Things to do in St Just centre on the coast, the moorland, and the extraordinary industrial heritage of the Penwith peninsula.
Cape Cornwall, a mile west of town, is a headland where the Atlantic and the English Channel meet — or rather, where the tidal flows from each side converge. It is quieter and wilder than Land's End and far more satisfying. Walk there along the coast path from St Just for the best views back over the town.
The coast path east of St Just leads past the spectacular tin mine ruins at Botallack — particularly the dramatically placed 'Crown Mines' engine houses perched on the cliff face above the sea — and on to Levant, where the National Trust has restored a working beam engine, the only one in Cornwall that still runs under steam at announced times.
The surrounding moors hold a remarkable density of prehistoric monuments. With a large-scale Ordnance Survey map you can find Carn Euny (an Iron Age village with a rare fogou, an underground stone passage), Men-an-Tol (a holed standing stone), Chysauster (another Iron Age village), Lanyon Quoit, and the Nine Maidens stone circle. These are not signposted tourist attractions but genuine ancient remains in open countryside.