Perranporth Beach is a westerly facing beach on the north west coast of Cornwall.

The beach is wide and gently sloping with a well-developed and extensive dune system behind. The dunes were stabilised in the 1980s by marram grass planting, which has led to large open sand slopes becoming vegetated.

The sand is soft and fine grained with a large proportion of shell fragments.

The active dune face is healthy but mobile and experiences some cliffing after winter storms. The back dunes are relatively healthy and stable with vegetation and bare hollows.

The beach is also the confluence of two rivers, the Perrancoombe Stream draining from the west and the Bolingey stream from the east.

The built-up area on the southwestern side is protected by vertical sea walls. The central car park area is protected by a vertical sea wall. The northern development is protected by stone walls and gabions.

The beach is highly managed for amenity and leisure purposes. This includes the moving of sand to clean the beach and provide an artificially level seating area, which can result in cliffing after intense storms.

The area around the “Watering Hole” and Surf Life Saving Club hut are also managed to provide lifesaving access and amenity for events.

There are high recreational/tourism pressures on the system.