UK's 'most popular holiday spot' for 2024 has Caribbean-worthy beaches

27 January 2024 , 06:15

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Falmouth is one of the many lovely spots in Cornwall (Image: Getty Images)

The British public is pining after a trip to the rugged and wild coastline of Cornwall.

A breakdown of Google searches for holidays to specific destinations has shown that the South West capital of piracy and large indoor plant attractions is where most people are dreaming of travelling to right now. Cornwall took the top spot with more than 150,000 searches in the last month alone, according to data put together by Parkdean Resorts.

Perhaps this should not be too surprising, given the county has 300 beautiful beaches including Caribbean-worthy spots, as well as a huge range of fantastic attractions including the Eden Project and Newquay Zoo. There are many different aspects and flavours to the county, which was once a more cut off area of isolated fishing villages.

Polzeath is a posh seaside village about three miles north of Rock and across the Camel Estuary from Padstow. Here homes and holiday lets rise steeply up behind the large and wide sandy beach that has been a surfing Mecca for decades. It is home to the sweeping expanse of Polzeath Beach and Baby Bay, a smaller cove to its right which has a sauna by the sea.

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Newquay is another great spot in Cornwall (Shutterstock / Tim Woolcock Photography)

It is essentially a wooden hut on wheels which allows you to sit on the lower or higher wooden bench with friends, enjoying a sauna with a large glass window providing a stunning panoramic view of the bay. After a quick dip in the sea to cool off you can head off to Surfside, a rum bar with indoor and outside seating which has been serving cocktails, locally caught fish and seafood, and tapas dishes on the beach since 2017.

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Cornwall is also home to one of the "coolest" places in the UK. Falmouth was recently named one of the top 10 best places to visit in the UK and the place to go in England's most south-westerly county if you're looking for a laid back atmosphere and those also living on the cutting edge.

Arguably what has made Falmouth 'cool' is its large student population. Roughly a quarter of people living in the town of 24,000 attend either the specialist art university or the mining school. The coming together of the culturally engaged set from the former and the pint downing rugby lads of the second across a town much better known for its pubs than clubs makes for a unique atmosphere.

Come the warmer evenings at the end of summer term, once exams are a thing of the past, you will find throngs of these students making the most of Falmouth's relatively temperate climate all along the harbour front and on its beaches.

UK's 'most popular holiday spot' for 2024 has Caribbean-worthy beaches

The Lake District came in second on the list (Getty Images)

It wasn't just Cornwall that impressed. The Lake District took second place with over 140,000 searches for ‘Lake District holidays’ in the last month. Offering some of the most beautiful walks and views in the whole country and plenty of activities to get involved with including canoeing, sailing and mountain biking, it comes as no surprise that the Lake District is, as ever, a place that people are pinning to visit.

Meanwhile, despite being a whole country with a population 10 times bigger than Cornwall's, Scotland only came in at third on the list, perhaps suggesting the particularly stormy winter we're living through has made the idea of a trip to the Highlands a bit less tempting.

The same problem may also be blighting famously rainy Wales. Despite it having 45 Blue Flag-accredited beaches, as well as the breathtaking Snowdonia and Brecon Beacons national parks, Wales failed to top the list, but did take a respectable fourth spot in the rankings.

You can check out the full top 10 list below...