Seacliff State Beach is a state beach park on Monterey Bay, in the town of Aptos, Santa Cruz County, California. It is located off Highway 1 on State Park Drive, about 5 miles (8 km) south of Santa Cruz, . The beach is most known for the concrete ship SS Palo Alto lying in the water. North of Seacliff State Beach is New Brighton State Beach.
Long beach with multiple parking lots, bathrooms and picnic areas next to the beach. The innermost parking lot is closest to the beach. But it will charge you $10 a day, and I found that itβs free for parking at Rio Del Mar Beach. Itβs super busy at weekend, even after 4pm. So arrive as early as you can without concern for parking. Check the temperature before you come. Itβs windy and cool. The water is cold, while the sand is hot. The bridge is closed, and as the picture shows that maybe it is not quite safe for staying on the bridge. Shipwreck visible for your eyes is the perfect place for sea birds. The beach administrator drove along the beach to give the warning for people who was swimming because the possible shark attack. I was kind of excited to see the shark, but it must be in the deep sea area. So be safe and watch from time to time just in case.
Lovely chance to get away from the crowds and still enjoy the beach, especially with everyone having been cooped up for the last year and a half trying to get out and find parking and be able to enjoy places is a little challenging. This was a pleasant surprise able to find parking in the upper lot just the stairs down to the ocean and you're good. They did have some picnic tables but I would imagine you would have to get there early to get to them
Plenty if day use parking, picnic tables, restrooms, and a visitors center. The beach is wide and sandy. Stay north of the shipwreck and the pier or you'll get hit with very strong guano smell from the many seabirds there. That was my reason for subtracting a star. The entrance staff are very friendly. Entrance fee for day use is $10, but this will also cover you for any other state beach on the same day. There is camping, including RV camping. Costs are about $65/night.
For someone who doesn't like to haul an entire cart filled with tents, beach chairs, ice cooler, blankets, and small humans across the uneven sandy beach.... THIS IS THE PLACE FOR YOU! First of all....there are bathrooms! Secondly, there are plenty of Picnic tables with the view of the ocean and 20 steps away from the sands. Your car can also be park directly behind the picnic table (not pictured here but if you are lucky and get there early you can find a spot). Tips: if you are going to secure yourself on the beach, I would recommend staying on the left side of the abandoned boat (you'll know when you see it. Apparently the right side of the boat catches more strong fishy smell. It could also be the wind was blowing that direction that day. But you can tell when one side of the beach is almost emptied versus the other side of beach is packed with people. I would recommend taking a whiff before securing your tent down! π
A nice beach in a state park. Seacliff state beach potential is not fulfilled: from the wood logs almost everywhere to the unbearable smell.a lesser inconvenience is the limited parking available by the beach so if planing a bbq or just taking stuff with you either get there early or you can also ask to just drop stuff and the go back and park in the upper parking lot. The main issue is definitely the smell of the rotten fish coming from the very nearby concrete boat that the birds took for habitat. So yeah get as far away as you can from the dilapidated pier, maybe that will help.
Rating it 3 only because of the bad smell. But apart from that beach was good and even with huge crowd had sufficient spots to maintain social distancing. Parking in upper deck was sufficient but need to walk down the stairs
Entrance to this park costs 10 dollars. The park is open from 8.00 am to sunset. Beautiful beach here you can sunbathe and swim. Is there also a pier where you can fishπππππ
Simple, unpretentious, uncrowded, and thoroughly restorative. It's all you can ever hope for. There's a very laid-back/local vibe that's delightful. Ok - practical stuff: North of the pier is an RV short-stay area with v clean loos , at and around the pier, a visitors' ctr and across the street, some eateries -- heading South on the beach, typically fewer people.