West Country beaches are praised across the UK as the Holy Grail for coastlines, attracting millions of tourists each year.
Locations have been dubbed mini-Maldives or a taste of the Mediterranean because of their clear blue sea and soft sandy beaches. But not everyone who ventures to our area has a good time.
TripAdvisor is full of scathing reviews after some travellers became frustrated with our sand being 'too sticky', car parking being too expensive or even the sea being 'too cold', reports Cornwall Live.
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From disappointed people who just "drove on through" after seeing Watergate Bay in real life to a beach where "everything is contaminated" because of dogs according to another reviewer.
Below is a selection of the most entertaining one-star reviews of people who had the worst holiday in Cornwall or hated our beaches.
Porthminster Beach - St Ives
One angry tourist wrote: "Very cold water. We visited the beach yesterday. We had to walk ages to the sea because the tide was out and when we got there it was freezing and very windy. The sand was awful as it is the wrong sort of sand and very sticky. It got everywhere and I’m still finding bits today! Won't be back next year."
Another penned: "Hideous, overcrowded, noisy, covered in litter. Why would anyone with any sense want to go to this place which is hell on earth? Crowded, noisy, nothing to eat but bad fish and chips and Cornish pasties, and the beach packed full of the morbidly obese, screaming sunburnt children in buggies and people with tattoos. The place to go to see parenting at its worst and cardiovascular disease waiting to happen."
Carbis Bay
A visitor wrote: "Terrible. Should be renamed garbage bay."
Porthgwidden Beach - St Ives
A tourist said: "DOGS DOGS DOGS If you enjoy the smell of dogs defecating and urinating everywhere you will enjoy this place.
Be careful where and what you eat... everything is contaminated."
Watergate Bay
A visitor penned: "Disappointed. Decided to visit here all I can say is disappointing we didn't stop just drove on through in the end."
Porth Beach
Another person wrote: "Only a stop off. Smelly and dirty windy, with sand blowing all the time. Cars on the beach with plenty of dog mess, also dirty water. But the sheep still visit."
Polzeath Beach
A tourist said: "Windbreak city. I know it's popular judging by the other reviews. For me it was just torrid. Everyone packed in a tight spot, flooded car park, car alarms going off, couldn't see the kids as the whole beach view covered by wind breaks. Not my cup of tea and there are plenty of better beaches in North Cornwall in my opinion such as Constantine and Holywell bays."
Padstow harbour
Someone wrote: "Can't highlight Padstow. Boring, boring, boring. Most of town seems to be owned and run by one person. Paid for half day parking left after hour an half. Not as nice as we thought would be and sooooo expensive."
Kennall Vale
"To be honest, it's just a load of old boring rocks on a soggy hill. I thought it would be amazing but there's not even phone signal there."
Perranporth beach - where the sand is 'too wet'
Classic. The post, from 2018, read: "There are a few car parks but I think we were just lucky in finding a space. Understandably in the height of summer the place was jam packed. There's lots of surf shops, ice cream parlours.
"The beach itself looked really good for surfers, however I found the sand to be much too damp - not great for building sand castles. It was far too busy for my liking better as a surfers beach rather than one for chilling out on." Obviously the review was ridiculed by locals - you can read the story here.
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