Best Five San Diego Beaches, San Diego, California

San Diego beaches have much to offer: beautiful scenery, mild climate, lots of sunny days, nice sand, and all kinds of great activities. I’ve lived in San Diego 27 years, and in that time, I’ve seen them all! Not too long ago, I asked my husband, “If you were to list your favorite five beaches in San Diego, what would they be?” Guess what?! His list was the same as mine! Read on to find out why…

This one is #1 on our list for a lot of reasons. The fact that it’s closest to our home might be part of that. But what we really like about Torrey Pines is the variety of things to do there. Torrey Pines State Beach is part of the larger Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. It includes the rare Torrey Pine tree, a lagoon that is home to lots of migrating seabirds, a historic visitor center, sandstone canyons, hiking trails, and about three miles of beach. There are two paid parking lots ($10-$15, north and south ends of the reserve) with a free parking stretch along the beach of about 100 parking spaces. If you arrive before 10:00 am or later in the afternoon, you have a good shot at snagging one of them. Once parked, you can walk up the rise to the top of the bluff where the visitor center and hiking trails are. Or you can just lay your beach blanket on the sand and enjoy! The waves are good for boogie-boarding here, too. If you pay for parking, you can also park on top of the bluff near the visitor center. There are picnic tables near the south parking lot for picnicking, and food is allowed on the beach, but not on top of the bluff where the visitor center is. There are several hiking trails of varying lengths. A good starter hike is the Guy Fleming loop trail — it’s only .7 miles long and is good for all hiking skill levels. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).