Beaches

La Jolla Windansea Beach

The rocky shore of Windansea Beach is perhaps best known for its beautiful scenery and surf breaks created by underwater reefs. Sandstone rocks act as partitions along the beach offering a secluded atmosphere for sunbathing. Much of the beach at Windansea experiences shore break, a condition on steep beaches which results in hard breaking surf right at the shoreline. Swimmers should enter and exit the water carefully. This beach is perfect for families with older children.

Windansea Beach is very easy to access from the street. Surfing can be excellent at Windansea, but the popular surf breaks are very concentrated and can become quite crowded. Novice surfers may wish to consider La Jolla Shores instead. This beach has separate water areas reserved by ordinance for swimming and surfing. This is not a good beach for scuba diving, due primarily to the shore break.

Law Street Beach - Pacific Beach

Law Street Beach - Located about 1/2 mile North of Crystal Pier this is a sandy beach which sits below 25 foot cliffs with a park on the top. There is a ramp that leads to the beach from the street, perfect for guests with strollers, wagons, wheelchairs or coolers. This beach is ideal for beach goers of all ages and is a hot spot for swimmers, surfers, boogie boarders, and wind surfers. However, once you experience that first 'good ride' boogie boarding, the experience can become one you must do again and again.

Many fitness enthusiasts love Law Street Beach as it offers a starting point for an uninterrupted level beach jog. Law Street Beach also provides families a great place to picnic. The beach is very flat and sandy and a few steps from the beach entrance is Palisades Park. Palisades Park is known for amazing views of the sunset and even weekend Yoga classes.

Black's Beach

Black's Beach is a secluded section of beach beneath the bluffs of Torrey Pines State Park in La Jolla. It is officially part of Torrey Pines State Beach. The northern portion of Black's Beach is considered Black’s Beach, while the southern portion of the beach is officially known as Torrey Pines City Beach. This distinction is important as Black’s Beach is most known as a nude beach, a practice that is no longer permitted in the southern portion of the beach.

A submarine canyon pushes swells into Black's Beach, making it appealing to surfers but dangerous for inexperienced swimmers. Lifeguards are usually at the beach until 6pm from spring break until October. Dolphins can commonly be spotted swimming along the coast. Additionally, stingrays can be found along the coast line when the water gets above 50 degrees. The best way to avoid being stung is to shuffle your feet when exiting the water.

Mission Beach

Mission Beach is the closest thing in San Diego to classic East Coast beaches like Atlantic City and Coney Island. The beach is very flat and sandy, and accessing the beach is an easy walk from the street to the sand. The waves can range from medium to large and beaches are patrolled by Lifeguards. Expect to find all kinds of beach goers from free-spirited locals to college aged kids to families. You will also see all kinds of sports: skating, skateboarding, surfing and cycling, which usually take place on The Strand Boardwalk. If you decided to ride bikes or walk down The Strand please be advised that this can be a high traffic walk-way especially during summer.

Most of the action centers around Belmont Park at the intersection of Mission Blvd. and West Mission Bay Drive where you can ride the historic Giant Dipper roller coaster, or rent a set of rollerblades to ride up and down the boardwalk. This is where all walks of life all go out for a walk, a ride, a roll, a stroll, a surf, a beer or a bite to eat - or simply to watch other people out doing their thing.

South Mission Beach offers the same scene and scenery found in North Mission, but the pace slows as you continue south, until you reach the end of the boardwalk, the end of the beach, and the end of the road at South Mission Beach Park. Here fishermen cast their lines off the jetty and watch the boats pass in and out through the Harbor Channel. You'd never know it to look, but a half-mile off the coast are a series of shipwrecks, placed here to create an artificial reef and a diver's Disneyland.