Fistral Beach is at Newquay, on the north coast.

This north-west facing beach is wide and gently sloping.

The sand is medium-grained sand with a large proportion of shell fragments. Sand at the top of the dunes appeared slightly coarser than the beach sand. The south-west side of the beach is strewn with pebbles and cobbles.

There are no obvious watercourses discharging onto Fistral beach and there is no associated valley or wetland area.

The tops of the dunes are narrow and their landward extent is constrained by the Newquay Golf Club course. Winter vegetation is sparse and the dunes are in a poor condition. The active face is high and steep.

There are active dune management activities to trap sand at the base of the active face on the north-east side using old Christmas trees.

At the south-west end there is rock armour placed at the base of recent cliff falls. At the north-east end, commercial buildings are protected by rock armour and some gabions. The north-east end cliff is blanketed by succulent non-native vegetation.