Haven Riviere Sands
Riviere Sands is a Haven holiday park on the clifftop at Hayle, in far-west Cornwall, looking down on the white sand of St Ives Bay. Towans beach runs three miles from below the park, and The Times named it the best beach in the UK in 2024. Staying here is a self-catering week in a static caravan, with a heated indoor pool, an outdoor pool and slide, shows in the Showbar and St Ives four miles down the road.
On this page
- Is it worth it?
- Quick facts
- What the park is like
- The caravans
- Eating and drinking
- Pools and water
- The beach
- Babies and toddlers
- Things to do
- Evenings on the park
- Getting around without a car
- Prams and wheelchairs
- The area and days out
- Loves and gripes
- How it compares
- Getting there and when to go
- Weather
- Health and supplies
- Questions
- Photo gallery
Is it worth it?
The quick read before the detail: who the park suits, what's on site and the facts to skim first.
The beach is why most families book Riviere Sands. Towans is white sand, part of a three-mile curve around St Ives Bay, and you walk to it from the park rather than driving to a car park. Everything you sleep in here is a static caravan, so the week is self-catered, with a Wetherspoon, a café and a couple of takeaways for the nights you'd rather not cook, and a Co-op for the shopping. There's a heated indoor pool for the wet days and an entertainment programme in the evenings. There's no crèche, no lazy river and a shorter activity list than Perran Sands, Haven's other Cornish park, has. Guests score it 4.4 out of 5 across 2,409 Google reviews as of June 2026, a little ahead of Perran, though take that as a rough steer rather than a promise. A car is strongly advisable at this end of Cornwall.
Best for
You want a big white-sand beach straight off the park, a sea view from the caravan, shows and characters in the evening and a self-catering week that doesn't cost much.
Maybe not for
You want childcare, you're bringing the dog or you want calm shallow water for a nervous paddler.
Best ages
From two, when the Activitots sessions start. A younger baby stays with you all week, as there's no crèche.
What stands out
Towans beach below the park: three miles of white sand, reached on foot from the site rather than by car.
What to check
Which zone your caravan sits in, as the park runs over hills as well as flat ground, and the ordinary way down to the sand is the cliff.
Where is it?
On the clifftop at Hayle, Cornwall TR27 5AX, above St Ives Bay. Hayle station is just over a mile away.
Quick facts for families
What the park is like
Where it sits, how the ground rises and falls across the site and what that means for where you end up.
Riviere Sands sits on the cliff at Hayle, near the far-western tip of Cornwall, with the three-mile sweep of St Ives Bay below it. Many caravans look out across the white sand and the water. It's the longest drive in the county from most of England, and the trade for that is the scenery out here and one of the mildest climates in the country. It's a Haven-run park, not the same property as the independently-run St Ives Bay Holiday Park, which sits on the same stretch of coast and is easy to confuse with it when booking. For the wider county, see our Cornwall guide.
The park is built on undulating clifftop ground and is not flat overall. Haven names the zones: Trelawny, Godrevy, Marazion Way and the bottom of St Aubyn are flat, while Basset, Lander and the top of St Aubyn are hilly. The furthest point on the park is a 12-minute walk from the facilities, so nowhere is remote, though 12 minutes uphill with a toddler and a swim bag is a different walk from 12 minutes on the level. The main complex where the pool, the pub and the entertainment sit is mostly flat once you're in it.
You don't have to take whichever zone you're given. Haven's Choose Your Holiday Home service lets you pick your exact caravan location, or upgrade the position, for an additional charge on top of the holiday. If flat ground or a short push to the pool matters to you, that charge is how you buy it, and it's worth checking the current price and what's still available when you book.
Parking is free and sits alongside the caravans, though it can be tight, and the lower areas of the site are grass rather than tarmac. Some guests report that the marked bays in the Marazion zone aren't enforced much in practice, and that the grass turns muddy after rain. Dogs aren't permitted at Riviere Sands. It's one of only two Haven parks that don't take them, with registered assistance dogs the exception.
The caravans, every grade
All six grades with their official sizes, and which ones have the room a family actually needs.
Everything on this park is a static caravan. There are no lodges, no apartments, no glamping and no touring or camping pitches, so if you were hoping to bring a tent or a caravan of your own, this isn't the site for it. Six grades run from Saver up to Signature Gold, and Haven confirms all six are available here. Silver and Gold may come in smaller numbers than the Saver, Bronze and Signature stock, so check what's free for your dates.
| Grade | Size | Bedrooms | Sleeps | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saver | 280 sq ft | 2/3 | 4/6 | The basic grade at the lowest price, on older stock, with a smaller kitchen and bathroom. |
| Bronze | 420 sq ft | 2/3 | 6/8 | Wider than a Saver, with a larger kitchen and lounge, central heating and double glazing. |
| Silver | 420 sq ft | 2/3 | 4/6/8 | A styled interior and decking. |
| Signature | About 420 sq ft | 2/3 | 4/6 | The Silver features in a front-row sea or lakeside position. |
| Gold | 560 sq ft | 2/3 | 4/6 | The largest caravan, with wrap-around decking. |
| Signature Gold | 560 sq ft | 2/3 | 4/6 | The Gold size and features in a premium front-row sea or lake position. |
The biggest grade doesn't sleep the most, which is the one thing in that table worth a second look. Gold and Signature Gold are the largest by floor space at 560 sq ft, and they sleep four or six. Bronze and Silver are smaller at 420 sq ft, and they sleep up to eight. The extra space in a Gold goes into the lounge, the kitchen and the finish on the same two or three bedroom layout, not into extra beds. For a party of seven or eight, that makes a Bronze or a Silver the caravan to look at rather than the largest one on the park.
For a family, the gap that matters is between Saver and Bronze. A Saver is 280 sq ft, the cheapest way onto the park, and it's on the older stock: guests describe the bathrooms as compact and the interiors as dated, and one review mentions not being able to fit the luggage in the bedroom. It works as a base, and it's tight once a pushchair and the baby kit are in it. A Bronze is half as big again at 420 sq ft, with a larger kitchen and lounge, and that's the grade most families with a baby or toddler will be glad of. Whichever grade you take, the zone matters as much as the size: a caravan in a hilly zone at the far end of the park is a noticeably harder week with an infant than one on the flat, and a family with a six-month-old flagged exactly that in a review.
All the caravans are self-catering with an equipped kitchen. There's a launderette on site, and it's worth checking its current hours with the park if you're staying long enough to need it. TV reception is reported as poor in some units.
Eating, drinking and the food shop
Every place to eat on the park, the Co-op that covers the rest, the two pools and the beach below.
There's no sit-down restaurant with waiter service here, which is normal for a Haven park and worth knowing if you're used to a hotel. Your kitchen is the plan for most evenings, and the venues below cover the rest. Ordering runs through the My Haven app, either to your table or for collection, or you scan a QR code at the table. Haven runs deals such as a cut-price children's main and a set price covering two adult mains together, though these change by season, so check what's on when you go. Allergy and nutritional information sits in a Haven guide and against each dish in the app.
The J D Wetherspoon is the biggest thing to eat at. It's a full Wetherspoon, so you get the wide budget menu, a children's menu and the soft and hot drinks, in a pub with a beer garden looking out over Hayle beach. Dogs aren't allowed inside, Wetherspoon's usual pub policy. Coast Café serves Cornish food in a seaside setting, with a play area outside and a sea-view terrace, and it's the one most families use in the daytime. Check its hours when you arrive rather than planning a day around it. Cook's Fish & Chips is the traditional takeaway, and Papa Johns does pizza to collect or delivered to the caravan through the app. The Showbar serves drinks through the evening while the shows are on.
The on-site shop is a Co-op, and it's better stocked for a family than a park shop usually is: baby food, nappies, wipes and formula, local produce, a free-from range, buckets and spades, Seaside Squad merchandise and a Costa Express machine. A forgotten box of formula is a walk across the park rather than a drive into town. The FunWorks arcade has the penny machines, the grabbers and the prizes, and its upper amusement centre is reached by a lift a team member operates.
Pools and water features
The heated indoor pool is the facility that makes a wet week workable, and it runs on a booking system rather than turning up. Fourteen swim slots come with each holiday booking, and they open 28 days ahead through haven.com/experience. If depth is the thing that decides whether your child can stand up, ask the park before you go. There is no toddler slide in the indoor pool: Haven publishes the list of parks that have one, and Riviere Sands isn't on it. Family changing rooms have changing tables for babies and toddlers. There's a designated disabled changing area with its own toilet, and a pool hoist is available on request. A swim shop by swim reception sells goggles, floats, inflatables, arm-bands and reusable Happy Nappy swim nappies.
Outdoors there's a second pool with a two-lane water slide, and smaller paddling and splash pools alongside it. The outdoor flume runs to a published seasonal timetable: open through May half term, then weekends only until 6 July, then Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and weekends until the August bank holiday, weather permitting. Booking the indoor pool also gets you the outdoor pool and the slides, subject to availability, opening times and the weather. This isn't one of Haven's water parks, which are at Seashore, Craig Tara, Hafan y Mor and Primrose Valley, and there's no lazy river here, which Perran Sands up the coast does have.
The beach
Towans is the beach below the park, also called Hayle Towans or St Ives Bay beach. It's white sand backed by dunes, part of the three-mile curve of St Ives Bay, and The Times named it the best beach in the UK in 2024. You reach it from the park itself rather than from a road or a car park.
It's open Atlantic coast, and Haven's own description is written for people who want the wild Atlantic waves, so expect surf rather than flat water. A toddler who wants calm shallows to sit down in will get more out of Porthminster in St Ives, four miles away, which shelves gently and sits in the lee of the town. Hayle Surf School works on Towans from the site next door and is accredited by Surfing England, with a maximum of eight students to an instructor, qualified coaches and RNLI lifeguards on the beach in peak season.
The park is on the clifftop and the beach is below it, so the ordinary walk down and back goes over the cliff terrain rather than level ground. The accessible route to the beach runs from the main restaurant, which is where to head with a pram or a wheelchair. It's worth walking it on the first day to see what it involves before you're doing it twice daily with a pram.
Babies and toddlers
What there is for the youngest children, the kit you can hire and what fills a family day here.
There's no crèche and no childminding service at Riviere Sands. The children's programme runs with you rather than instead of you, so nobody takes a baby off your hands for an hour.
Activitots is the sports session for two to four year olds, and an adult takes part alongside the child. Sessions cover balance, coordination, bat-and-ball games and throwing and catching, led by the activity leaders, and they're included in the Haven package. Activikids is the same idea for five to ten year olds, who take part on their own. The Seaside Squad are Haven's four mascots, Annie, George, Jaz and Rory: they do shows in the Showbar, photos around the park, a Tots' Disco, Dinosaur Explorers and Hubble Bubble Peculiar Potions at Halloween, plus character breakfasts you book ahead and a Make a Bear party you pay for. There's indoor soft play too, reached by the team-operated lift.
For the kit, travel cots, highchairs, bed guards, hairdryers and irons are hired at most Haven parks for a small charge, subject to availability. That wording is Haven's and all of it matters: it isn't confirmed park by park, it isn't free and it isn't guaranteed, so check My Account or ring the park before you leave the cot at home. The Co-op stocks baby food and formula, the swim shop sells reusable Happy Nappy swim nappies if you'd rather not pack a box, and the pool has family changing rooms with tables.
With a baby under two, a few of those pieces drop away. They'll be with you all week, since Activitots starts at two. The indoor pool has no baby splash feature and no toddler slide, and the outdoor slide runs on a seasonal timetable and is unlikely to suit them anyway. The flat zones make the pushchair days easier, which is a reason to pay the Choose Your Holiday Home charge at that age. What's left is the sand, the pool and the Seaside Squad sets, which is a fair week at two and under if you weren't expecting an hour off.
On the parkThings to do
Almost everything organised here needs the Haven package rather than the cheaper Hideaway booking, which is the first thing to check on the price you're comparing. You can pre-book up to 12 weeks ahead online, or take your chances on arrival if there's space. Some sessions are included in the package, others are paid on top.
The paid list covers archery coaching, which is coach-led, kart hire with helmets included, crazy golf and the Creative Sessions: slime-making, sand art, pottery and Make a Bear, open to all ages and bookable up to 12 weeks out. Ask about the minimum age for the archery and the karts if you're weighing either up for a small child. Included in the package are the Ranger Activities, which are the ones worth knowing about out here: bushcraft including firelighting, bug hunts and den building, led by the Haven Rangers. There are free Little Green Change worksheets on a stand on the park too, for beach bingo, bug hunts and leaf rubbings, which cost nothing and fill a slow afternoon.
Free to everyone, package or not, is the outdoor play area with its slides, swings and balance beams. The indoor soft play and the FunWorks arcade cover the wet hours. Linked Bingo runs at 5.15pm daily and is paid: it's played at the same time across several Haven parks, so the prizes are bigger than one park could fund. A Football Dartboard Challenge and a Sports Range of games through the day are also on the park's list, so ask which of them your booking covers. Surfing is next door on Towans with Hayle Surf School rather than run by the park.
What you should know before comparing is that this is a smaller activity selection than Perran Sands offers. There's no Adventure Village here, and NERF Training Camp and Segways, both of which Perran lists, don't appear on the Riviere Sands activity list. Haven's line-up moves from season to season, so check the park's own page for what's running in your week.
After teaEvenings on the park
Evenings happen in the Showbar, the park's one entertainment venue: drinks at the tables and the shows on the stage, with the Seaside Squad doing the early sets aimed at young children. The evening entertainment is included in the Haven package and not in a Hideaway booking. That's worth checking on the price you're quoted, because a Hideaway holiday here is a caravan and a beach without the programme.
The Showbar is a bar with a stage rather than one of Haven's larger Marina Bar and Stage venues, which are at nine other parks. It's the kind of room where you sit at a table with the children in front of you, so it suits a family that wants the evening handed to them and won't suit anyone after a quiet one. The daily Linked Bingo at 5.15pm runs just before it, and the room carries on into adult entertainment once the children's sets have finished.
Getting around without a car
What the train reaches, what a pram or a wheelchair is up against on the site and the days out around Hayle.
A car is strongly advisable here. If you don't have one, the reliable option is the train. Hayle station is just over a mile (about 2 km) from the park, on the Penzance to Exeter St Davids line, and St Ives is a 15 to 20 minute run from it with a change at St Erth. That single line covers a lot: St Ives four miles (6 km) away, Penzance about 8 miles (13 km) south and connections on towards the rest of the country. Hayle town itself, about a mile off, is walkable for a top-up shop.
Truro, the nearest major city, the main shopping stop and home to Cornwall's cathedral, is about 17 miles (27 km) east on the A30 and A390, roughly half an hour by car.
Parking on the park is free, and there's usually space near the caravan, though the bays fill up and the lower areas are grass.
Prams, wheelchairs and the hillsGetting around the park with a pram or wheelchair
Where your caravan lands changes the week here more than it would on a flat park. Of the flat zones, Trelawny and the bottom of St Aubyn are the two Haven itself lists as best for guests with accessibility needs, so they're the ones to ask for.
The main complex is mostly flat once you're there. Getting up into the Live Lounge, the upper amusement centre and the indoor soft play means the lift, and the lift has to be operated by a team member: the numbers to call are posted at the lift itself, so it's a wait rather than a button. Reception has a ramp available on request, and there's Blue Badge parking at the main complex. At the pool, a hoist is available on request, and there's a designated disabled changing area with a disabled toilet, alongside the family changing rooms with their baby-changing tables.
For the beach, the accessible route runs from the main restaurant, and that's the way down to head for with a pram or a wheelchair rather than the cliff path from the accommodation zones.
Beyond the parkThe area and days out
Being this far west means fewer big family attractions within 20 minutes than you'd get from Perran Sands. What you get instead is the beach quality, the far-west scenery and a handful of short trips worth the drive.
Hayle itself is about a mile away: a compact town centre with a Co-op, a pharmacy, a café and the station. It covers basic supplies rather than a big shop. On its edge, the Hayle Estuary RSPB Reserve is walkable from the town, free to enter and pushchair accessible, with tidal pools, saltmarsh and wading birds all year. There's baby changing on site. It's a short outing rather than a day.
St Ives, four miles (6 km) away, is ten minutes by car or 15 by train from Hayle, and the train is the easier call because summer parking there is very limited and the town is busy. Tate St Ives, the harbour, the seafood and rock pools at Porthgwidden are all there, and Porthminster is the sheltered, shallow-shelving beach for a child who doesn't want surf. St Michael's Mount is 6 miles (10 km) on, about 12 minutes to Marazion: a tidal island with a National Trust castle, walkable across the causeway at low tide. The causeway suits a carrier, though the climb to the castle is steep and no place for a pushchair, and there's a garden café at the top. Penzance, 8 miles (13 km) and about 15 minutes, is where the M&S, Sainsbury's and Lidl are, along with West Cornwall Hospital, the seasonal Jubilee Pool lido and the ferry out to the Isles of Scilly. Land's End is 15 miles (24 km) and about 25 minutes, a paid headland visitor centre with dramatic cliffs and the signpost, which is mostly a photo stop and not much of a day with very young children.
Further out, the National Seal Sanctuary at Gweek is 14 miles (23 km) and about 25 minutes, RSPCA-run and a good fit for toddlers. The Eden Project is about 38 miles (61 km) near St Austell, and about 50 to 55 minutes rather than the half hour the map distance suggests, because the A30 runs northeast before cutting back south. It's a strong wet-day option with the biome domes, and children pay to get in. The Lost Gardens of Heligan, near Pentewan, are about 35 to 38 miles (56 to 61 km) and a similar 50 to 55 minutes, with a jungle, a rope bridge and one of the biggest outdoor playgrounds in the South West, which suits a toddler who's walking. Newquay, about 20 miles (32 km) north, has the zoo, the Blue Reef Aquarium, Pirates Quest and surf lessons. It makes more sense on a longer stay.
For a wet day that doesn't involve an hour in the car, Ferdi's Indoor Play in Helston is 13 miles (21 km) and about 20 minutes, on the old Flambards site now the theme park has closed. It's soft play with slides, a cannon park, ball swamps, an assault course, a toddler zone for children under two, a Mini Street role-play area and a café. Under-ones go free.
Loves and gripes
What guests consistently rate and what frustrates them, how it stacks up nearby, the drive down and the weather.
This is our read of the guest reviews, both sides of it. Guests score the park 4.4 out of 5 across 2,409 Google reviews as of June 2026, with its TripAdvisor rating a little lower, and it holds a TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice award for 2025.
What families love
- The beach: wide, white sand, backed by dunes and straight off the park.
- The clifftop views, from the caravans and from the pub's beer garden.
- Value at the lower grades, praised again and again.
- Maintenance that turns up fast: a radiator leak fixed within minutes of an app report, a cleaner arriving within minutes of a hygiene flag.
- The entertainment team, named in reviews and described as warm with young children.
- Helpful reception staff, and security noted positively.
Common gripes
- Cleanliness in the budget-grade caravans is inconsistent, more so on the older stock.
- The budget bathrooms are small, to the point of barely turning round in.
- Parking bays in the Marazion zone going unenforced, on one guest's report.
- A caravan allocated far from the facilities is wearing with a young baby.
- TV reception is poor in some units.
- It's caravans only, so there's nowhere to bring a tent or a touring caravan.
A couple of other complaints turn up as one-offs rather than a pattern, about a facility closing before its advertised time and the accommodation team not being around on a particular day. They're single reports, so we'd hold them lightly.
Against the other Cornish parksHow it compares
The comparison that matters is Haven Perran Sands, the group's other Cornish park, about 20 miles north. Perran is the bigger site, with a lazy river, an Adventure Village, NERF Training Camp, Segways and more types of accommodation, and it takes dogs. Riviere has the better beach, the sea views, lower prices and the far-west position, and it scores slightly ahead of Perran across the review platforms. Perran covers a full day of activity on the park better; Riviere suits a week of sand and swimming.
Pentewan Sands, an independent park, has a private beach at the water's edge and an indoor pool kept warm all year at around 30°C, noticeably warmer than a typical Haven pool. It has no Haven entertainment programme, so it suits a quieter, beach-led week. Hendra at Newquay has the stronger pool, a larger indoor complex called the Oasis with flumes and a baby and toddler area, plus a four-storey soft play, while Riviere has the beach on the doorstep and lower prices. Landal Gwel an Mor is a different holiday altogether, a premium inland lodge retreat with a large paid soft-play complex called Base Camp and a wildlife centre, with no direct beach at all.
The drive down and the month to pickGetting there and when to go
From London it's about five hours by car in good conditions, and longer on a peak summer Saturday, when the A30 queues from Exeter onwards. By rail, Hayle is on the Penzance to Exeter St Davids line with onward connections, and London Paddington is roughly four to five hours away with changes likely. Hayle station is just over a mile from the park, and Truro, 17 miles east, is the nearest big town on the way in.
The park is open year round, in the sense that Haven parks don't shut for the winter. Plenty of what's on it is seasonal, though: many of the on-park activities and the whole outdoor pool run to a summer timetable, and the outdoor flume's dates are narrow enough to check against your week. That leaves the indoor pool as the all-weather facility.
With young children, the months to look at are late May, June and September. July and August are the warmest and also the busiest and the priciest. The sea in September is as warm as it is in August, and the beaches empty after the first week. October half term is fine if your week is the indoor pool and walks rather than swimming outside.
Month by monthWeather
Far-west Cornwall has one of the mildest climates in the country. Frost is rare and the winters are warm by UK standards, which is part of why the park stays open all year. The figures below cover May to October, the months a family is realistically here for the beach.
| Month | Daytime high | Overnight low | Rain | Wet days | Sea temp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 9° | 4.5° | 106 mm | 16 | 10° |
| February | 9.5° | 4.5° | 89 mm | 14 | 9° |
| March | 10.5° | 5.5° | 68 mm | 13 | 9° |
| April | 12° | 6.5° | 68 mm | 12 | 10° |
| May | 15° | 9° | 70 mm | 11 | 12° |
| June | 17.5° | 11.5° | 60 mm | 10 | 15° |
| July | 19° | 13.5° | 65 mm | 11 | 17° |
| August | 19.5° | 14° | 68 mm | 11 | 17° |
| September | 17.5° | 12° | 70 mm | 11 | 16° |
| October | 14.5° | 10° | 111 mm | 16 | 15° |
| November | 11.5° | 7.5° | 125 mm | 18 | 13° |
| December | 9.5° | 5° | 113 mm | 16 | 11° |
Typical monthly averages from weather-station records. Sea temperature is the open-water figure, so a sheltered bay can feel a degree or two warmer.
Health and supplies nearby
The nearest A&E is Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske in Truro, about 17 miles (27 km) east and half an hour away, and it's the only one in the county. For a minor injury or an infection, the urgent treatment centre at West Cornwall Hospital in Penzance is closer, about 8 miles (13 km) south and 15 minutes. The nearest GP surgery and pharmacy are both in Hayle, a mile off.
For supplies, the on-site Co-op handles the day-to-day, including nappies, wipes, formula and baby food. For a proper shop you're going to Penzance, 8 miles away, where the M&S, Sainsbury's and Lidl are. There's no big out-of-town retail park near the park, so it's the Co-op or the drive.
Questions
The things families ask most, the official pages worth a bookmark and when this guide was last updated.
How many times can we swim in a week?
Twice a day, roughly, and no more. The allowance is per booking rather than per day, so a family of five draws on the same fourteen as a couple, and a fortnight doesn't get you any extra. The slots release 28 days ahead, so put a reminder in the diary for the day your booking opens rather than leaving it until you arrive.
Which grade should we book with a toddler?
Bronze rather than Saver, if the budget stretches. It sits at the same cheap end of the range and gives you half as much floor again, which with a travel cot and a pushchair in the room is what you're paying for. Gold isn't the family upgrade it sounds like: the extra goes into the lounge and kitchen, so a party of seven wants a Bronze or a Silver instead.
Can we get the pram down to the beach?
Use the accessible route from the main restaurant rather than the cliff path down from the caravans. It starts at the main complex rather than at your caravan, so a pram trip to the sand means walking to the complex first.
Can we bring the dog?
No. Riviere Sands is one of only two Haven parks that don't take dogs, so this is the one to rule out if the dog comes on holiday with you. Registered assistance dogs are the exception and stay in an Adapted caravan at no extra charge.
Is there anyone who can watch the children for an hour?
No. Activikids at five is the first session a child goes to without a parent, so below that age you're in the room too. In practice a break here means the two of you swapping, one on the sand and one back at the caravan while the baby naps. If a proper hour off is what you're booking for, a resort with a crèche is the better place to look.
Riviere Sands or Perran Sands?
It comes down to beach against activity. A young child who'll spend the week between the pool and the sand gets more out of Riviere, which is also the cheaper of the two. School-age children who want filling up from breakfast onwards get more out of Perran, and it's the one to pick if the dog is coming, since Riviere won't take him.
Can we choose where our caravan goes?
Yes, through Haven's Choose Your Holiday Home service, which costs extra on top of the holiday. Booking it is the only way to be sure of flat ground or a sea view, so price it up while you book rather than hoping on arrival. Check what it costs at the time, as it isn't a fixed figure.
Could we do it without a car?
You could, at a cost. The train from Hayle station covers St Ives and Penzance, and Hayle town is walkable for a top-up shop. Everything else worth doing out here, from St Michael's Mount to Ferdi's on a wet day, means a drive, so a car-free week narrows the holiday to the park, the beach and the train line.
When should we go with young children?
Late May, June or September. If the sea matters, September has the warmest water of the three and the first week of term empties the beaches. October half term works if your week is the indoor pool and walks rather than swimming outdoors, since the outdoor flume has finished by then.
Where's the nearest A&E?
Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske in Truro, about 17 miles (27 km) east and half an hour up the A30. It's the only A&E in the county, so for a minor injury or a suspected ear infection the urgent treatment centre at West Cornwall Hospital in Penzance is much closer, at about 8 miles (13 km).
See more Riviere Sands photos
Open the Riviere Sands photo gallery →
Useful links
- Haven Riviere Sands: the park's own page for the caravan grades, the facilities and booking.
- Haven pools: how the swim slots are booked and what each park's pool has.
- Cornwall with little ones: our guide to the county, its beaches and when to go.
Last updated July 2026.
