Day ToursDay Tours of Cornwall’s Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Cornish Smugglers’ East Tour

Tall Ships, Ports & Smugglers

Follow in the footsteps of Cornish smugglers, on our smugglers East Tour. We will visit Charlestown’s tall ships, Fowey, Polperro and the iconic Jamaica Inn with its smuggling museum.


Tour Agenda

Map of the Cornish Smuggler’s East Tour
  • Charlestown

    We visit the last open 18th-century Georgian harbour in the UK, where we can see the square-rigged, tall ships that are residents. A true glance into the sultry world of ship merchants and smuggling, with time to climb aboard these impressive vessels.

  • Fowey

    This beautiful historical harbour town sits at the mouth of the River Fowey and was the gateway to trading granite, fish, tin, and China clay. While wandering the narrow street and waterfront, hear stories of illegal piracy from the town’s corrupt past. From here we catch a small car ferry across the water, passing the home of famous author Daphne Du Maurier.

  • Polperro

    Lunch Spot

    A scenic stroll of the South West Coast Path gets us to this prosperous smuggling port of 12th-century origin with a beautiful high street of independent shops and galleries and a small museum that tells of this town’s criminal history. We pick one of the many eateries for a tasty lunch.

  • Bodmin Moor

    Here we visit either visit the Jamaica Inn, an 18th-century coaching inn which welcomed weary travellers to rest for the night after a long day’s ride across the moors. In its Smugglers Museum, see artefacts of stolen treasures from times gone by. Or visit Bodmin Jail, where smugglers would be jailed for their crimes, or enjoy the rugged Moors for its scenery. Enjoy a Cornish Cream Tea Picnic overlooking the moorland before returning to your accommodation.