Short answer: Christmas Day: the harbour and the lights, a couple of restaurants doing booked lunch, nothing else. Boxing Day: the main pubs open at lunch, the Camel Trail is the walk (flat, pushchairs, dogs), and the bakeries reopen the day after. Book Christmas lunch by October; book Boxing Day tables by early December.
This is one of our town-by-town winter guides — the full county picture is in Christmas and New Year in Cornwall 2026.
Padstow on Christmas Day is the harbour, the Christmas Tree of Lights still glowing, and quiet lanes — beautiful, and closed. A few of the restaurants do a booked Christmas lunch; in past years that has included Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant and one or two of the hotels, with tables gone by early autumn. Everything else — cafés, shops, the bakeries — is shut. Parking is free and empty. Christmas dinner in Padstow has the booking detail.
Five flat miles on the old railway from the Padstow Harbour end to Wadebridge, with the estuary beside you the whole way. Pushchairs, dogs off lead, wheelchairs, grandparents — it takes everyone. Walk to Wadebridge and get the bus back, or do the two miles to the Camel Estuary viewpoint and turn round. Bike hire on the trail is usually closed until after New Year.
Welcome on every beach and in both pubs. The harbour beach at low tide is a good dog run.
The harbour car park is free on Christmas Day and easy on Boxing Day — the one week of the year it's not a problem. Our Padstow guide has the rest.
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