We are planning to spend a week in Los Angeles around the 4th of July and we still haven’t narrowed down where to stay. (I know, time is running short!) I have 3 kids, aged 18, 15, and 14. We are used to staying in a moderately-priced hotel in Ormond Beach, Florida, with shuffleboard, family-friendly activities, and lots of BloodThirstyMurderousShark-free ocean swimming. Do you have advice on the best beach to stay in the LA area for an equivalent experience? (or even specific hotels?) We plan day-trips to Disneyland and Hollywood but most of the time will be at the beach.
We don’t mind camping, either…so if there is a family friendly campground relatively close to the beach, that would be good, too…
If you’re looking for more family-friendly, I’d suggest Santa Monica. It’s a little quieter and nicer and there’s a lot of very fun things to do there. There’s the Third Street Promenade with a lot of restaurants, cafes, and shops. The beach is still lively and there’s lot of things to do once you walk off of it. Also, Malibu and Pacific Palisades are a short drive to the north and Venice Beach – if you’re interested in a big party atmosphere/trip back to 1967, is a short drive south. The down side is that it’s a pretty long drive from Santa Monica to Disneyland.
There’s a corridor of beaches, starting with Santa Monica and running sought down the PCH – Santa Monica, Venice, El Segundo, Manhattan, Hermosa, and Redondo. It’s maybe a 15-mile drive, so very accessible regardless of which one you choose. Santa Monica and Manhattan are probably the most family-friendly ones. Hermosa, Venice, and Redondo are much livelier but have much more of a bars-and-parties vibe to them.
If you want to stay closer to Disneyland – which is in Orange County, not LA – then Huntington, Newport, and Laguna are the big beaches down there. I’ve spent most of time at Huntington out of those three and I really like it. Huntington has a ton of bars, restaurants, shops, etc., right off the beach as well, so it’s very convenient.
I have to 3rd that. The ocean temperatures off of LA are at about 66F right now which is completely normal for this time of year but they won’t be but a degree or two warmer by the 4th of July. Unless you have unusually hardy kids, that is too cold to do any extended open ocean swimming like you can in Florida. You might want to temper their expectations so that they know in advance that you will be doing much more beach things than water activities.
I was really ticked off the first time I found that out myself (just a few years ago). The Pacific off of California never gets truly warm by East Coast standards. Baywatch greatly deceived us all.
Beach camping in Southern California tends to be somewhat remote. The closest tent camping is at either at Leo Carrillo State Park way out in Malibu, or at Doheny State Beach in southern Orange County. That’s actually a good location for Disneyland, but about an hour or more from Hollywood. Unfortunately, both are extremely popular and typically are booked 7 months in advance, especially in the summer months. Cancellations do happen, though.
You can get closer if you rent an RV. Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach is nice for what it is, which is a parking lot next to the beach with bathrooms and fire pits. Dockweiler State Beach is more centrally located, but it is directly under the flight path at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), within smelling distance of the county sewage treatment plant, and the area is kinda dicey at night. I don’t recommend it.
There is a bike path that runs over 20 miles from Torrance beach in the south all the way to Will Rogers beach just north of Santa Monica. Just this last weekend we opened a separate bike way connecting the Redondo and Hermosa sections of the path, removing an area where one had to ride on the street for about half a mile.
I grew up in the area, so never needed to stay in a hotel, so I can’t speak to that. Portafino Inn in Redondo Beach is on the harbor and is popular for weddings, but I don’t know what the rooms are like.
If you’re coming over 4th of July, you’ll be in time for the Hermosa Beach Iron Man competition, which involves running a mile, paddleboarding a mile, and downing a six pack of beer. Contestants then vomit all over the sand. Come on down or avoid the area as you see fit. There are also fireworks displays at Torrance Beach, Redondo Beach King Harbor, El Segundo (a park - not on the beach), Marina del Rey and various inland sites. Santa Monica discontinued their fireworks show some years ago - too many crowd control problems.
I just noticed July 1 is full moon, which means the grunion will be running July 2-5. If you’ve never seen a grunion run (and if you don’t live in southern California or Baja, you probably haven’t), it’s definitely worth checking out.
Thank you for the tip about the cold water! I had no idea. In fact, someone at work told me that “the ocean water is cold up near San Francisco but fine near LA”, which is the main reason we were going to LA for the beach. My kids are used to the warm Florida water…I will temper their expectations appropriatelyl!
YES! I first learned of grunion runs on Three’s Company. This sounds like a unique thing we want to see…thanks!
Thank you for all the camping & location information, too…I still need to filter through it all. It is difficult, because what my kids want and what my mom wants are completely different…hopefully we can narrow it down quickly!
If it was me, I think I would look a little further north than the suggestions. I would look to stay near Zuma beach, or Point Dume in Malibu. The nicest beaches in the LA area for my money. It’s far from Disneyland, but for actual beach experience it the best. Also Malibu Canyon state park is up there and has great hiking.
Santa Monica is the best set up for touristy stuff, but the actual beaches are less nice.
Stayed in Newport Beach on Balboa peninsula a month or so ago. At that time, water way too cold w/o a wetsuit. My kid out there says too cold for swimming until late July-August.
We enjoyed our hotel - Balboa Inn - right across from the Balboa Pier - but no pool and not a lot of kid activities as you describe. Nice beach to walk and bike path.
To the south, across the channel, there were some AWESOME beaches. We went to a little one that had tide pools and such. Saw whales from the beach. But rocks prevented even wading. Suspect snorkeling would be awesome.
Rode bikes N on the peninsula to Huntington Beach, which looked like a surfer movie set - complete w/ woody wagons!
Only beaches we checked out. But Orange Cty is close to Disney. SD Zoo only 90 minutes or so away.