9 of us ate and only 1 rated their food as satisfactory. However great for drinks!

Cool place, low prices and all you can drink coffee. Good English breakfast. Many students gatherings due to relatively cheap drinks menu.

Meal was good but not used them for some years while on holiday as we always did until dogs were not aloud when we ate outdoors, and it's not only us have spoken to others that wanted to eat outdoors with their dog!

Good variety of exhibits, fun & interactive with very interesting Titanic exhibition - all round great day out!

Worse than I remembered from when it first opened and not many displays had changed or items added. Gets 3 stars because the café had some excellent vegan options

Really delicious iced cream. I got the salted caramel flavour and it was really refreshing.

A great place to come for interesting flavours. We had classic Cornish vanilla and also tried orange & marscapone for sonething new. Both were lovely! They also do vegan ice cream.

Best ice-cream in Falmouth, possibly the UK! Highly recommend the mint chocolate chip, it was excellent.

Friendly staff, wide range of flavours and great tasting ice cream. 5* from the kids!

Myself and my partner went here for ice cream today before taking our long drive back to the midlands what a great way to end a lovely weekend, we had the salted caramel and the Cornish cream tea flavours we are weren’t disappointed! Cones were fresh and crunchy, ice cream was an amazing texture and flavour the highlight for me was the pieces of scone mixed through the Cornish cream tea flavoured ice cream, and as someone who’s normally not a fan of eating the cone… it was delicious! The chap who served us was friendly and efficient and wished us a lovely weekend! It’s the little things (was too delicious I forgot to snap a photo but it was something like this….. 🍦but way better! 😂)

I’m not really an ice cream lover, albeit my husband is. This however is some of the nicest Ice cream we’ve ever tasted - so good we had to go back for more!

A small little ice cream parlour with a large variety of flavours, what more could you ask for, apart from a bigger cone for more ice-cream! The flavours to choose from are great and they even accommodate people with dietary requirements, not often I see the choice for not just one but a selection of vegan ice-creams so I'm sure they'll be happy about that! As you expect from falmouth and the people there the service was warm and welcoming.

It went high tide today about 18:00H, the water is very calm! Nice beach.

Beautifully calm open sandy beach . Calm waves takes a while to get to the deep water but this is absolutely perfect for family’s with children and or dogs . Dog friendly at certain times . Lovely little sea caves you can explore !

Out for a drive and came across this place. Lovely beach sand.good for kids as well. Very flat beach. Car park small. Only problem was no signal on ur phone. Got to pay to park. Cash or card on manchine. But u can download the WiFi by the ticket machine and do it like that but when u walk away no WiFi. There is a cafe and toilets as well. Will come back again some time.

Stopped off here for some lunch and to walk the dogs. Lovely little cove, calm atmosphere with friendly staff and good food. Dogs loved it too although not dog friendly year round. Giving 4 stars as public toilets were awful 🤢 there is a clean disabled toilet at the cafe..

Lovely beach, not as crowded as some other Cornish beaches. The beach cafe is decent, and you can hire kayaks and paddle boards from a guy on the beach, it's £15 per hour for a single kayak or £25 for a twin kayak which we felt was very reasonable. Overall it's a pretty beach with a nice vibe.

Beautiful beach, clean and sea is shallow for many meters which is great for children. Parking right on the beach, toilets and a cafe on the beach. Highly recommend

Great beach for paddle boarding and little ones as flat. Lovely little café and shop too

Unfortunately my experience was very disappointing.The older Gentleman behind the main counter was very unhelpful and unfriendly making me feel a nuisance rather than someone who needed a little support.Such a shame I was excited for my visit but left feeling very unimportant and undervalued as a local resident.

Great library, great facilities, lovely staff. It's a shame that right next to the study area there is a Barclays Bank booth where a lady loudly announces everyone's private banking information. Unless you're looking to scam or rob someone, in which case, knowing exactly how much money people have in their current accounts and ISAs might be useful.

Why do people come in here for a conversation, a library is for study not discussion about shopping or rubbish. KEEP 🤐 QUIET

Just moved to Falmouth and needed to print something. Signed up as a member also. Staff are very friendly and happy to explain anything. Lovely and quiet area

I visited Falmouth Library today with my two grandchildren. Whilst my granddaughter was able to change her library books, my grandson had lost his ticket, so the Librarian looked up his details online and gave him a replacement card for the princely sum of 50p. My granddaughter then had a query about a reading challenge that she'd started at Redruth Library. The other lady asked my granddaughter her name and postcode and said that she would email the library in Redruth to let them know that Falmouth library had stamped her card and given her some stickers. I found them very helpful and nothing was too much trouble.

Sometimes the pc printers don't work, but the staff are good people.

Staff is amazing. Very helpful and friendly. Loads of books. Lots for kids to do.