California’s got tons of beautiful beaches, but it’s nearly impossible not to get starry eyed (figuratively speaking, of course) at Huntington Beach City Beach.
I’d been wanting to visit this Orange County treasure for some time now, and absolutely fell in love with it as soon as I stepped foot onto the sand. As of this post, it’s my favorite Southern California beach. With the laid back atmosphere throughout the area, the captivating pier, clean sand and big waves, there’s everything to love about this place.
Huntington Beach City Beach is 3.5 miles long, and it’s a pretty popular spot, particularly among surfers: it sees over 8 million visitors each year. Its pier is also world-famous and is the perfect place for a leisurely and/or romantic stroll.
If you’re in Southern California and looking for a beach that isn’t too chaotic to get to, you’ll want to go here whether or not you’ve already been 🙂 I spent a couple of hours here on a weekday afternoon – that’s probably a big part of why it wasn’t so busy – and it was as close to perfect as you can get.
A random stranger offered to pose against the sunset so I could capture some of his silhouette.
Some of the reasons I really took a liking to this beach is because it was much less stressful to get to compared to others. Santa Monica, for instance, is unquestionably a Los Angeles gem and it’s something I’d recommend anyone visiting the area for the first time to check out. However, getting there via car can take a lot of time: traffic on the freeways (even on weekdays), traffic on side street, and finding parking – especially on weekends – can be a mission.
I’ll have to go back to Huntington on a weekend to see what it’s like, but on the late weekend afternoon that I went, I didn’t encounter any traffic, nor did I have any problems finding parking (there are lots of structures nearby that are reasonably priced. I paid $6 for 3-4 hours, and you can click here for a map of parking options). What’s also reeeeeally nice is that the blocks in the downtown area are relatively small, so it doesn’t take much time at all to walk from where you might end up parking down to the shore.
Walking from the part of the shore closest to the road down to the water is also a breeze because it’s a pretty short distance.
It’s definitely an experience to be one of the more than 8 million who stop by Huntington Beach City Beach every year, and it’s a place I’d encourage anyone who can get there to check out!
