Bedruthan Steps
UKscenic

Atlantic Highway A39: North Cornwall

Cornish surf beaches, smuggler's coves, and the Westcountry pasty trail

Distance
86 mi
139 km
Driving
2 hr 30 min
excl. stops
Suggested
4 days
balanced split
Stops
7
curated

Distance and driving time are measured along the mapped route through the 7 stops listed below. Officially signed versions of famous routes often quote a longer figure, since they include promoted detours this line doesn't take.

Bedruthan Steps · Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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Day by day

Distances are measured along the actual road geometry, not straight-line. Drive times exclude stops, traffic and ferry waits.

What the drive is like

Two roads do the work. Roughly 35% is on the A39 and another 30% on the B3276.

It never gets very high, around 240 m at most near Flexbury, but it's rarely flat: something like 1,187 m of climbing over the whole drive, much of it short and steep.

The bigger places on the way are Wadebridge and Flexbury, handy for fuel and food between the stops.

Part of the drive follows the A39 Atlantic Highway (Barnstaple to Bude).

  • A3935%
  • B327630%
  • B326310%
  • A3896%

How high it goes

~240 m near FlexburyNewquayHartland Quay · 85 mi
Height above sea level along the driving route, measured at about 50 points. Total climb roughly 1,187 m.

Passes and famous roads

From the 500-plus roads drivers collect in the Plan Your Road Trips app.

Famous road · On the route

A39 Atlantic Highway (Barnstaple to Bude)

Before you go

Best time to drive it

May to June, or September

The A39 and the lanes off it are slow and busy in the school summer holidays. Outside them, the beaches are quieter and the driving easier.

Indicative costs

  • Fuel (40 mpg petrol)£14
  • TollsFree

Fuel prices move constantly: treat these as a range, not a quote.

Driving rules

Emission zones, mandatory equipment and licence requirements change country by country, and in 2026 several of them changed mid-year.

Driving in United Kingdom

Every stop on the Atlantic Highway A39: North Cornwall

  1. Newquay

    Start

  2. Padstow

    +14 mi from the last stop

  3. Bedruthan Steps

    +8 mi from the last stop

  4. Tintagel

    +27 mi from the last stop

  5. Boscastle

    +4 mi from the last stop

  6. Bude

    +14 mi from the last stop

  7. Hartland Quay

    +18 mi from the last stop

Worth a detour

Curated places within 25 km of the road.

Show 6 more

  • Hartland Quay

    scenic viewpoint

    Savage stretch of North Devon coast where contorted rock strata zigzag into the Atlantic, reached by a dead-end road down the cliffs to a 16th-century harbour site and pub. Shipwreck country with a small museum.

  • A39 Atlantic Highway (Barnstaple to Bude)

    famous road

    The North Devon and Cornwall coast road with sea glimpses, steep combes and access to Clovelly and Hartland.

  • Golitha Falls, Bodmin Moor

    waterfall

    A series of cascades through ancient oak woodland on the River Fowey, a National Nature Reserve.

  • Holywell Bay

    beach

    A wide dune-backed surfing beach with the Gull Rocks offshore, used as a filming location for Poldark.

  • Padstow

    landmark

    A working fishing harbour on the Camel estuary, transformed into a food destination and the terminus of the Camel Trail.

  • St Agnes Head

    scenic viewpoint

    A cliff-top headland on Cornwall's north coast with ruined engine houses of the tin mining World Heritage Site along the shore.

Common questions about the Atlantic Highway A39: North Cornwall

How long does the Atlantic Highway A39: North Cornwall take?

The driving itself is about 2 hr 30 min across 86 miles (139 km). Most people spread it over 4 days: the day-by-day breakdown on this page splits it into balanced stretches rather than equal ones, so no single day is all driving.

How many miles is the Atlantic Highway A39: North Cornwall?

86 miles, or 139 km, measured along the actual road rather than straight-line between towns.

When is the best time to drive the Atlantic Highway A39: North Cornwall?

May to June, or September. The A39 and the lanes off it are slow and busy in the school summer holidays. Outside them, the beaches are quieter and the driving easier.

What does the Atlantic Highway A39: North Cornwall cost in fuel?

Roughly £14 in fuel for a petrol car averaging 40 mpg. Motorways on this route are toll-free. Indicative only: fuel prices move.

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