What expectations do you have for a beach area? Weather, swimming temperatures, views, lack of crowds, walking?

Southern California has warmer weather for beaches, but still, the ocean is fairly cold in May/June.

Popular areas with some nice Resorts and Hotels include the Huntington Beach area, Carlsbad and the Pacific/Mission Beach area in San Diego. Those would be my top three choices for a place to stay a week near a beach.

If you want to swim and do all the activities associated with a beach and with the ocean, then Hawaii is the place to be. water along the ocean is very cold in Northern CA and cool in Southern Ca. So a beach from Santa Barbara to San Diego would be nice with the Orange County cities of Laguna Beach or Coronado beach would be best

SO when you say, our beaches look good. Which beach looks good. Where did you see it ? On a TV show ?

Here is TA's list of top 25 beaches in the US. FWIW

www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice-Beaches

Honestly, as nice as the beaches in California, and particularly in Souther California can be, we'd be steering you wrong if we told you anything other than that the beaches in Hawaii blow the beaches in our area out of the water. Hawaii is just spectacular. If the extra expense of flying and staying there fits your budget, I'd strongly suggest doing that instead.

In any case, the best beaches in California, and which tend to have somewhat warmer (but still cool even in summer) tend to be from Ventura south. If you just want lots of time at the beach and not much other sightseeing, i'd look at Manhattan or Hermosa Beach, or one of the Orange County Beaches (Huntington, Newport, Laguna) or even in San Diego. If you wanted to stay by the beach but sight-see in LA, for instance, then Santa Monica would be a good choice.

Hi,

Thank you all for your help.

We did think of a beach in San Diego or one in Orange County for our last few days.

We also thought of a couple of nights in Santa Monica before driving to SF with a couple of overnights on the way

.

How long is the drive from LA to San Diego?

I say your beaches look good from what I have seen on Travel shows here, magazines and TV. Also from TA while searching for locations and hotels. I like the piers that seem to stretch out forever.

thanks

OK, the drive from the LA area to San Diego is about 2 hours, more in heavy traffic.

If you like Piers, the Pacific Beach area of San Diego has one, but not the longest, Oceanside in Northern San Diego County has a nice one, the Balboa Peninsula area of Newport Beach has 2 piers close to each other, and Huntington Beach is known for its pier. Huntington Beach has the Hyatt and Hilton Resorts.

Many of the beaches have piers - besides the ones already mentioned. Probably the most famous one is in Santa Monica, which has a full carnival complete with a ferris wheel and a roller coaster. There are also piers at Venice Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach.

We love spending time in Laguna Beach! :)