A Guide to Santa Monica Bay Beaches

The 20 miles of sandy beaches along the Santa Monica Bay are sights to behold. The bay attracts travelers from around the world at great numbers not only for its beauty, but for all the many fun and interesting things that one can do while at any of these bay beaches. Some of the world's best beach walks are to be enjoyed here, along with shopping, dining, surfing, and a whole lot more. One can enjoy a 20 mile quiet walk of the bay from Santa Monica to Torrance in the south, or bike along the trails for beautiful and magnificent views and cools of the Pacific Ocean. Here are the best Santa Monica Bay beaches to visit while vacationing in the Los Angeles, California area.

Santa Monica Beach: The Santa Monica pier, Palisades Park, and Muscle Beach located just beyond the volleyball courts are among the attractions that bring visitors to this beautiful beach. The beach has many shopping sites including the Third Street Promenade where you can enjoy twice a week farmer's market and other shopping destinations. Some beach fun includes skating or biking along the South Bay Bike Trail, body surfing or boogie-boarding, swimming, fishing, and more. The Muscle Beach is a seaside workout place located south of the volleyball courts. It has many athletic types of equipment for fitness minded individuals. It has parallel bars, jungle gyms for children, gymnastic area and more to keep your body in shape. This is a great location for the whole family to have fun in the sun.

Venice Beach: Venice Beach is a three mile long beach along the Santa Monica Bay. Visitors flock to this beach for its popular boardwalk where everything gels together. Shopping corners for unique souvenirs, flea market and bargain stops, interesting variety of cuisines, and of course sightseeing peak interests. Summer and weekends bring out the best in Venice, with street entertainment at just about every corner of the Ocean Front Promenade. Musicians, drummers, jugglers, comedians, prophets, fortune tellers, and a whole host of other talents fill the corners to showcase their skills. The Muscle Beach located on the boardwalk is where die-hard body builders and locals flex their body for best display of strength. Paddle tennis, volleyball, handball, and basketball are some of the other fun activities to be enjoyed here at Venice. There simply is no other beach like Venice Beach, with its eccentric shops, vendors, entertainers, and more. You will not be bored here.

Manhattan Beach: Manhattan is the other great beach along the Santa Monica Bay where you can enjoy warm sunny days on the seaside. Its famous El Porto Street is known for surfing and boogie-boarding. The Manhattan Pier boasts oceanographic teaching stations where you can be schooled on the arts of marine biology. It has other great many activities including swimming, volleyball, biking, and roller-blading along the strand walkway, fishing and equipment rentals. It attracts young and crowds and has great bars and night life scenes.

Redondo Beach: Ending the 20 miles Beaches in the Santa Monica Bay is Redondo Beach, home of beach recreational sports including boating and surfing. They have free summer concerts, International Surf Festivals, and other numerous competitions. Enjoy soccer, volleyball, paddle-boarding, sand castle contests, biking, swimming, surfing, and a spree at the Galleria Shopping Mall. There is so much to do and enjoy for the whole family.

Sources:
http://www.beachcalifornia.com/redondo.html
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=25111
http://www.laparks.org/venice/venice.htm