Short answer: Christmas Day lunch in St Ives means the hotels — Tregenna Castle, the Carbis Bay Hotel, the Pedn Olva — plus occasionally Porthminster Beach Café, all booked by early autumn. The restaurants in town close. Christmas Eve and Boxing Day at the Sloop and the harbour pubs are the fallback, booked 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.
The town's restaurants close on the 25th. What opens is the hotels, with set Christmas lunches at set prices: Tregenna Castle Resort above the town, Carbis Bay Hotel round the bay, Pedn Olva Hotel on the water, and in some years Porthminster Beach Cafe. Bookings open in summer and go by September or October, with deposits. Each confirms its 2026 plan on its own site in early autumn.
2026 dates: hotels confirm Christmas Day lunch from September; historically full by October. We update this line the moment organisers confirm.
The better day out: the town open and lit, and lunch at The Sloop Inn St Ives, The Rum & Crab Shack or Porthminster Kitchen. Book by the end of November — Christmas Eve fills nearly as fast as the day itself.
The Sloop and a couple of harbour pubs open for lunch; our Boxing Day guide has the list. Book by early December.
Hotel Christmas lunches run from around £90 to well over £150 a head, one or two sittings from midday, children's prices usually available. The Sloop's Christmas Eve is a fraction of that. If you want a table with a sea view on the day, Pedn Olva and Porthminster are the two.
St Ives has good fishmongers and butchers on Fore Street — Christmas Eve morning is the time to shop, then the day itself on the beach with nobody on it.
See the full St Ives guide, filtered by who's with you.
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