List of California Beaches
A visit to just about any of the California beaches listed below elicits an immediate, “What a wonderful way to end a continent!” exclamation from this writer. Are some beaches more beautiful than others? Absolutely, but they’re all awe-inspiring in our opinion.
By law, California beaches are public property “up to the mean high tide level,” meaning that access is allowed if (1) you can enter the beach in a legal fashion — from the water, tidelands or adjacent beach; (2) you limit your access to the land below where high tide occurs. While beachfront property owners often wage court challenges to this law – with recent high-profile cases regarding property near Half Moon Bay, Capitola and Graviota – but so far the public’s rights have been upheld. Let’s hope that continues.
The chart below organizes the state’s beaches and beach cities into list for each of the California Tourist Guide’s areas (as set out in our navigation buttons, above), but we also provide commentary about which beaches are our favorites in articles posted in each area. Here are links to those articles, and the full list of beaches and beach cities is below them:
- Best San Diego Area Beaches
- Best Orange County Beaches
- Best Los Angeles Area Beaches
- Best Santa Barbara Area Beaches
- Best Central Coast Beaches Santa Barbara to Monterey
- Best Santa Cruz Area Beaches
- Best San Francisco Area Beaches
- Best North Coast Beaches
San Diego Area Beach Cities |
San Diego Area Beaches |
| Cardiff Carlsbad Coronado Del Mar Encinitas La Jolla Leucadia Mission Beach Ocean Beach Oceanside Pacific Beach Point Loma San Diego Solana Beach |
Beacon’s Beach Black’s Beach Boneyard Beach Border Field State Park Cardiff State Beach Carlsbad City Beach Carlsbad State Beach Children’s Pool Beach Coronado City Beach Coronado Shores Beach D Street Viewpoint Del Mar City Beach Encinitas Beach Fletcher Cove Park Harbor Beach Imperial Beach La Jolla Cove La Jolla Shores Beach La Jolla Strand Park Marine Street Beach Mission Beach Moonlight State Beach Ocean Beach City Beach Ocean Beach Park Oceanside City Beach Pacific Beach Ponto Beach San Elijo State Beach San Onofre State Beach Seascape Shores Silver Strand State Beach South Carlsbad State Beach South Oceanside Beach Stone Steps Beach Swami’s Tide Beach Park Torrey Pines State Beach Tourmaline Surfing Park Wind and Sea Beach |
Orange County Area Beach Cities |
Orange County Area Beaches |
| Balboa Island Capistrano Beach Catalina Island Corona del Mar Dana Point Huntington Beach Laguna Beach Newport Beach San Clemente Seal Beach Sunset Beach Surfside |
1,000 Steps Beach Aliso Creek County Beach Balboa Beach Bayside Drive County Beach Bluebird Beach Boat Canyon Beach Bolsa Chica State Beach Brook’s Beach Capistrano Beach China Cove Beach Christmas Cove Beach Corona del Mar State Beach County Beach Crescent Bay Beach Crescent Bay Beach Crystal Cove State Park Diver’s Cove Doheny Beach Goff Cove Beach Huntington City Beach Huntington State Beach Irvine Cove Beach Little Corona del Mar Beach Main Beach Moss Point Beach Mountain Road Beach Municipal Beach Newport Beach Oak Street Beach Pearl Street Beach Picnic Beach Poche Beach Rockpile Beach Rocky Point Salt Creek County Beach San Clemente City Beach San Clemente State Beach Santa Ana River Seal Beach Shaw’s Cove Sleepy Hollow Beach St. Ann’s Street Beach Sunset Beach Surfside Beach Thalia Street Beach Treasure Island Beach Victoria Beach West Jetty View Park West Street Beach Wood’s Cove Beach |
Los Angeles Area Beach Cities |
Los Angeles Area Beaches |
| El Segundo Hermosa Beach Long Beach Malibu Manhattan Beach Marina del Rey Mussel Shoals Oxnard Playa del Rey Port Hueneme Rancho Palos Verdes Redondo Beach San Pedro Santa Monica Seacliff Venice Ventura |
Abalone Cove Beach Alamitos Bay Beach Belmont Shore Ben Weston Beach Broad Beach Cabrillo City Beach Channel Islands – Harbor Beach County Line Beach Sycamore Cove Beach Crescent Beach Dan Blocker County Beach Descanso Beach Dockweiler State Beach e State Beach El Matador State Beach El Pescador State Beach El Porto Beach El Segundo Beach Emma Wood State Beach Escondido Beach Faria Beach County Park Hermosa City Beach Hobson County Park Hollywood Beach La Conchita Beach La Piedra State Beach Las Tunas County Beach Leo Carillo State Beach Little Fisherman’s Cove Little Harbor Beach Long Beach City Beach Malaga Cove Malibu Lagoon County Beach Mandalay County Park Manhattan County Beach Marina Cove Beach Marina Park McGrath State Beach Mother’s Beach Mussel Shoals Beach Nicholas Canyon County Beach Oil Piers Beach Ormond Beach Oxnard State Beach Paradise Cove Pebbly Beach Point Fermin Park Point Mugu Beach Port Hueneme Beach Park Promenade Park Redondo County Beach Rincon Parkway North Royal Palms County Beach San Buenaventura State Beach Santa Monica State Beach Silver Strand Beach Solimar Beach Surfer’s Point Surfrider Beach Thornhill Broome Beach Topanga County Beach Torrance County Beach Venice City Beach White Point County Park Will Rogers State Beach Zuma County Beach |
Central Coast Beach Cities |
Central Coast Beaches |
| Arroyo Grande Avila Beach . Big Sur Cambria Carmel-by-the-Sea Carpinteria Castroville Cayucos Goleta Grover Beach Isla Vista Lompoc Los Osos Marina Montecito Monterey Morro Bay Moss Landing Oceano Pacific Grove Pebble Beach Pismo Beach Salinas San Luis Obispo San Simeon Sand City Santa Barbara Seaside Shell Beach Summerland |
Andrew Molera State Park Arroyo Burro Beach County Park Arroyo Laguna Beach Asilomar State Beach Avila State Beach Bayshore Bluffs Park Butterfly Beach Carmel City Beach Carmel River State Beach Carpinteria City Beach Carpinteria State Beach Cayucos Beach Cayucos State Beach Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve Del Monte Beach East Beach El Capitan State Beach Fanshell Beach Garrapata State Park Gaviota State Park Goleta Beach County Park Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Hammonds Beach Isla Vista Beach Jade Cove Jalama Beach County Park Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park Kirk Creek Campground Leadbetter Beach Limekiln State Park Lookout County Park Lover’s Point Macabee Beach Marina State Beach Mesa Lane Beach Mill Creek Picnic Area Miramar Beach Montana de Oro State Park Monterey State Beach Moonstone State Beach Moro Dunes Natural Area Morro Bay State Park Morro Rock and Beach Morrow Strand State Beach Morrow Strand State Beach Moss Beach Moss Landing State Beach Ocean Beach County Park Olde Port Beach Partington Cove Pfeiffer Beach Piedras Blancas Beach Pismo Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area Pismo State Beach Point Lobos State Reserve Point Sal State Beach Refugio State Beach Rincon Beach County Park Rincon Point Salinas River State Beach San Carlos Beach Park San Simeon State Beach Sand Dollar Picnic Area and Beach Shoreline Park Spanish Bay Vandenberg Air Force Base Fishing Access W. R. Hearst Memorial State Beach West Beach Willow Creek Picnic Area Zmudowski State Beach |
San Francisco Bay Area Beach Cities |
San Francisco Bay Area Beaches |
| Aptos Bolinas Capitola Daly City Davenport Dillon Beach El Granada Half Moon Bay Inverness Le Selva Marshall Miramar Montara Moss Beach Olema Pacifica Point Reyes Station San Francisco Santa Cruz Stinson Beach |
Abbotts Lagoon Agate Beach Alan Sieroty Beach Ano Nuevo State Reserve Aquatic Park Baker Beach Bean Hollow State Beach Bolinas Beach Bonita Cove Bonny Doon Beach Burton Memorial Beach Capitola City Beach China Beach Corcoran Lagoon Beach Cowell Beach Crissy Field Davenport Beach Dillon Beach Drakes Beach Dunes Beach El Granada Beach Esplanade Beach Fort Funston Beach Four Mile Beach Francis Beach Gazos Creek Access Gray Whale Cove State Beach Greyhound Rock Fishing Access Hearts Desire Beach Hooper Beach Its Beach James V. Fitzgerald Marine Reserve Kehoe Beach Kelham Beach Key Beach Kirby Cove Laguna Creek Beach Lands End Beach Lawson’s Landing Lighthouse Field State Beach Limantour Beach Lincoln Beach Lundborgh Beach Main Beach Manresa State Beach Manresa Uplands Marina Green Marshall Beach Martin’s Beach Mavericks McClures Beach Miramar Beach Mitchell’s Cove Montara State Beach Moran Lake Beach Muir Beach Natural Bridges State Beach New Brighton State Beach North Baker Beach Ocean Beach Pacifica State Beach Palm Beach Palomarin Beach Panther Beach Pebble Beach Pelican Point Beach Pescadero State Beach Pigeon Point Pillar Point Harbor Pleasure Point Beach Point Reyes Beach North Point Reyes Beach South Pomponio State Beach Red Rock Beach Red, White, and Blue Beach Rio Del Mar Beach Rockaway Beach Rodeo Beach San Gregorio State Beach Santa Maria Beach Scott Creek Beach Sculptured Beach Seabright Beach Seacliff State Beach Sharp Park State Beach Shell Beach Steamer Lane Steep Ravine Beach Stinson Beach Sunny Cove Sunset State Beach Tennessee Cove The Fist The Gulch Thornton State Beach Twin Lakes State Beach Venice Beach Waddell Creek Beach Wildcat Beach Wilder Ranch State Park Yellowbank Beach |
Wine Country (Sonoma) Beach Cities |
Wine Country
|
| Sea Ranch Jenner Bodega Bay |
Doran Beach Regional Park Campbell Cove Westside Regional Park Bodega Head Bodega Dunes South Salmon Creek Beach North Salmon Creek Beach Miwok Beach Coleman Beach Arched Rock Beach Carmet Beach Schoolhouse Beach Portuguese Beach Gleason Beach Duncan’s Landing Wright’s Beach Shell Beach Blind Beach Goat Rock Beach North Jenner Beaches Russian Gulch Vista Point Fort Ross Reef Fort Ross Cove Timber Cove Stillwater Cove Regional Park Ocean Cove Gerstle Cove Stump Beach Fisk Mill Cove North Horseshoe Cove Black Point Beach Pebble Beach Stengel Beach Shell Beach Walk-On Beach Gualala Point Regional Park |
North Coast Beach Cities |
North Coast Beaches |
| Albion Arcata Caspar Crescent City Elk & Point Arena Eureka Fort Bragg Gualala & Anchor Bay Honeydew & Petrolia Klamath Little River Loleta Ferndale McKinleyville Mendocino Shelter Cove Smith River Trinidad Westport Ukiah |
Gualala River Fish Rock Beach Schooner Gulch Beach Bowling Ball Beach Moat Creek Beach Arena Cove Beach Manchester State Beach Greenwood Creek State Beach Navarro River Beach Access Albion Flat Van Damme State Park Mendocino Headlands State Park Russian Gulch State Park Caspar Headlands State Reserve Caspar State Beach Jug Handle State Reserve Noyo Harbor Glass Beach Pudding Creek Beach Virgin Creek Beach MacKerricher State Park Seaside Creek Beach Chadbourne Gulch Wages Creek Beach Westport-Union Landing State Beach Usal Beach Little Jackass Creek Beach Bear Harbor Beach Needle Rock Beach Jones Beach Dead Man’s Beach Shelter Cove Little Black Sands Beach Black Sands Beach Mattole River Beach Centerville Beach Co. Park Crab County Park South Spit & Jetty Samoa Dunes Rec. Area Mad River Beach Park Clam Beach County Park Little River Beach Co. Park Moonstone Beach Luffenholtz Beach Baker Beach Indian Beach Trinidad State Beach College Cove Agate Beach Big Lagoon County Park Dry Lagoon Stone Lagoon Freshwater Lagoon Redwood Creek Beach Orick Fishing Access Gold Bluffs Beach Carruthers Cove Beach High Bluff Beach Wilson Creek Beach Enderts Beach Crescent Beach South Beach Beachfront Park Pebble Beach Point St. George Kellogg Beach Clifford Kamph Memorial Park Pelican State Beach |
Photo of Sunrise stroll at Cayucos Beach on the California Central Coast by Charlie Day via flickr (Creative Commons).
