Tintagel to Boscastle Coast Path

North Coast · Coast path · Point to point · Hard

1 hr – 1 hr 40 min · Tintagel, village centre → Boscastle Harbour

Desk-researched

Desk-researched — not yet run on the ground

Elevation profile

168 m gain · high 91 m

Hover or use arrow keys to read the profile

17 m – 91 m

Line mapped on a filtered walking graph that keeps to paths and quiet lanes and treats fast or classified roads as cross-only (scripts/walk-graph.mjs); elevation from EU-DEM 25 m. Not from a recorded run.

Mapped from OpenStreetMap footpaths on the OpenTopoMap contour map — a planning line, not a recorded run.

Distance: 7.2 km
Climb: 168 m
Per km: 23 m
On foot: 1 hr – 1 hr 40 min
Line: Mapped

A point-to-point from Tintagel past the castle bridge and along the slate cliffs, dropping through Rocky Valley's narrow gorge and over Firebeacon Hill to the dog-leg harbour at Boscastle. The elevation numbers look tame; the valleys in between disagree.

Getting there and back

A coastal bus links Boscastle and Tintagel — roughly hourly in season, sparser off it. Check before relying on it.

Parking

Pay car parks at both ends. Leaving the car at Boscastle and bussing to Tintagel first gets the logistics done while you're fresh.

Conditions

Slate-strewn path, flights of cut steps and grassy tops, with Rocky Valley's stone staircase the most careful moment.

Navigation

Coast path signs the whole way. Boscastle's harbour entrance stays hidden until the last turn, which is half the drama.

Season

Shoulder seasons are the sweet spot: summer brings castle queues to share the first mile with, winter brings weather off the Atlantic with nothing to slow it down.

Dogs

Leads throughout — the edges are absolute and the sheep think the path is theirs.

Good for

Big-name sightseeing at running pace
Slate-stack photography stops
Linking two honeypots without touching the road

Watch for

Sheer, unfenced slate edges for much of the route
Rocky Valley's crossing is stone steps beside a real drop
The smoothed profile hides several short brutal climbs

On the ground

Everything touristy in Tintagel
Cafes, toilets and the YHA at Boscastle

GPX download

The line on this page is mapped from OpenStreetMap paths, not a recorded run. Treat the file as a planning aid and check it against conditions on the ground.

Download GPX