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Cowes (sometimes anachronistically referred to as West Cowes) is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east Bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes Floating Bridge, a chain ferry.

The population was 9,663 in the 2001 census, a figure that is easily doubled during the regatta in early August.

Leland's 19th century verses described the towns poetically as "The two great Cowes that in loud thunder roar, This on the eastern, that the western shore".

Cowes has been seen as a home for international yacht racing since the founding of the Royal Yacht Squadron in 1815. The town gives its name to the world's oldest regular regatta, Cowes Week, which occurs annually in the first week of August. Later on in the summer, powerboat races are held.

Much of the town's architecture is still heavily influenced by the style of ornate building which Prince Albert popularised.

Cowes is a gateway town for the Isle of Wight. Travellers to Southampton are served by a high speed catamaran passenger ferry from Cowes known as the Red Jet. Southern Vectis route 1 is the main bus service in Cowes, serving the Red Jet terminal and running to Newport to take travellers on to other Island destinations. Wightbus also run local services around Cowes and Gurnard. The Cowes Floating Bridge connects the two towns of Cowes and East Cowes throughout the day. It is one of the only chain ferries left not to have been replaced by a physical bridge.
Cowes Esplanade and Cowes Castle (home of the Royal Yacht Squadron)

Cowes is the start of the Isle of Wight Coastal Path.

Cowes was once served by Cowes railway station on the Island Line. However, this was closed as part of the Beeching Axe