Scilly

Visited: May 2025, on a call of MS Amadea. The photographs are my own, taken that day. Times and prices checked for the 2026 season.

St Mary’s is the largest of the Isles of Scilly and the only one most visitors set foot on: just over six square miles, about 1,800 residents, roughly 1,100 of them in Hugh Town. It lies about 45 kilometres west of Land’s End. You arrive by ferry from Penzance, by Skybus or helicopter, or — if you come off a cruise ship — by local boat from the anchorage. One day gives you Hugh Town, one coastal loop and a meal. It does not give you a second island.

St Mary’s at a glance

How do you get to St Mary’s?

Four ways, and they buy different amounts of time on the island. That is the only number that matters when you plan a day here.

The Scillonian III from Penzance

The ferry sails from late March to early November. She leaves Penzance at about 09:15, takes roughly two and three quarter hours, and sails back from St Mary’s at about 16:30 — so a day trip gives you around four and a half hours ashore. A day-return costs considerably less than an open return. Times shift with the tide, so check the current timetable rather than these before you build a day around them. A replacement vessel, Scillonian IV, was launched on 28 March 2026 and is due in service in 2027; anyone planning that far ahead should re-check the schedule.

Skybus and the helicopter

Skybus flies to St Mary’s year-round from Land’s End — about fifteen minutes in the air — and seasonally from Newquay and Exeter. Penzance Helicopters fly year-round to St Mary’s and to Tresco. Flying buys you roughly eight hours on the islands against the ferry’s four and a half, which is precisely the difference between one island and two. Both are weather-dependent, and out here that is not a formality.

By cruise ship

Ships anchor off the island and you come ashore in a local boat, about fifteen minutes, landing in the middle of Hugh Town. A call typically gives four to five hours. The section below explains why there is no berth.

Why cruise ships cannot dock at St Mary’s

The quay was first built in 1593 and last extended by 23 metres in 2015. It takes vessels drawing up to 3.9 metres — the Scillonian and the island freighter, not a passenger ship. So ships lie at anchor. According to St Mary’s Harbour, the two anchorages used are St Mary’s Roads, the water between St Mary’s and Samson, and Crow Sound on the eastern side. A local pilot brings the ship in.

The harbour authority is explicit about the landing: passengers and crew are tendered ashore by local skippers, in boats belonging to the St Mary’s Boatmen’s Association. Ships’ own tenders stay on the davits. It is the same arrangement as at Saint Peter Port, and for the same reason — tides and local water that a visiting crew does not know.

Our ship anchored off St Mary’s and we were ashore in about a quarter of an hour. The boats run to the ship’s schedule, but the queue back builds through the afternoon, so the last hour ashore is worth less than it looks on the programme. In a tender port you count backwards from the last boat, not from all-aboard — be at the landing 45 to 60 minutes before it.

Hugh Town: what is at the quay

Hugh Town sits on a narrow isthmus joining the Garrison headland to the rest of the island, with a beach on either side: Town Beach on the harbour, Porthcressa facing south. You step off the boat and you are already in the town — the shops, cafés and galleries are on the two streets in front of you, and from the middle of the isthmus you can see both beaches.

What that means for a short visit: nothing in Hugh Town needs planning, and everything beyond it needs a look at the clock.

What to do on St Mary’s in one day

One loop, one meal, and time in hand. That is the shape of the day, and the common mistake is to add a second thing to it.

If you have four to five hours, do the Peninnis loop and keep the rest for the harbour. If you have a full day — flying in, or staying over — add Halangy Down in the morning and the loop in the afternoon, which covers the two ends of the island without repeating a metre of path.

The Peninnis loop: 3.5 km past the lighthouse

From the quay, cross to Porthcressa and follow the shore east, then up past Buzza Tower — an old windmill that now holds a camera obscura — and out along the headland to Peninnis Lighthouse, built in 1911 and standing on some of the strangest weathered granite in England. From there the path runs on to Old Town, where the churchyard above the bay holds the grave of Harold Wilson, and a road brings you back into Hugh Town.

Measured, the loop is about 3.5 kilometres and takes 50 minutes to an hour and a half depending on how often you stop. It is well marked but uneven, and the Peninnis section is granite underfoot. Trainers are enough; sandals are not.

One piece of timing that matters more than it sounds: walk it at the start of your time ashore, not the end. The harbour, a beach and lunch can all be cut short. A coast path a kilometre and a half from the nearest road cannot.

Halangy Down and Bant’s Carn: the other walk

Most visitors never get to this end of the island, which is a shame, because it is the oldest thing on it. On the north-western slope, about two miles — roughly three kilometres — from Hugh Town, stand the remains of an Iron Age village at Halangy Down and, on the hill above it, the Bronze Age burial chamber of Bant’s Carn, with its entrance passage and inner chamber still intact.

It is in the care of English Heritage, entry is free, and it is open at any reasonable time in daylight — there is no gate, no desk and no ticket. Walk or cycle; there are no facilities at the site, so the nearest food, shops and toilets are back in Hugh Town. Allow around an hour and a half for the return walk plus time on the site, which makes it a comfortable morning but a tight squeeze against a tender deadline.

The island museum is shut until 2027

Worth knowing before you plan a wet-weather alternative: the Isles of Scilly Museum is not open. The collection is moving into the Grade II listed Town Hall in Hugh Town, which is being restored as a Museum and Cultural Centre with an indoor performance venue and an island hall. The museum’s own site gives early summer 2027 as the opening, and in the meantime the team runs events at outdoor venues across the islands rather than from a building.

So if rain closes in on a day visit, the honest answer is a café, the Garrison wall under a hood, or the boat back. There is no indoor museum to fall back on this season.

Beaches on St Mary’s

Two are in the town and need no planning at all. Town Beach lies along the harbour and dries out at low water, which is when it is worth looking at — boats sitting on the sand, chains and moorings exposed. Porthcressa is on the south side of the isthmus, a few minutes’ walk from the quay, and is the one people actually swim at.

Old Town Bay sits on the Peninnis loop, below the churchyard, which makes it the natural halfway stop. Further round the coast path there are more — Pelistry and Porth Hellick on the eastern side — but those belong to a full day on the island rather than to a few hours ashore.

Getting around St Mary’s without walking

You do not need a car and could not usefully bring one. A seasonal community bus runs on the island and you can get on and off it as you like; bikes can be hired in Hugh Town; the yellow golf buggy is a common sight and can be hired too; and there is an official guided minibus tour with commentary that covers the main sights. Taxis exist in the way they exist in a town of a thousand people — by phone, not at a rank.

None of these publish fares in a way I could verify from two sources, so ask at the quay or the tourist information centre rather than planning against a number you read somewhere. For anyone who can walk three kilometres, walking is the faster option on a short visit anyway: the island is six square miles and nothing worth seeing is far from the path.

Can you reach Tresco or St Martin’s in a day?

From an overnight stay, easily. From a day trip, rarely — and it is worth being clear about why. The inter-island boats are run by the same St Mary’s Boatmen’s Association that tenders cruise passengers ashore. Their published examples show departures from St Mary’s at around 10:00, 10:15, 11:15, 12:15 and 14:00, with returns from Tresco at 14:15, 15:45 and 16:45 — and the association says plainly that these illustrate the service rather than form a timetable, because tides, weather and numbers move them.

Stack that against four and a half hours ashore: find the right boat, cross, have perhaps two hours on the other island, cross back. On a ferry day trip it is possible but leaves no margin. On a cruise call, with a tender queue at both ends, it does not work at all — and Tresco Abbey Garden deserves better than a forced march. St Agnes and Bryher are the same calculation.

Is St Mary’s part of Cornwall?

Not administratively. The Isles of Scilly are historically and ceremonially tied to Cornwall, but they are governed by their own Council of the Isles of Scilly and lie about 45 kilometres beyond Land’s End. St Mary’s is in England, reached via Cornwall and shaped by Cornish culture — yet it is not part of the county. In practice your journey starts in Penzance or at a Cornish airfield, and everything after that feels like its own small country.

What a day on St Mary’s costs

Excursion prices: Phoenix Reisen, MS Amadea 2027 programme, checked March and June 2026. Ferry and flight fares change by season and are not reproduced here — take them from the operator.

The €25 is the line to read carefully if you arrive by ship. It is not a tour but the landing itself, because the vessel anchors offshore and local boats do the ferrying. There is no walking off on your own here — the transfer is the gangway, and everything in this guide happens after you have paid it.

Where the photographs are

The harbour at low tide is the subject on this island. Boats sit down on the sand, chains and moorings lie exposed, and the light comes off the wet flats rather than the sky — which is why the pictures on this page mostly look down and mostly at the water’s edge. Check the tide table before you plan your walk: the difference between a full and an empty harbour at St Mary’s is bigger than the difference between any two sights on it.

The second subject is the churchyard above the sea at Old Town, a short walk out of Hugh Town and best late in the day.

What I would do differently next time

Walk north instead of south. The Peninnis loop is the obvious route and everyone from the boat does it; Halangy Down and Bant’s Carn are three kilometres the other way, free, unstaffed, four thousand years old, and I did not get there. On a day with five hours I would take that one first and keep the harbour for the last hour, when the tide is out and the queue has not yet formed.

Questions people ask about St Mary’s

What is the capital of the Isles of Scilly? Hugh Town, on St Mary’s. It is the only place on the islands with the size and infrastructure of a town, and it holds the quay, the council and most of the shops.

How big is St Mary’s? Just over six square miles, with around 1,800 residents — roughly 1,100 of them in Hugh Town. It is the largest of the Isles of Scilly and the only one most visitors set foot on.

Is St Mary’s in England? Yes. It lies about 45 kilometres off the Cornish coast and is part of England, though not of the county of Cornwall.

Can cruise ships dock at St Mary’s? No. Ships anchor in St Mary’s Roads or Crow Sound and passengers are tendered ashore in local boats run by the St Mary’s Boatmen’s Association.

How long does the tender ride take? About fifteen minutes from the anchorage to the quay, plus the queue at either end.

How long is the ferry from Penzance? About two and three quarter hours each way on the Scillonian III, which runs from late March to early November and leaves roughly four and a half hours ashore on a day return.

Is the Isles of Scilly Museum open? No. The collection is moving into the restored Town Hall in Hugh Town, and the new Museum and Cultural Centre is due to open in early summer 2027.

Where is Old Town? On the south coast, about twenty minutes’ walk from Hugh Town and part of the Peninnis loop. It has a bay, a beach and the churchyard above it.

Can you visit St Martin’s from St Mary’s? Yes, by inter-island boat — but on a day visit the timings rarely allow it. See the section above.

Written by Jan Madeus — ship’s videographer at sea since 2008. I go ashore in the same ports as the passengers, with the same few hours and the same deadline. More about me.

Ports on this route — the British Isles: Falmouth Cruise Port on Your Own · St Ives from Falmouth · Buckler’s Hard from Portsmouth · Saint Peter Port on your own · Totnes and Buckfast Abbey from Plymouth · Liverpool and the Royal Albert Dock · All cruise ports on your own