Penzance Attractions

Penzance (3mi/5km west of St Michael's Mount; pop. 18,500), the largest of the towns on the Cornish Riviera, is a lively resort and shopping center which attracts visitors in the winter months as well as in the summer. At one time it was an important market town and seaport.

Sacked by the Spaniards in 1595, it degenerated into little more than a haven for smugglers where, in the 18th century, the freebooters were even able to appoint the mayor - a period memorably recalled in Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera "The Pirates of Penzance".

Subtropical plants are everywhere in evidence, particularly in Morrab Gardens and Penlee Park but also along the attractive promenade.