Cosy Beach Cafés in Cornwall for Hot Chocolate

Bracing beach walks. Enlivening sea dips. Storm-watching, wave riding and skin-tingling adventures that embrace the season’s chill. How we love the wild freedom of winter in Cornwall. And then, oh, how good it feels to open the door to these cosy seaside cafés, peel off your mitts, and warm up with a steaming hot chocolate and home-baked treats at the end of your outdoor adventures. Here are our favourite cosy beach cafés in Cornwall.

Godrevy Beach Café, Godrevy

Tucked in the dunes behind the iconic Godrevy lighthouse on St Ives Bay, the Godrevy Beach Café (main picture) attracts flocks of sandy-soled punters to feast on home-baked cakes, hearty breakfasts, doorstep sandwiches and lunch platters stuffed with fresh Cornish ingredients. 

Poldhu Beach Café, Lizard Peninsula

The sandy crescent of Poldhu Cove is a Mecca for winter surfers seeking shelter, treasure hunters to-ing and fro-ing from Dollar Cove, and coast path walkers seeking the Marconi monument – where the first transatlantic radio signal was sent in 1901. And whatever the weather throws at their adventures, the buzzing little Poldhu Beach Café is the perfect pit-stop, serving up Poldhutastic hot chocolates 363 days of the year. 

Lusty Glaze Beach Café, Newquay

When the storms are blowing sea foam up the beaches, the waves are lashing the shoreline and the sea breeze whipping your cheeks into a rosy glow, our favourite place to be is hunkered beside the log burner at Lusty Glaze Beach Café. A hot chocolate piled high with cream and chocolate buttons, the dog at our feet, card games laid out, the wild weather crashing ashore on the stunning crescent bay in the view. 

The Beach Hut, Watergate Bay

Watergate Bay is one of our favourite winter surfing and dog walking spots – blessed with two miles of golden sands, emerald rock pools and towering cliffs. No surprise then, that wet feet, sandy paws and salty locks are all part of the furniture at The Beach Hut, where you can sip an Extreme Hot Chocolate piled high with whipped cream, marshmallows, buttons and sprinkles. With a choice of an Oreo, white chocolate, chai and Baileys hot chocolates on the menu, the toppings vary according to your taste; but the stupendous sea views come with every steaming mugful. 

Sea Spray, South Fistral

Hogging an enviable location as close to the waves of Cornwall’s surfing capital that you can get without getting your feet wet, Sea Spray is arguably one of the best locations to experience the winter surf and storms that pound Fistral Beach. Steaming hot chocolates and fingerlicking baked goodies are a big draw too, as is the cosy, dog-friendly welcome.

Blue Bar, Porthtowan

Brave a dip in the sea pool, hit the winter surf or wrap up and explore the cliffs and shoreline in the shade of World Heritage mining territory. Porthtowan is a wild and picturesque scene in the colder months when it sheds the summer beach crowds and glistens under the low, golden light. And while the ice cream parlours pull their shutters for the season, the door of the legendary Blue Bar is always open, ready to welcome you with hot chocolates, brownies, burgers and nachos, served sea-facing window booths nudging the beautiful beach. 

Life’s a Beach, Summerleaze, Bude

Whether you’re fresh from a bracing dip in Bude Sea Pool, seeking shelter after a blustery beach walk or straight out of the surf on Summerleaze (you can practically step from the sea into the café at high tide), thaw out in the laidback Life’s A Beach café. The Super Hot Choc with marshmallows and cream is a family favourite, or how about a cheeky Mexican Hot Chocolate laced with spiced rum, chilli and cinnamon? 

The Cabin Beach Café, Perranuthnoe

Now if you’re a surfer, then you’ll know that one of the spots to find waves in the winter westerlies is the rugged little cove of Perranuthnoe, tucked into Mount’s Bay. And while you’re waiting for the tide to turn, there’s nowhere better to keep your beady eye on the surfing conditions than from The Cabin Beach Café, where you can tuck into home-baked cakes, hot chocolates or a hearty breakfast bap.

Polpeor Café, Lizard Point

Britain’s most southerly café might not have a log fire burning on those blustery winter’s days, but there is nowhere more dramatic to clap eyes on the storms and the scenery than the little Polpeor Café perched on the cliffs in the shadow of the lighthouse. And there’s nothing better to warm your cockles on a stormy day at Lizard Point, than a hot chocolate decorated in cream, marshmallows and a flake, or how about one laced with Baileys liquor? 

Gylly Beach Café, Falmouth 

The winter wild swimming community at Falmouth’s Gyllynvase Beach has mushroomed in recent years, with gangs of wetsuit-less swimmers braving the cerulean waters on the wildest winter days. Lucky then, that they have the option of warming up with a signature hot chocolate piled high with cream and sprinkles at the stylish Gylly Beach Café. Join them in a cosy spot under the under the patio heaters, or soak up full blast of the winter sun seeping through its south-facing windows.

Now you know where to warm up for a pit-top on your winter adventures, there’s no stopping you getting outdoors – whatever the weather. And if you really want to be ready for the elements, check out out essential winter kit guide for days out beside the coast.