Tresco
A privately run island of mown lanes, white sand and no cars, with a sub-tropical garden that has no business growing this far north.
An island run as one estate
The second largest of the islands, Tresco is leased from the Duchy of Cornwall and managed as a single estate, which is why the verges are mown, the cottages match and there is not a car on the island. It is twenty minutes by boat from St Mary’s quay, and the only off-island with its own helicopter service from Penzance.
Most people come for the Abbey Garden and stay for everything else: the long white sand of Pentle Bay, the two castles above New Grimsby, the heath of Castle Down at the north end. It is small enough to walk round in an afternoon and quiet enough that you will want longer.
Getting to Tresco
Two ways in: a short boat from St Mary’s, or straight from Penzance by helicopter.
The usual way. Boats leave St Mary’s quay through the day in season, with times confirmed the afternoon before.
- Crossing
- About 20 minutes
- Runs
- Most days in season, fewer in winter
- Lands at
- Carn Near at low tide, New Grimsby at high
- Walk to garden
- 10 min from Carn Near, 30 from New Grimsby
- Tickets
- Kiosks on the quay, or on board
The only direct flight to an off-island. You land beside the Abbey Garden without touching St Mary’s.
- Flight
- About 15 minutes
- From
- Penzance Heliport
- Lands at
- Tresco Heliport
- Book
- Penzance Helicopters
Coming by Scillonian or Skybus, you land on St Mary’s first and take the boat across. The helicopter can fly you straight to Tresco. The estate looks after your bags from there.
- Luggage
- Collected from the quay or heliport
- Delivered
- To your cottage or room
- Book beds
- Through the Tresco Estate
Fifteen places worth the walk
New Grimsby quay
The main quay, facing Bryher across the channel. The New Inn and Tresco Stores are a two-minute walk up the lane.
Visiting the Abbey Garden
Some twenty thousand plants from more than eighty countries, growing in the open on a Scilly hillside. The mild sea and the shelter belts of Monterey pine and cypress do the rest.
- Open
- Daily from about mid-March to the end of October, 10:00 to 16:00. Dates change each year
- Survived
- The snow of January 1987 and a 127 mph hurricane in 1990, then replanted
- Allow
- About two hours, more if you stop for lunch
- Tickets
- At the entrance, or online in advance
- Also inside
- Valhalla figureheads and the priory ruins
- On screen
- Tresco and the Abbey Garden were filming locations for the BBC’s 1989 Voyage of the Dawn Treader, part of its Chronicles of Narnia series
- Food
- The Garden Café & Shop, by the entrance
- Access
- Gravel paths, some slopes and steps
Beaches on Tresco
White sand on every side. The east coast takes the wind less often than you would expect.
Dogs: Dogs on a lead on Tresco, with off lead beaches at Appletree Bay, Bathinghouse Porth and Pentle Bay. Dogs on Scilly →
A mile of pale sand facing the Eastern Isles, and rarely more than a handful of people on it.
15 min from the Abbey GardenBeach guide→Appletree BayShallow, sheltered and close to Carn Near quay, so easy to reach if you land at the southern end.
5 min from Carn NearBeach guide→Raven’s Porth, Old GrimsbyWhite sand below the Ruin Beach Café on the east side, calm when the wind is in the west.
20 min from New GrimsbyBeach guide→Walks worth doing
Nowhere on Tresco is far. These are the routes that make the most of it.
The whole coast, from the castles in the north to Pentle Bay and Appletree Bay in the south. Mostly level tracks and sand.
From New Grimsby up to Cromwell’s Castle and King Charles’s Castle, across the heath to Piper’s Hole and back.
From the garden along Pentle Bay to Old Grimsby for lunch, then back through the middle of the island.
A flat loop round the freshwater pools with bird hides on the way. Best early morning or in the autumn migration.
Things to do on Tresco
Tresco Abbey Gardens: Opening Times, Prices and Visitor Guide 2026
Plan a day at Tresco Abbey Gardens, the subtropical garden on the Isles of Scilly. Find 2026 opening times, ticket prices, boat and helicopter routes, the Valhalla figureheads and local tips for your visit.
Guided walk · 5 milesTresco circular: the castles, Piper’s Hole and Old Grimsby
A guided walk on Tresco with 9 stops, about 3.5 miles (5.6 km). Your phone takes you round and tells you about each stop as you reach it.
SS Mando: The Liberty Ship at Golden Ball
In January 1955 the Panamanian steamer Mando, a wartime Liberty ship laden with coal, ran aground near Men a vaur north of Tresco. The St Mary's lifeboat saved her entire crew.
MV Poleire: Zinc Ore on Little Kettle Rock
In April 1970 the Cypriot motor vessel Poleire ran onto Little Kettle Rock off Tresco in fog, less than a mile from Round Island lighthouse. Her crew were all saved.
Wildlife
Small as it is, Tresco has habitats the other islands do not: fresh water, woodland and open heath.
The only red squirrels in Scilly. A few arrived in 2012 and twenty more in 2013; with no greys to compete, there are now around a hundred, mostly in and around the Abbey Garden.
Wildfowl and waders all year, and in October rare migrants blown in from America and Siberia.
Grey seals haul out on the rocks off the north end. Boat trips from the quay go out to the seabird colonies.
Heather and gorse on the high ground in the north, with stonechats and views across to Bryher.
Where to eat
A short list, and all of it good. Book the evening meals in summer.
The island local by New Grimsby quay, with the Driftwood Bar, a terrace and the Pavilion. Breakfast through to supper, and rooms upstairs.
Mediterranean food from a wood-fired oven, on a terrace above Raven’s Porth. It takes its name from a smuggler’s ruined cottage built into it. Book indoor tables in season.
Seasonal. Brunch, coffee and bakes by day, drinks and tapas suppers at sunset.
Coffee, light lunches and cream teas at the garden entrance, with a gift shop alongside.
Bread, cheese, wine and everything for a picnic on Pentle Bay.
Tresco in pictures
What Tresco is known for
Nine hundred years of history on an island a mile across
Benedictine monks from Tavistock Abbey re-founded an older religious house here as the Priory of St Nicholas. Its ruined arches now stand inside the Abbey Garden.
Built under Edward VI against a French threat, and named later for its Royalist garrison. Set too high to fire on ships in the channel below.
Admiral Robert Blake took Tresco for Parliament by landing on the far side of the island, then built this tower at sea level, partly from the stone of the older castle.
Smith took the lease of the islands, built Tresco Abbey and began planting around the priory ruins behind walls against the gales. His descendants, the Dorrien-Smiths, still hold the Tresco lease.
Carved figureheads and nameboards from ships lost around Scilly, collected by Smith and his successors.
RNAS Tresco flew flying boats from New Grimsby on anti-submarine patrols. Thirteen U-boats were sighted and nine attacked. The slipway ramp is still there.
Shipwrecks off Tresco
2 wrecks on our map lie off Tresco.
SS Mando
Golden Ball bar, between Golden Ball and Men a vaur, north of Tresco
Lives lost None recorded
The island year
The Abbey Garden opens from spring to the end of October. Outside that, the island is quieter still.
The Abbey Garden reopens in March and spring comes early here. It is at its most colourful while the island is still quiet.
Boats every day, the beaches at their best, and the pub and café at their busiest. Book beds and tables early.
A few times a year the channel between Tresco and Bryher dries enough to walk across, and a pop-up party with food, drink and music is held on the sandbar in the middle. Dates follow the tides.
Rare migrants arrive on the autumn winds and the Great Pool hides fill with birders.
The Abbey Garden closes and boats are fewer. The helicopter keeps flying, and the island is at its most peaceful.
Getting around the island
There are no cars on Tresco, and nowhere is more than about forty minutes’ walk.
Tracks and lanes cross the island in every direction. Most are level, and the coast is sand or short turf.
The bike hire shed is beside Tresco Stores. Staying guests can request bikes ahead; day visitors just call in, subject to availability.
Put a blue Tresco tag on your bags at Penzance quay and they go straight onto the Tresco boat. An electric shuttle meets you at the quay and takes you to your accommodation.
Carn Near is the low-tide landing and New Grimsby the high-tide one. Times and quays are confirmed the afternoon before on the Tresco Boat Services page.
Practical basics
The unglamorous things worth knowing before you land.
Cards are taken almost everywhere. Bring some cash for the boats as a backup.
Mobile coverage varies around the island. Estate accommodation has wifi.
The house above the garden is the leaseholder’s family home and is private. The garden and priory ruins are what you can visit.
Welcome on a day visit, on a lead at all times, including a short lead in the Abbey Garden. Dogs are allowed on the Ruin Beach Café terrace and in the New Inn bar and garden, but not in estate accommodation except on October dog-friendly breaks.
Where to stay
Almost every bed on Tresco is run by the estate, so it is one place to book. Summer goes early.
Rooms above the island pub, a few minutes up from New Grimsby quay.
Cottages and apartments across the island. Staying guests get the Island Spa, with its indoor pool, and entry to the Abbey Garden.
There is no camping on Tresco. Bryher and St Martin’s both have campsites and are a short boat ride away.
Getting about with limited mobility
The island is mostly flat, which helps. The boats and the garden are where it takes planning.
The main tracks are level and firm. Castle Down in the north is rougher heath, and the castles have steps.
Gravel paths with slopes and some steps on the upper terraces. Much of the lower garden is manageable with help.
Landings change with the tide and some involve steps. Talk to the boatmen on St Mary’s quay before you set off.
The direct flight from Penzance avoids a boat transfer, and the heliport is close to the garden.
There is no public transport. The estate has a small fleet of golf buggies and mobility scooters for guests with limited mobility; numbers are limited, so reserve well ahead through the Island Office.
If you only have a day
Planned around the boat from St Mary’s, out mid-morning and back by late afternoon
The classic Tresco day.
Boat from St Mary’s quay
Land at Carn Near or New Grimsby, walk to the garden
Abbey Garden and Valhalla
Lunch at the Garden Café
Pentle Bay, then back to the quay for the return boat
For walkers, with the best views on the island.
Boat from St Mary’s to New Grimsby
Cromwell’s Castle, then up to King Charles’s Castle
Across Castle Down to Piper’s Hole
Lunch at the New Inn
Old Grimsby and the Blockhouse before the boat back
Skip St Mary’s altogether and land twenty minutes after take-off.
Helicopter from Penzance Heliport to Tresco
Abbey Garden, a short walk from the heliport
Ruin Beach Café at Old Grimsby
Pentle Bay or the Great Pool hides
Return flight, or stay the night
Times are the usual pattern rather than a promise. Check the board on the quay for the day's boats, and the operator for your flight.
Common questions
Asked most often about Tresco: getting there, the garden and the tide.
How do I get to Tresco?+
By boat from St Mary’s quay, about twenty minutes, or by direct helicopter from Penzance, about fifteen. Boats run most days in season, and times are confirmed the afternoon before.
Do I have to pay to visit the island?+
No. The island is free to walk. The Abbey Garden has its own entry ticket.
Which quay will my boat use?+
It depends on the tide. Carn Near, at the southern tip, is the low-tide landing and is ten minutes from the Abbey Garden. New Grimsby is used at higher water and is about thirty minutes’ walk. Check the return quay before you set off exploring.
Can I bring a car or a bike?+
There are no visitor cars and no public transport on Tresco. Bikes can be hired from the shed beside Tresco Stores; day visitors cannot pre-book, so arrive early in summer.
Can I get to Bryher from Tresco?+
Yes, there are boats across the channel, which only takes a few minutes. Check the times on the quay.
Can you walk across to Bryher at low tide?+
Only on the very lowest spring tides, a few times a year. The best way to do it is the Low Tide Event, when the crossing is organised and there is a party on the sandbar. Otherwise take local advice first: the tide returns quickly. The boat is the everyday way.
Is Tresco good for children?+
Very. No cars, safe sandy beaches, bikes to hire, castles to climb and squirrels in the woods. Pentle Bay and Appletree Bay are the easiest beaches with small children.
Ready to leave Tresco?
Bryher is a few minutes across the channel. For everywhere else, you will usually go back through St Mary’s.