Christmas and New Year in Cornwall 2026: Every Town's Lights, Swims, Markets and Festivals

Short answer: Late November is the switch-ons and Truro's lantern parade; the first weekend of December is Padstow; mid-December the Mousehole lights; 21 December Montol; Christmas Day and Boxing Day are for sea swims; New Year's Eve belongs to Looe and St Ives. Each town below has its own detailed guide.

Cornwall doesn't close for winter — it changes shape. The beaches empty, the villages string their harbours with lights, and a calendar of small-town festivals and cold-water traditions runs from the last week of November to New Year's Day. This is the whole season in one place, with a link to the practical guide for each town: how it runs, where to park, what to do with children and dogs, and where to warm up after.

A note on dates. Most organisers confirm 2026 dates in October and November. Each town guide carries a dated line that we update the moment they do; the patterns below are what's held for years.

Late November: the switch-ons and City of Lights

• Truro City of Lights — the giant lantern parade, a Wednesday in the second half of November.
• Falmouth — parade from Events Square, lights on at the Moor at 7pm.
• Newquay — market, music and fireworks on a Friday.
• Liskeard Lights Up — a community lantern parade on a Saturday.
• Bude, Helston, Launceston and Bodmin — smaller town-centre evenings, easier to park for.

Early December: Padstow, Fowey, Angarrack and Marazion

• Padstow Christmas Festival — four days of chefs, market, lantern parade and fireworks, the first weekend of December.
• Fowey Christmas market — a weekend of stalls and a switch-on over the water.
• Angarrack lights near Hayle — the Twelve Days of Christmas through a village's lanes, from the start of December.
• Marazion and St Michael's Mount — the town's lights and the Mount's winter calendar.

Santa trains and the big attractions

• Bodmin & Wenford Santa Specials and Lanhydrock — book in October.
• Christmas at Eden and Heligan's Night Garden — skating and Father Christmas by day, the light trail by night.
• Launceston and Lappa Valley (near Newquay) run gentler Santa trains that are easier to get tickets for.

Mid-December: Mousehole and Montol

• Montol on 21 December and the Mousehole harbour lights — masks and fire in Penzance, then the most famous lights in Cornwall three miles round the bay.
• Port Isaac — carols on the Platt and the Fisherman's Friends at home.

Christmas Day and Boxing Day: the swims

• Perranporth, Boxing Day 10:30 — the biggest, no wetsuits.
• Bude's Christmas Day dip at Crooklets; Newquay's Watergate Bay and harbour swims; Poldhu near Helston; Charlestown near St Austell (wetsuits allowed).
• Or a walk: Tintagel's coast path with the castle in view and nobody on it.

New Year's Eve: Looe and St Ives

• Looe — fancy dress for everyone, fireworks at 6pm for families and midnight for the rest.
• St Ives — the same spirit, bigger crowds, and a transport problem to solve in advance.

Three rules for all of it

1. Park where the organisers tell you, not where the satnav does. Every one of these events is a small place with one road in.
2. Book the ticketed things — Santa trains, Padstow demos, Heligan, Eden's skating — in October. Book restaurants for the big nights in November.
3. Check the organiser's social media the morning of. Winter weather cancels things at short notice, and the website is the last place they update.