5 Underrated California Beach Towns

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Avila Beach, 160 miles northwest of Los Angeles, and about 200 miles south of San Francisco, is one of California’s best getaways. The town has natural hot springs, wineries, and a place along the beach called “Pirates Cove,” which sounds like an amusement park, but is actually a nude beach. Don’t worry though, people won’t look—they’ll be too busy watching dolphins jump out of the water and seals playing on the rocks. 

Cayucos, which sits halfway between L.A. and San Francisco, is best known for being untouched by over-development. It looks like a ghost town—with its own saloon, which includes billiards and a card table—but has amazing wine to the east, and is well known for its perfect surfing conditions. You can even check out Hearst Castle if you ever get sick of the beautiful beach and pier (not that you will). 

Encinitas is the jewel of North County. It has numerous beaches, but Moonlight Beach is a local favorite. With beautiful waves, the beach also has fire pits to enjoy bonfires when the sun starts to set. But if you go to surf, check out Swami’s Beach, made famous by the Beach Boys’ “Surfin’ U.S.A.” Aside from the surf, Encinitas houses San Diego’s Botanical Garden, which has helped the town earn its nickname as “Flower Capital of the World.” If flowers aren’t you thing, the downtown life is filled with enough coffee shops and record stores to satisfy your craving. 

SoCal is so well known for its beaches that Northern California is often forgotten. Such is the case with Gold Bluffs. The ten-mile-long beach, between Eureka and Crescent City, is a fantastic camping site, where the early morning fog from the ocean adds to the experience. Best of all it has beautiful redwoods and very little crowds. The place is so under-the-radar that the road to the beach isn’t even paved, which is the perfect start to an adventure.

The magic of Elk is that most people miss it. In Northern California, right off of State Route 1, Elk, a town so small that it doesn’t even have a gas pump, is passed without a thought by people on their way to Mendocino. Atop the bluffs are numerous bed and breakfasts, and the beach itself is untainted by vacationers and enjoyed mostly by the small population of the town, only 208, according to the last census. It’s the perfect place to get away from it all, including cell phone reception.