An Underrated Travel Destination Is Just Off the Coast of Cornwall

The Scilly Isles are worth the trip

The Isles of Scilly are a ferry ride away from the mainland.

If you board a ferry in the Cornish town of Penzance and head west for just shy of three hours, you’ll find yourself in the Isles of Scilly. This archipelago consists of dozens of islands, five of which are inhabited — and the experience of being there is like little else in the U.K. In a 2013 article, Valerie Gladstone noted that the islands “hold one of the densest concentrations of archaeological sites in Britain” — and that’s before you get into the castles, exotic gardens and shipwrecks Gladstone describes there.

The islands’ distance from the mainland has other benefits as well. In a Condé Nast Traveler feature in 2021, Annabelle Spranklen observed that “[d]ays are often miraculously filled with unbroken sunshine and the night skies, free from the city-light pollution, are inky and glowing.” Spranklen also compared the islands to “Cornwall before the boom in second-home owners,” hailing the archipelago for the friendliness of its residents.

If the landscape and residents aren’t a sufficient draw, the history of the region might be enticing instead. In a recent JSTOR Daily report, Rob Crossan chronicled the islands’ complex history, which includes everything from being the site of a horrific shipwreck in 1707 to the islands’ status as a Royalist outpost during the English Civil War a century earlier.

It’s worth noting that the ferry isn’t the only way to get to the Isles of Scilly — Skybus runs flights between the islands and the mainland all year round, with increased frequency between March and November. For soccer enthusiasts, it’s also worth mentioning that the Isles of Scilly are home to the smallest soccer league in the world. It’s one more distinctive feature for a singular part of the world.