Salt Creek Beach
With nearly a mile of sand spread along the coast just north of Dana Point, Salt Creek Beach is a favorite place for beach visitors to spend the day. For surfers, it is one of the best spots in the area ever since the harbor and accompanying breakwaters at Dana Point changed the surfing geography.
Tide pools and California's largest kelp forest just offshore are some of the features that attract visitors to Salt Creek Beach. The area is part of the Niguel Stare Marine Conservation Area.
Salt Creek Beach Park is operated by Orange County. Parking is only a dollar an hour, and the beach is open from 5 AM until midnight. Good facilities, including a seasonal snack shop, make the beach a popular choice. The snack shop is open from 9 AM to 5 PM on holidays and weekends. Besides selling food and beverages, they rent boogie boards, beach chairs, and umbrellas.
Parking at Salt Creek Beach
The lower parking lot at Salt Creek Beach Park is open the same hours as the beach, from 5 AM to midnight. Parking is self-serve Pay and Display at $1 per hour, credit cards accepted. At busy times this parking area will be full.
The alternative is the much larger parking lot up by the Pacific Coast Highway at Ritz-Carlton Drive. The parking rate is the same $1 per hour. The walk down to the beach is a fair jaunt, especially the return climb after a long day in the sun.
Middles at Salt Creek Beach
Strand Beach
Strand Beach is directly south of Salt Creek Beach, just around the point with the lifeguard tower. Strand is usually less crowded than Salt Creek. A little less than a mile long, Strand Beach is narrow enough that during high tides waves scoot all the way across the sand. Immediately inland from the beach a boardwalk provides convenient and dry passage along the shore. There are restrooms, outdoor showers, and a drinking fountain at beach level near the bottom of the steps.
Parking is available at a spacious lot at Strand Vista Park off Selva Road. Parking is free. The park has outdoor showers and restrooms. Many steps lead down to the beach from the parking lot, or you could take the funicular.
Ride the Funicular
European travelers are familiar with funiculars which ferry pedestrians up and down steep hills in major cities, but the funicular at Strand Beach is a novelty for most. The free tram holds 8 passengers at a time and operates 7 AM to 5 PM on off-season weekends and holidays and 6 AM to 8 PM every day in the summer. Often there is a line waiting to board.
