Pescadero State Beach

A great alternative to the sometimes closed San Gregorio state Beach North of here. This place has parking, bathrooms (bring hand sanitizer and /​or baby wipes please) and a great view of the ocean. And sometimes you can see whales offshore. I don’t remember a kid friendly lagoon area but there is a small ‘river’ that cuts through the middle.
This place makes for great picnics, kite flying and just general Beach going. The water can be rough, so its definitely not for everyone. I’ve also not seen a lifeguard on duty here ever.
Reminder: Its common to see people taking shortcuts and climbing down the cliff side to reach the beach below, but sometimes just a short walk along the freeway will get you there too. Make good choices. The last thing you want to do is bake in the sun with gashes down your leg from falling…

Beautiful beach. Clean sand and beautiful sunsets. + there’s a lighthouse in the distance.

I had never seen a real beach. I had seen the ocean nothing with waves especially like the ones I was lucky enough to stumble upon. I came on the weekend of the Mavericks and stumbled upon the largest waves projected for the year.
The beach was very clean. The weather was perfect. The cliffs were an amazing site.

If your willing to be subject to some cold temperatures, the rewards are spectacular. The beach topography is a beautiful mix of sheer cliffs and open sand. The creek/​lagoon area is mesmerizing during winter as it spills over and creates a tidal-​zone area. Only during the hottest summer weekend days are there more than a few handfuls of people here. On the downside, I think it’s $ 8 to park, which is a little high in my opinion.

My husband grew up here, its beautiful! you do have to pay for parking ($ 6) so bring cash. Great place for photos.

Beautiful clean and peaceful beach. We came out to HMB for my daughter’s 14^th birthday to get away and have a relaxing and good time. This beach is nice because it isn’t a busy one and its a great place to just hang out and watch the sunset. November is the perfect time because HMB is warmest in the Fall.

I love the beach. I love the sound of the waves, the way the sun strikes the water, the smell of the ocean, and the denizens of the deep.
I came out here on this Labor Day weekend to soak up California sunshine and to enjoy my love of the water.
Needless to say I was not disappointed! I saw so many things: whales, birds of all kinds, and sea lions that were too many to count.
Mind you, the drive here and back home was a beast! But the beauty was worth it!

Beautiful Northern California beach!
Quiet (despite being right off of PCH), beautiful and picturesque! Love the driftwood sculptures beach goers have created. Seals sunbathing! Always available parking!

This beach is so pretty! I would love to camp here, but unfortunately camping is not allowed… Neither is anything else related to fun (bonfires, dogs, and apparently parking?). One of the best things about this beach is that there are several different coves, and the one we happened to stop at was empty. It can be nice to spend the day on the beach without several other people there. I gave this beach 4 stars because it was so pretty but it just kinda blows that you cant camp here. There are also bathrooms — or should I say, there are things that resemble a bathroom. Bring your own TP and sanitizer.

mystical on the right days. not saying which side is best. you figure it out. explore!

Scenic views, tide pools, rocky mini cliffs, and ice cold water are the positives when we visited. Saved a few crabs from being lunch meat to the birds out there as well.
Con: Sand fleas! Those crustaceans can give a bad bite or worse, the female can dig into your skin and stay there until her eggs hatch inside you! Nope!

Really like this beach. The lighthouse is a great place for a picnic (as long as it’s not windy) and then a drive through town to grab some great coffee or dinner.

Free parking, free views, free joy. Freedom! This is what this wonderful beach exudes. If you want to plan a fantastic way to have a short road trip from San Jose area to the beach with visitors, this is a very impressive way. We were a group of 4 Spaniards and 2 of us never visited this area of the bay before. I found everything to be extremely charming, maybe because the day was super sunny and not too windy and the poppy orange flowers were everywhere, and butterflies and smells like fresh breeze from the sea. This is one of the cleanest beaches I have seen lately. Is a jewel not so far from Santa Cruz.

Every which way you looked there was a beautiful view. The beach was clean, free of food debris. The parking lot was small. When we first arrived there was no parking, but after a few minutes a family was leaving. The only bad thing is was The Hitchhiker’s sitting in a parking lot begging for change. They wasn’t aggressive or anything about it. definitely going back with the extend family

I’ve been coming here for too many years to count. The beach hasn’t changed much but perhaps I have over time. We used to party in the caves at low tide on the north end of the beach when I was in high school. I’ve enjoyed a day or two on mid-​beach with my kids and grandkids where many families congregate for some fun in the sun.
Most often we like to park our RV in the south parking lot on our way up or down the coast for a quick, scenic stop to enjoy a meal or just the view. If you drive by without stopping you will miss the opportunity to see a classic California coastline at it’s best.

Came on Sunday, not too many people so it was nice, it was windy of course but it was clean and just spending the day sitting on the beach was great.

Was on our way to Pescadero but had some extra minutes to spare before heading over, and lo and behold, Pescadero State Beach was right there waiting for us! Parking was not a problem (just drive right off of the 1) and you could see the ocean right from your car. It was pretty magical! Awesome picture spots, and a beautiful place to watch the waves, get some fresh air, and sit on the rocks. If you’re feeling adventurous, I could imagine people have gone down to the ocean by way of the cliffs, but that was not my story this time.
It wasn’t too crowded when we went around 10am on a Saturday morning, and the fog wasn’t too bad either. Five stars for accessibility, picturesque landscape, cool breeze, and free parking!

We stopped here and finally we found a beach with easy access and parking!!! There was tons of room and it was such a beautiful weekend. It was clean, and there were lots of beautiful cliffs to look at, and we even found a sand dollar! There is a bathroom here, and when we went to pay for parking (even though no one is there to monitor it) we realized someone broke into the cash box and stole all of the money. :(But there are tons of delicious restaurants just ten or fifteen minutes away, but beware, traffic gets to be TERRIBLE on the way back! It took us just over an hour to get there in the morning, but took over three to get home! I would definitely recommend this beach, but hopefully it doesn’t get too popular for when I come back!!!

We stopped by, right off of Highway 1, headed south to Santa Cruz. This breathtaking view of the ocean has a large expense of beach that screamed peace and beauty.
There is a long rockway that leads out to the ocean with some well-​worn steps in the sand for a short distance. It’s an easy walk over the rocks to about halfway out, then it becomes a bit precarious and/​or requires stepping on sea creatures which we weren’t going to do.
Completely stunning but really windy in December, it was fantastic to see the crabs, shells, different rock formations and simply stare out at the ocean.
You can walk down to the sandy beach which jets out a bit away from the highway and has a feeling of being «in» the ocean which was really cool.
The parking lot is just dirt. It was great to be out there, even with the eyeball rock.
We wanted to stay much longer but it was getting dark and cold.
I bet this place is swarmed in the summer, but there were only 3 cars that came and went while we were there and we were alone for much of our visit. Perfection!

Great place to stop for photos. Heading down toward Santa Cruz all the places to pull off and stop or take a picture seemed to have $ 8 fees. So since two of the places we drove into had rangers collecting the fee boxes and checking cars we decided not to risk getting out to take pictures. But this place has tons of parking and no fee! Really nice views and perfect spot for a break. They have some picnic tables, stairs down to the beach, bathrooms (no water), and plenty of views. Check it out on your way to or from Santa Cruz.