Inside The Iconic Headland Hotel Newquay Cornwall
Perched high above one of the UK’s best surfing beaches in Cornwall – Fistral Beach, stands the iconic red brick building, better known as The Headland Hotel.
Looking up at The Headland Hotel from Fistral Beach
Once the location for 1990 version of the film, The Witches, you can still to this day recognise parts of the building from those famous scenes. The Headland Hotel also puts on a special annual witches themed afternoon tea in October of each year, starting in the half term school holidays.
The entrance to The Headland Hotel in Newquay, Cornwall.
The Headland Hotel received its first guests in June 1900. Over the years it has gone through some pretty impressive improvements, and now boasts 91 five-star bedrooms and suites. In addition, it has a state-of-the-art gym, a superb spa, a six-pool Aqua Club, and three restaurants.
We first discovered The Headland Hotel when we were staying in a holiday lodge near Looe in Cornwall for Kev’s birthday. We booked in to The Terrace restaurant and instantly knew we had to come back to stay at The Headland!
The following January we stayed in one of the stunning Fistral Suites, which, as the name suggests, look out over Fistral Beach. The view, whilst not a full sea view, was just perfect. We sat for ages in the living room part of the suite, just staring out of the window watching the world go by on the beach below. OK, it was January, but there are some hardy surfers in Cornwall!
The best bit was the stunning sunsets. We were very lucky to have sunshine for both afternoons whilst we were there. Some of our favourite sunset photos were taken on Fistral Beach.
Evening sunset on Fistral Beach, Cornwall
The following year we returned, again in January, but this time there was no sunshine, but we did have a big ferocious storm on one of the evenings. More on this shortly.
We again booked another Fistral Suite, but on the third night, we changed rooms to the West Tower suite, after exploring the corridors and stumbling across this sign below.
A sign telling guests about the West Tower suite.
It turned out that the West Tower Suite at The Headland Hotel is perfect for storm watching. It’s high up at the very top of the roof, with the main bedroom surrounded by black tiles, which are double pinned to keep them on during storms. They do rattle a lot still though!
The views from the suite were amazing as you can see.
The food was superb as you would expect from a 5-star hotel. During our stay we ate in The Terrace restaurant each evening, as the main restaurant was undergoing major redevelopments when we were there in January 2023.
On one of the afternoon’s, we had to try the Afternoon tea, and we were glad that we did. As you can see, it looked absolutely amazing! There was so much of it, we even took some of the leftovers back to our room!
Breakfast at The Headland was to a high standard, along with friendly and efficient staff. We can highly recommend the Eggs Royale with Smoked Salmon. Just looking at the photo makes us hungry.
Eggs Royale with Smoked Salmon
If you are looking to go surfing, there are a number of surf schools and surf shops around Fistral Beach. If you are bringing your own board, the hotel has storage facilities for guest’s surf boards. Just a short 2-minute walk and you are right on Fistral Beach and ready to hit the waves.
Surf Sanctuary at The Headland Hotel
If your idea of fun is a little more sedate (like ours!), The Headland Hotel has an award-winning swimming centre, called The AquaClub. It’s so good in fact that it’s been ranked number 10 in the ‘World’s Best Hotel Swimming Pools’. Now that’s impressive!
The AquaClub has some outdoor pools and relaxation areas, which are all surrounded by tall glass panels, so you are really sheltered from the traditional headland winds.
Prices for members of the public at the time of writing are from £45 for 3 hours. Hotel and cottage guests get unlimited complimentary use, which is pretty impressive! Booking is essential to avoid disappointment.
The Headland Spa also has its own indoor pool, as well as hydrotherapy pool, a Cornish salt steam room, Swedish sauna, and a fragrant aromatherapy shower.
The swimming pool in The Headland Hotel spa
We did book in for a nice relaxing massage, which was superb – highly recommended.
The hotel itself warmly welcomes both children and four-legged friends. For the children there is an outdoor play park. Well-behaved dogs are allowed in The Terrace restaurant, but not the other restaurants or The Aqua Club. They even get provided with blankets, dog treats, poo bags and a water bowl.
Whilst The Headland Hotel Newquay is a 5-star hotel, it is relaxed and friendly atmosphere. There are plenty of soft comfy sofas to sit back and relax in. Whether you have just come off the beach, or from the spa with your robe still on, everyone is made to feel welcome and relaxed.
There is also a large replica of the hotel built out of Lego on one of the staircase landings. It’s pretty impressive, even if you aren’t into Lego. You can see this in our Headland Hotel review video, over on our YouTube channel.
The path from Fistral Beach to The Headland Hotel
In summary, if you love holidays in Cornwall, you should definitely consider a stay at The Headland Hotel Newquay. Rooms start from £240 a night on a bed and breakfast basis for two adults, for a search made at the time of writing for the 17th September 2024.
Key Information
Check-in: From 2.30pm
Check-out: 11am
Parking: Yes, and free of charge
Electric vehicle charging: 4 charging points using the Charge Assist app.
Dogs welcome: Yes
Children welcome: Yes
Hotel rating: 5-star
Would we stay there again?: Yes
Jamie & Kev top tip: Book a room or suite with a view overlooking Fistral Beach for stunning sunsets.
Want more?
Watch our video review of The Headland Hotel on our YouTube channel here.
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Visit The Headland Hotel Newquay website here.
