Lizard Point

The most southerly village in mainland Britain.
The village centre is a place of craft shops, art galleries, tea rooms and an inn, all clustered around the village green.
From the village centre, walk anywhere towards the sea and you are soon in some of the most stunning coastal scenery in the country.
Queen Victoria visited here in the 19th century, she ordered many items of Serpentine Stone for her new house on the Isle of White. This richly coloured green stone is very popular and Lizard is the centre for its polishing and fashioning into ornaments.
Although the village provides all the essentials it is what lies just to the south is why visitors flock to the area in their thousands each year. Here you will find ‘Lizard Point’, the tip of the Lizard Pensinsula. Its three sides jut out into the Atlantic and are subject to a very severe battering by the waves for much of the year. It is quite a rare day not to see the waves breaking over the rocks far below.
There has been some form of lighthouse on the Lizard since the 17th century, the present one was built in 1751. Another feature is the twin fog horns that still boom out every 30 seconds in bad weather, this whole place is now open to the public.
There is a National Trust car park on the point and a café/shop on the headland that juts out into the sea. Perhaps not in the best taste to place a café in such scenic surroundings but I’m afraid commercialisation gets everywhere. Having said that, it is a nice place to relax after a long cliff top walk and just enjoy the views, if not the sea crashing against the cliffs, there are often dolphins, basking sharks and many shoals of little fish being chased along the surface by predators below.
Just offshore there are the Man o War rocks, one of the reasons why a lighthouse is so essential.
If you look carefully you will see the Cornish Choughs, now breeding successfully on the cliffs.
Directly under the café is the Old Lifeboat Station and at low tide there is a little beach, small boats are still launched from here.
There are some truly splendid walks direct from the village. A favourite and quite manageable is across the ‘Caerthillian Nature Reserve’. Follow the coastal footpath markers across the green going past the toilets on your left. The markers are very clear. You will soon be out into open countryside which opens out onto gorselands, rolling grasslands and then onto the coastal path proper. When you reach the cliff top, which isn’t far, there are 2 options, you can go to the right which takes you toward Kynance Cove, or to the left which takes you to Lizard Point. This latter option is the circular route and takes in some magnificent views, as does the whole coastal path.
The nature reserve is a place of outstanding nature conservation interest. Over 250 species of national or international importance are found here, many of which are restricted to this region. This is one of the mildest places in Britain with frosts a rarity, gales and glowing salt spray however are extremely common.
Lizard village does not have its own beach as such except numerous hidden little coves that only the more adventurous can find. The best known locally is Kynance Cove, just a short distance away.
Please go to our Lizard beaches section for a comprehensive guide to beaches on the Lizard Peninsula.

There are several little guest houses in Lizard and a few nice hotels scattered around the neighbouring little coves.