Beach Towns Of Southern California

Best Southern California Beaches For An Idyllic Beach Vacation

This travel guide includes information on Southern California beaches, vacation rentals, hotels, camping, and lots of fun things to see and do along the sunny Southern California coast.

From Santa Barbara to San Diego, each beach area has its own distinct charms and attractions. What almost every California beach vacation shares in common besides the natural beauty of the Pacific Ocean is a delightfully sunny, mild climate throughout most of the year.

The Southern California beaches and their communities are varied enough to have appeal for just about everyone. The fact that most of these coastal beach towns are still within driving distance of many major attractions and urban business centers is an ideal situation for everyone from families on vacation to business travelers (who hopefully have a spare moment to head for the water and unwind).

San Clemente Beach Vacations

San Clemente Beach Vacation Guide

San Clemente California is one of the nicest Southern California beach towns to visit. It is an idyllic town which even has palm trees on the beach! This small beach…

Crystal Cove State Park

Crystal Cove – Newport Beach, CA

Crystal Cove State Park in Newport Beach Escape to Crystal Cove State Park to get away from urban modernization. It seems hard to believe that there is an area of…

Newport Beach CA Vacation Guide

Newport Beach Vacation Guide

Where to Stay And Things To See In Newport Beach This Newport Beach vacation guide includes information about where to stay and what to do while visiting the area, including…

Laguna Beach California Vacation Guide

Laguna Beach California Vacation Guide

Where to Stay And Things To See In Laguna Beach Plan your Laguna Beach California vacation with this guide to the beaches, art festivals, hotels and more. Out of all…

Huntington Beach CA Vacation Guide

Huntington Beach California Vacation Guide

Things To Do And See in Huntington Beach This guide to Huntington Beach California is filled with information on where to stay and what to do while visiting. There is…

Salt Creek Beach Guide

Salt Creek Beach, Dana Point, CA

Salt Creek Beach Guide Salt Creek Beach is in Dana Point, north of the harbor and south of Laguna Beach. It’s a long and sandy beach that is very popular…

Dana Point California Vacation Guide

Dana Point California Vacation Guide

Where to Stay And Things To See In Dana Point CA. In Dana Point California you can enjoy Doheny Beach, dine at the Marina, go fishing, go whale watching or…

Ocean Front Walk Venice Beach

Venice Beach California And Ocean Front Walk

Just next door to Santa Monica, Venice Beach California provides a diverse beach experience, whether you like to people watch or shop for artistic wares. There is an extremely wide…

Santa Monica Beach Guide

Santa Monica Beach Vacation Guide

A Santa Monica vacation means beaches, shopping, sightseeing and more. Santa Monica California is a hot spot for beach goers of western Los Angeles County, but people also come visit…

Manhattan Beach California Vacation Guide

Manhattan Beach California Vacation Guide

Where to Stay And Things To See In Manhattan Beach CA Manhattan Beach is one of the nicest beach communities in Southern California. Manhattan Beach is one of my favorite…

Malibu Beach CA Vacation Guide

Malibu Beach Vacation Guide

Where to Stay And Things To See In Malibu Beach The famous coastline known as Malibu California stretches about 27 miles between Topanga Canyon Blvd. in Santa Monica and Decker…

San Pedro California Vacation Guide

San Pedro California Vacation Guide

Things To See And Do In San Pedro San Pedro California sits next to Long Beach and is a unique and historic community. This is a place to go if…

Long Beach CA Vacation Guide

Long Beach Vacation Guide

Some of the Long Beach vacation things you can do are visit the Aquarium of the Pacific, the Queen Mary, the art museum or dine on the water at Rainbow…

Catalina Island California Vacation Guide

Catalina Island California Vacation Guide

Where to Stay And Things To See In Catalina Island. A beach vacation on Catalina Island California is an experience all its own. For one thing, you can only get…

Santa Barbara California Vacation Guide

Santa Barbara California Vacation Guide

What to See and Do in Santa Barbara CA. Santa Barbara California, with its abundance of palm trees and lovely weather year round, has a Spanish-Mediterranean ambience. The Santa Ynez…

Carpinteria California Vacation Guide

Carpinteria California Vacation Guide

Where to Stay And Things To See In Carpinteria. If you live in Southern California and want to get away for the weekend, Carpinteria is a great option. It’s only…

Ventura California Vacation

Ventura California Vacation Guide

Where to Stay And Things To See In Ventura CA. Ventura California is a delightfully unassuming beach town located 62 miles north of L.A. and about 30 minutes south of…

Oceanside Things to do

Things to do in Oceanside

At one time, Oceanside CA was little more than a playground for those who needed a break from the all-consuming world of Los Angeles. Visitors would travel by train to…

Mission Beach Guide

Mission Beach Visitors Guide

Mission Beach, just minutes north of San Diego on the western coast of California, offers perfect weather, scenic beauty, gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, and great beaches. A continuous stretch of…

La Jolla Beaches

La Jolla Beaches

From the family beaches most often preferred by vacationers to the more secluded coves and crannies desired by surfers, divers, and swimmers, La Jolla beaches offer something exciting for everyone….

10 Best Beaches in San Diego

Plan your San Diego beach vacation here! There are so many fun things to do and great tourist attractions, museums and beaches to visit that it’s hard to know where…

Oceanside California Vacation Guide

Oceanside California Vacation Guide

Where to Stay And Things To See In Oceanside If you’ve never been to Oceanside California before, your first stop might as well be at the California Welcome Center, where…

San Diego Pacific Beach

Pacific Beach San Diego

Pacific Beach, CA A great little beach community full of good restaurants and bars. Also it has a great beach plus the Crystal Pier, great boardwalk and some good surf…

La Jolla California Vacation Guide

La Jolla Visitors Guide

La Jolla California Vacation Guide La Jolla, is absolutely beautiful. It is a great place to live, work and play. If you’re looking for fantastic Hotels, stunning view, the beach,…

There’s Santa Barbara with it’s rich, early Californian history and prime geographic location, nestled between the coast and the mountains. Ventura has a laid back old town atmosphere and lovely harbor, uncrowded even in summer.

There’s Malibu with its beach houses literally inches from the crashing surf, and hilltop mansions with spectacular views. Santa Monica has its amusement pier, great shopping, beach cottages and proximity to UCLA, Hollywood, Beverly Hills and LAX.

Long Beach has the Queen Mary, Little Naples with its gondolas, and many boating opportunities in Queens Bay and Alamitos Bay. You can catch a ferry to Catalina Island from here as well. Once there you can do some skin diving or view the undersea life on a glass bottom boat tour. Then there’s Huntington Beach, or “Surf City” as it’s otherwise known. A great place to take the family, and especially a family of surfers!

Newport Beach is a haven for boating enthusiasts and beach lovers alike. For those wanting to find a vacation rental, Newport Beach has a whole peninsula full of charming beach cottages. A short ferry ride away, Balboa Island does too. Waterfront homes range from grandiose to simply sweet. Nearby Corona del Mar is a delightful small community with blufftop homes in a neighborhood above the beach.

Further south in Laguna Beach, there is a multitude of beautiful beach coves. Laguna is also full of excellent and varied restaurants and art galleries. The annual art festivals draw art lovers from all over every summer.

San Clemente is a small beach town with adorable houses and neighborhoods. San Clemente and neighboring San Onofre have popular beach campgrounds on the bluffs.

On down the coast is North County San Diego, which includes Oceanside, with its miles of sandy beaches, Carlsbad, a lovely town near Legoland, Encinitas, which has the Quail Botanical Gardens, and posh Del Mar, with its famous racetrack. La Jolla is gorgeously elegant and visited by tourists from all over the world. It’s famous cove is frequented by snorkelers and kayakers.

Neighboring San Diego has vacation homes all along the isthmus between Pacific Beach and Mission Bay. The weather is superb, as is the water temperature in summer and fall. Plus, the beach is only one of San Diego’s many attractions. Among them is the San Diego Zoo, Balboa Park and Sea World.

There are many other Southern California beaches all along the coast, each with its own distinct flavor. If you want to find out more about specific beach towns, check out the navigation bar on the left of this page.

As a Southern California native and avid beach lover, I’ve explored much along our coast, yet I never can seem to get enough of it: the fresh ocean breeze, the tinkling of wind chimes, warm sand massaging my bare feet, swimming in the exhilarating surf, or watching the color of the water pale in the fading twilight.

Even the sound of the waves crashing on the shore gently melts away the stresses of everyday life.

To find out about the local best beaches, sights, hotels, resorts, beach vacation rentals and campgrounds, click on one of the Southern California beaches that interests you most.