Guide to Southern California Beaches

For people who don't live in California, especially Southern California, or SoCal as the natives call it, (San Diego is LoCal, while San Francisco/San Jose is NoCal), they might think that the west coast is just "the beach." There are actually dozens of distinct beaches in Southern California. They each have their own geography, activities and personality, and quite a number of them are actually famous in their own right, just like some of the legendary surfing locations in Hawaii like the North Shore and Waimea.

Getting to a Southern California beach is sort of a dichotomy. On the one hand there is the wonderfully scenic Pacific Coast Highway, featured in every sports car commercial since the invention of the wheel, and then there are the beach parking lots and the quaint little one-way, "just wide enough for an ice cream cart but not the sports car you drove down PCH to get here" streets which border the parking lots, where parking is always a bigger adventure than the beach itself and where you too can own a one bedroom bungalow for only nine million dollars.

Closer to Los Angeles is the Santa Monica State Beach, which is home to the famous Santa Monica pier. The pier hosts a complete amusement park which includes a 90-foot ferris wheel, and there are fishing and tackle facilities for those who want to fish off the pier. Not far from the pier is the original Muscle Beach and the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium. Palisades Park overlooks the beach and the nearby Will Rogers State Beach which is located a little further north. Further inland is the Third Street Promenade, which rivals the Dana Point Mariners Village for quality shops and dining.

Quite a number of Southern California's most enjoyable beach locations are connected with state parks, state recreational facilities, a bay or a boating facility. Dana Point Harbor is a good example of this kind of beach. Dana Point is basically built around the Embarcadero Marina and a small upscale shopping promenade known as Dana Wharf and Mariners Village which are home to no fewer than nineteen restaurants. Dana Point also hosts some of the most popular sportfishing on the west coast on the Dana Wharf Sportfishing vessels. Doheny State Park located near yet another great beach is also located nearby.

Zuma Beach in Malibu is a surfer's beach. It's one of the most famous coastal locations based just on name recognition, and it is an extraordinarily popular place for boating as well. Paradise Cove and Point Dume are nearby, but Zuma can get fairly crowded, especially at mid-day or if there are events nearby. Zuma is at the northern end of Malibu, and has been the location of choice for about eleventy zillion movies and television shows such as the Rockford Files and Planet of the Apes.

Like other vacation destinations, most Southern California beaches offer a huge number of activities to say nothing of the fact that hours from any beach are opportunities to ski, hike, ride a motocross bike in the desert, watch events in no fewer than ten professional sports venues, or visit any one of a number of famous amusement parks including Universal Studios and Knott's Berry Farm.

The few beaches listed in this article are both destinations and starting points for exploring other great shorelines in SoCal. From Santa Barbara to San Diego are at least three dozen distinct beaches, each with their own name and unique personality, and passing by each one of them is Route One, so if one beach isn't quite what vacationers were looking for, there's another one next door, and each one has numerous possibilities for adventure.

La Jolla is about 15 minutes from San Diego and is close to a very large number of vacation attractions in addition to some of the most exceptional resort property on the west coast. Their beach is known as La Jolla Shores, and is the only beach boat launch in the area. La Jolla Shores is also very popular with scuba divers because of the gentle waves in the summer. An underwater canyon offshore is a haven for marine life and has been designated as an ecological preserve. The Scripps Institution is located in La Jolla, along with the Stephen Birch Aquarium and Museum and the University of California campus at San Diego. La Jolla's beaches are noted for their proximity to phenomenal whale watching opportunities, in particular the gray whale, and there are numerous tours available. The beach and shopping facilities are located not far from the world-famous San Diego Zoo, Sea World and Legoland.

La Jolla is exceptional because of its location. There are so many other attractions close to the beach that it makes a really nice vacation spot, especially for travelers who are within driving distance. It can get a little pricey, however, due to the large number of resort locations, but there are always bargains to be had. Pacific Beach is not far from La Jolla Shores, and features a boardwalk similar to Venice Beach further north.