Short answer: Mousehole is pronounced "Mowzel". It's a tiny granite harbour village three miles south of Penzance with lanes too narrow to drive comfortably, so park at the edge (North Quay or The Parade) or take the bus 6 from Penzance. Come for the harbour at low tide, a crab sandwich or cream tea, the coast path to Lamorna, and in December the famous harbour lights.
Mousehole is small enough to walk round in twenty minutes and pretty enough to stay all day. Here's what to know before you go.
"Mowzel" (or "Mow-zul"), to rhyme roughly with "tousle". Not "mouse hole". Penzance Town Council and Visit Cornwall both spell it out, because nearly every visitor gets it wrong.
Penzance Town Council credits Dylan Thomas, who honeymooned here, with calling it "the loveliest village in England".
You can, but you'll regret it: the streets are very narrow, and the North Quay car park sits on a narrow breakwater that reviewers say suits nothing bigger than a hatchback. Park at the edge of the village, or on the road in. Mousehole parking.
Bus 6 runs from Penzance bus station every 30 minutes in the daytime, taking about 20 minutes, and stops at The Parade on the edge of the village. Or walk the 3.4 miles along the seafront through Newlyn. Penzance to Mousehole.
Seafood at 2 Fore Street, a pint at the Ship Inn on the harbour, a cream tea at the Old Pilchard Press. Where to eat in Mousehole · cream teas.
Everything else, filtered by who you're with: the Mousehole guide.
Times, prices and dates are the businesses' and organisers' to change — check before you travel. Spotted something we've got wrong? Tell us and we'll fix it.
See the full Mousehole guide, filtered by who's with you.
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