A beautiful cove has found itself in the firing line despite its reputation as one of the most picturesque beaches in the world.
Kynance Cove, a small strip of paradise in Cornwall, usually impresses visitors with vivid turquoise waters, silky white sands and unique geological formations that exude an almost Mediterranean aura.
With no more than 200 metres to its name, the tiny cove has previously been crowned among The World’s 50 Best Beaches 2024 and bagged a position in travel guide Lonely Planet’s top 100 beaches ranking, reports Cornwall Live.
With accolades like these, even Parkdean Resorts compared it to a Caribbean destination claiming its “akin to Sosua Beach in the Dominican Republic.”
Captivating thousands of tourists each year, over 1,662 holidaymakers have expressed their enamour for Kynance on Tripadvisor – not to mention countless pouty selfies gracing Instagram and TikTok feeds.
However, not all remarks are positive, visitors and residents complaining over a number of downsides to the beach.
Kynance Cove has been blasted by disgruntled visitors for its overcrowded conditions and lack of sand.
Mitch Findlay, one of the 16 to give the location a ‘terrible’ rating on Tripadvisor, vented his frustration: “Long drive and when we got there were tons of tourists and nowhere to park. Even the beach cove was too crowded to park. We left without even getting out of the car.”
Another visitor, Trelawney40000, humorously remarked: “The truth from a local is, there is no beach as all the sand has been washed away. It stinks badly.”
Claire G also chimed in with her disappointment after finding no sand during her visit and said: “After a 15-minute walk down to the cove, we saw everyone packed into small spaces, sitting on the rocks and slippery seaweed. The sandy beach that once existed had been washed away in stormy weather we learned later.”
She added: “There wasn’t really anywhere pleasant to sit and I didn’t feel it was very safe for the kids in close proximity to the rocks and the sea tide was coming in at the time. We stayed for about half an hour then decided to leave.
“The views are stunning but even when we returned to the car park, the National Trust car park attendants were still happily receiving more cars and people into the area and collecting the money.”
John B lamented the vanishing sands, remarking: “Do visit, but please check the local tide times. Hundreds of visitors had paid £7 to park with no beach remaining.”
Kgrg recounted a chaotic experience: “It was carnage, queued to the car park, queued down the ‘path’ to the beach, nightmare. When we finished the death trap walk we entered the cove. There was no room to lay towels. We were practically on each other’s knees. I know this was August, during the school holidays. But it was not even 10am, midweek and the weather wasn’t fantastic either.”
They added, “It might be ok out of school hols and on rainy days. After 10 mins we headed back to the car, what a trek. Then we had to queue to get off the car park as others must have given up too. The ‘overflow’ car park must be 20-30mins walk to main car park then you’ve got the trek down to the cove. Not our idea of a nice relaxing day at the beach.”
Barry Taylor, a visitor from Hudderfield, had a less than stellar experience during his visit to the cove in the pre-Covid era. He described the journey down to the beach as “utter madness”.
His review read: “I saw madness, people carrying babies in prams, elderly struggling and people with complex mobility problems attempting this. Utter madness. It’s the sort of trek that you do and just wish that you had not bothered. People must get injured from this hike unaware of the scale of difficulty they are going to encounter. We braved it and got to the bottom and we stood on beautiful Kynance Cove, along with hundreds of other people like sardines in a tin waiting to claim a couple of square footage of sand as our place.”
He added: “It was packed, it was horrible. When we arrived it was the tiniest cove I had ever seen but I’m led to believe it’s a different experience at different tide times.”
Another visitor, Patrick C from Mudbury, also expressed his disappointment: “Kynance Cove is a chocolate box location that has been turned into the Costa del Sol by the National Trust who have allowed parking facilities to extend way beyond the capacity of the beach and its cafe can cope with. Avoid in peak season when the sun is out, it will be mobbed.”
A National Trust spokesperson said: “The size of the beach at Kynance Cove does significantly reduce at the two daily high tides. We recommend that visitors check information on tidal times from sources such as the Met Office before their visit if they want to enjoy the beach when the tide is low. We also have a notice board in the car park highlighting the times of high tides for that day.
“Kynance Cove is our most popular beach and in good weather it does become very crowded, which means we close the carpark until space becomes available. Signs ahead of the turning into the carpark inform visitors if it is closed to ease the flow of traffic and help prevent overcrowding. We also inform visitors that the beach is extremely busy throughout July, August and September on our website.”