Keeping fit whilst on holiday in St Ives
We have gathered the information you need to continue with your fitness journey, make the gains you desire, stay on plan and be free from excuses whilst still enjoying some well-earned down time.
St Ives and the surrounding locality has a wide range of facilities, clubs and expertise available for people who come to stay in St Ives on holiday. Guests can access all this without having the financial burdens of memberships. The following are some of the ones we think could be most beneficial.
St Ives Leisure Centre
At the top of St Ives there is the leisure centre, which is part of the Better Group. It sits at the top of the hill overlooking the town with some beautiful views and a very large car park. If you have booked your stay in one of our St Ives holiday cottages, this centre is within walking distance and there is a huge benefit as walking up to it from the town could be classed as a work out in itself or at least a very good warm up to whatever you have planned once there.
The leisure centre boasts a fully equipped gym with weight resistance machines, cardiovascular machines and a wide range of free weights. The gym suite was newly refurbished in October 2024 and claims to have the best views around. It is open weekdays from 6.30am until 9pm and weekends 8am-4pm.
If solo training in the gym isn’t your thing then the leisure centre also offers a diverse range of fitness classes run over different days and times which can be pre-booked in advance. These instructor led classes are a fun way to keep training, there are classes for everyone from Pilates and cycling to circuit training and power pump. It is advisable to check out their timetable to double check class days and times.
Finally, there is a 25m swimming pool and small children’s pool. Swimming pool timetables can be found in the centre itself with its very helpful reception staff or online. There are plenty of lane times available which makes planning your sessions much easier. For all of the above there are options to pay as you go as a non-member and prices vary depending on what you would like to do.
Heyl Cross Fit
Heyl CrossFit logo
If you are part of the very popular crossfit community and are worried about missing sessions then worry not!
The closest crossfit box to St Ives is Heyl Crossfit which is typically a 10-15 minute drive from St Ives. This friendly and helpful bunch of fitness enthusiasts have a great reputation and are based over in St Erth industrial estate. Parking is in the industrial estate and is pretty easy to find but allow a few minutes to find somewhere, as to get in you have to follow a one way system through the site. The crossfit box is based towards the exit and has large signs outside the unit so you shouldn’t miss it. You could also take the scenic rail journey from St Ives to St Erth as Heyl Crossfit is a few moments walk from the train station.
The box offers a packed timetable of classes which range from early morning to evening, so you can fit your training easily around your day plans (no excuses). All sessions are run by highly qualified and experienced coaches. The coaches all have a profile on the website which is very handy for putting a name to a face before you go.
The club offers drop in sessions to people who are already training or are a member of another crossfit box and have been for 6 months or more. The website is really clear and helpful. It fully explains the process of who to contact and how if you want to join them whilst you are staying in St Ives. A link to the website is here if you want to join in with the open and welcoming community training there.
There is also a popular café in the industrial estate Teecee’s Diner to grab a coffee or something to eat after working up an appetite.
Hayle Runners
If running is your sport, then Hayle runners are a local running group who meet in the neighbouring town of Hayle. Every Tuesday at 7pm the club meets for a group run from Hayle Rugby club, where there is plenty of parking.
The groups are led by qualified run leaders or coaches and there are lots of groups. These are all based on ability and speed, so there is a group for everyone from the walk/runners amongst us to the speedy sub 3 hour marathon runners. You need to sign in and out with your group leader and after a short round up of the weekend’s race achievements from members, head out onto the roads of Hayle with lights and high vis. The groups pace and distance are often put up on the club’s facebook page in advance of the day so you can see who/where you may want to put yourself before you turn up.
On a Thursday night the club travel a little bit further up the A30 to the nearest athletics track at Carn Brea Leisure centre which is about 20 minutes from St Ives. They meet at 7pm on the track (top right hand side) and complete a speed/track session which is coach led. This costs £3 for non-members of the club.
Again, the session can be seen on the facebook page and if you have garmin clipboard you can get the session straight onto your watch (fancy!).
The best thing to do would be to contact the club via their facebook page or via the contact information on their website. There are names and email addresses and people are really good at getting back to you. By doing this you will have all the info for that week and they know you will be joining them and then you are assured of a warm welcome.
Run Routes from St Ives
There are plenty of run routes that you can take through St Ives, down picturesque cobbled streets, past dinky cottages and always with the sea in view if you want to stick to the roads.
However, St Ives features in many trail running races through the year here in Cornwall. The town is quite a significant check point for the phenomenal Arc of Attrition Ultra race. Competitors choose 100, 50 or 25 miles to complete on foot in the depths of winter.
Another race where the island in St Ives is either the finish or the halfway point is a race held in March by a local company called Bys Vyken events called the Cousin Jack.
Both these races come into St Ives via the coast path via Zennor. The Cousin Jack starts at Cape Cornwall and competitors stay on the coast path until they reach St Ives. This is a great off road run route that has challenge, technical pieces and beauty in abundance.
If you fancy heading off road in the other direction towards Carbis Bay, the coast path and sandy dunes towards Lelant and Hayle could be a good option for you. But if it’s a more rugged terrain you are after or perhaps a shorter punchier route, head towards Knills Monument and through Steeple woodland nature reserve with 40 acres to explore. Not much further on, is Trencrom Hill if you fancy the challenge.
For all of these routes expect mud, sand, plenty of whatever the weather holds and a captivating spectrum of spectacular scenery and far fetching views.
Beach Fit
Milly is a local and a highly qualified fitness instructor who offers outdoor group fitness sessions and personal training in Hayle. You can find her Beach fit website here and she has a Facebook page.
Her beach based classes are perfect if you want to take part in something a bit different whilst on holiday in St Ives. Being outside makes a huge difference to your class experience and Milly is super encouraging and fun. The classes she runs are open to all abilities so even if you are only in the thinking stage of starting a fitness commitment you could start it here.
Beach fits timetable changes throughout the year with the seasons and tides but they train in most weathers so be prepared. You can pay as you go or block book sessions depending on how long you are on holiday for.
Milly also runs personal training and small group sessions so if you would like to continue on a bespoke plan then get in touch with her via her website and chat.
She is a lovely person who is very approachable and knowledgeable about the world of fitness.
Cycling
If you are a keen cyclist and are bringing your bike with you on holiday to St Ives then there are routes a plenty starting and finishing in St Ives. You will find Strava segments littered on the roads in the area. However, if you are looking for some nice flat routes for a leisurely ride in all honesty this is more difficult to find in St Ives.
The best route, in our opinion, is to ride what local people term the St Ives coast road, which is exactly what it says, a road that follows the coast towards Pendeen and St Just. This road is beautiful and wild with technical corners and downhill sections teamed with some great elevation gains. There are animals grazing the moorlands and so some sections have gates and cattle grids.
This road has been ridden by many great cyclists including our personal hero Mark Cavendish as it was part of the Tour of Britain route which started in Penzance. The route took the cyclists out to St Just and they followed this road to St Ives before they headed onwards to the finish in Bodmin in the north of the Cornwall. If you would like to see this route in more detail it can be found online here.
Whichever way you go out of St Ives by bike you cannot escape the hills and so you are guaranteed a great training ride. The area has cafés and pit stops in abundance to fuel your ride whilst you clock up the miles.
St Ives Holidays with fitness combined
Hopefully, we have you covered in this post and you can have a lovely holiday in St Ives whilst keeping the fitness dreams alive. Last note, remember whilst you are here, in close proximity to the sea, the benefits of cold water dipping after exercise is not to be underestimated. No need for an ice bath, take a dunk in the best salt water recovery bath we have, the Atlantic sea. For more information on cold water swimming, see our blog post Sea Swimming which offers advice and answers to questions on how to keep you safe.