Swanpool is a south-easterly facing cove lying on the south coast between the Fal Estuary to the east and the Helford Estuary to the west.

The road and car park are on a sand bar that separates the beach from a lake that is also a Local Nature Reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

The beach is steep and relatively narrow. The sand is coarse with rounded pebbles above the strand line and finer with shelly fragments below the strand line.

There are no signs of active sand dune or related vegetation.

Rock armour protects the road on the west side and there is a vertical sea wall to protect from cliff erosion on the east side.