Bus Timetables

Normal journey time by bus between Porthcurno and Penzance is about 45 minutes on the direct bus. But if by mistake in summer you get on a bus going around in a big circle via St Ives and St Just first, the journey will unnecessarily take 3 hours by travelling anti-clockwise. So do check carefully in summer. Some online journey planners which show you the next available bus do mistakenly tell people to take the three hour journey! Luckily this entire journey is scenic, but sadly no longer features the fantastic open-top double decker buses that were so popular. Services are now provided by Go Cornwall Bus, following First Bus's decision to exit Cornwall entirely on Valentine's Day 14 February 2026.

Reduced bus fares in Cornwall mean any single journey in 2026 costs a maximum of £3.00 Summer timetables usually have about one bus an hour from Penzance to Porthcurno and Porthcurno to Penzance during the daytime, with limited early evening service. Winter timetables normally have less buses than in summer, so in winter there is usually a bus roughly every two hours between Porthcurno and Penzance.

These buses run in a circular route. Some run clockwise and some run anti-clockwise, which explains why times to reach the same destination can be so different and in some places a bus to your destination could come on either side of the road. The circular route includes Land's End, so all of these either go to, or come from, Land's End. In summer some may have come from St Just and St Ives to Land's End, or may go on to those places from Land's End. Read more bus info.  .

To get to the Minack Theatre by bus you need to get off at the bus stop in the car park in the Porthcurno valley, between the former Cable Station Inn and the Telegraph Museum. From there it is about five minutes walk up a steep hill to the Minack - the buses do not go up that hill. At the Porthcurno carpark just opposite the former Cable Station Inn there is an official bus stop with timetables, and from here the bus turns around and goes back the way it came.

Please note that local bus services have been severely cut so that wealthy companies and individuals can avoid tax and social responsibility, and local residents can just stay at home and suffer.

Outside of towns the bus should in theory pick you up and let you off where you ask as long as the location is safe, just wave at the driver to get on, as if you were hailing a taxi. This is officially called a "hail and ride" service. Read more bus travel and taxi information.

Current Bus Timetable