Looe is a classic Cornish fishing town on the south-east coast, tucked into a steep-sided valley where the East and West arms of the River Looe meet the sea. The two halves of town face each other across the water, joined by a handsome seven-arch bridge built in 1853. East Looe is the livelier side, with a working harbour still landing fresh fish, narrow lanes of shops and pubs, and a wide sandy beach that fills up on a summer's day. West Looe is quieter, its cottages climbing the hillside above Hannafore's rockier shore, looking out towards Looe Island.
The town's history runs deep. Once one of Cornwall's busiest ports, it shipped tin, granite and arsenic from the mines inland, and its fishing fleet still puts to sea from the same quay their ancestors used centuries ago. The Old Guildhall, dating to around 1500, is now a museum, and the harbourside St Nicholas Church has watched over the water since the 1200s.
Today Looe is best known for boat trips, shark angling, coastal walks and simply watching the tide come in — a proper Cornish seaside town, unhurried and unmistakably real.