Short answer: Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 October 2026: free, no tickets, live shanties and sea songs across eight venues in Port Isaac, with the Village Hall as the main stage. Collection boxes support the upkeep of the village hall. Parking is the challenge — arrive early.
This is the successor to the Port Isaac Shanty Festival, which the organisers could no longer run because of rising costs — there was no event in 2025. The new weekend is a little smaller, run by a team of local volunteers, and spread across the village rather than a big marquee. For a village whose name is shorthand for sea shanties (the Fisherman's Friends started singing on the harbour front here), its return is a big deal.
Port Isaac's streets are narrow and steep, and on a festival weekend the car parks fill early. Arrive in the morning, park at the top, and walk down — our flattest-way-down guide covers the options, including the gentler approach via Port Gaverne. Don't try to drive into the lower village.
Breakfast first (our Port Isaac breakfast guide — note two venues double as festival stages), fish and chips between sets, and slip up to Castle Rock for the sunset on Saturday before the evening sessions. More in the Port Isaac guide, and every other shanty date is in our Cornwall shanty festivals roundup.
Programmes, venues and timings are the organisers' to change — check their official pages before you travel. Spotted something we've got wrong, or have details we're missing? Tell us and we'll fix it.
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