A beautiful little UK seaside town nestled in the northern part of Cornwall is home to a fascinating maritime history and glorious blue flag beaches just waiting to be explored. Despite its abundance of activities a rather unique attraction is the town’s top rated tourist spot.
Situated along the dramatic Atlantic coastline, Bude boasts rugged cliffs, wide open spaces and stunning coastal landscapes. The popular town also has several award winning beaches with Summerleaze, Crooklets, and Widemouth Bay all being reconciled for their cleanliness, facilities and overall quality. However, in what is an example of British humour at its finest, a Sainsbury’s car park has become one of the town’s top-rated attraction on Tripadvisor, with a rating of 4.7 stars.
The Bude Tunnel — accessible free of charge — is made up of 36 metal arches and perspex which stretches for 70 metres, allowing visitors to walk from the supermarket to Crooklets Road entirely undercover. It even gets a festive makeover each Christmas
It’s not entirely clear when the fascination started, but Brits started leaving hilariously generous reviews of the Bude Tunnel, describing it as “magnificent” and “magical”, and comparing it to the likes of Big Ben or the Houses of Parliament.
The tongue and cheek attraction which has approximately 1,554 reviews and an impressive 4.7 score out of five is voted number four out of 34 things to do in Bude, it was previously voted the town’s top attraction in 2018.
It gained such a cult following that Tripadvisor reportedly briefly switched off comments at one point because the reviews weren’t truthfully reflecting what it actually is; a perspex tunnel, in a car park.
Boasting 1,357 excellent reviews one visitor branded it a “must see” in their five out of five review.
Once wrote: “We’ve probably (or so I hope) all heard of Big Ben, the London Eye, the Houses of Parliament; etc. But that part of the world doesn’t contain all the landmarks!! Enter Bude Tunnel, an extraordinary Cornish landmark right by Sainsbury’s and the sea. This was an unforgettable experience for me, and I know others who agree.”
“Forget Harry Potter. If you want a magical experience, this is it. This is our second visit to the tunnel in as many years. You will not be disappointed”, hilariously wrote a second.
A third remarked: “What is not to like, we found the whole Bude tunnel experience an amazing experience, it was almost like walking through a luxury piece of architecture, protecting us from the ever so changing elements. We cannot wait revisit over the festive period, to see if maybe it could be seasonally decorated with christmas lights amd more.”