Seacliff State Beach

Located in the city of Aptos, Seacliff State Beach is one-and-a-half-miles long and is a well-known swimming and beach walking spot.

Seacliff State Beach welcomes dogs on-leash and offers many amenities including lifeguards, restrooms, showers, barbecues, fire pits, picnic tables, an oceanfront campground for RVs – and a visit center with a park store, a tide pool tank, and an aquarium. If you are looking for additional amenities, a huge fishing pier named Seacliff Pier is situated on Seacliff State Beach from where you can also see shipwrecks of an old concrete ship USS Palo Alto.

There are many fun activities here including swimming, surfing, hiking, biking, and paddle-boarding.

Getting to Seacliff State Beach is very easy – after you get off of Highway 1, take the State Park Drive exit, and follow it west for a few minutes to reach the paid parking lot at the entrance.

If you are looking for attractions near Seacliff State Beach, you can drive 17-minutes to Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Exploration Center which offers many multimedia exhibitions including theatre, touch pools, and an underwater robot. The gravity-defying Mystery Spot is among the most prominent illusion-based tourist attractions – visitors can experience demonstrations that disobey gravity inside a wooden building and while walking up a steep hill here. Bigfoot Discovery Museum is devoted to an American folklore ape-like creature Bigfoot and features tchotchkes from the 1970s Bigfoot boom and the 1980s resurrection with Harry and the Hendersons memorabilia. Another great attraction near Seacliff State Beach is Monterey Bay Aquarium that is home to many incredible sea creatures including jellyfish, great white sharks, captive killer whales, rockfishes, African penguins, and the Pacific sea nettles.

If you get hungry, there are many restaurants within a four-minute drive of Seacliff State Beach. The upscale Severino's Bar & Grill features American and International cuisines and a patio with a koi pond and live jazz. Manuel's Mexican Restaurant is a small vegetarian-friendly oceanfront restaurant featuring traditional and authentic Mexican items like enchiladas, tamales, tacos, nachos, and margaritas. Another great restaurant near Seacliff State Beach is Hong Kong Garden that offers Chinese and Asian food.

If you are looking for a hotel near Seacliff State Beach, you can drive seven-minutes to the AAA 4-Diamond and 4-Star hotel Inn At Depot Hill that boasts 12 Mediterranean-styled suites. Best Western Seacliff Inn is a 3-Star hotel that was awarded the Travellers’ Choice 2020 Award by Tripadvisor. If you are looking for an affordable hotel near Seacliff State Beach, the 2-Star Rio Sands Hotel has a pool and kids club.