Solana Beach, California: Public Access to Four Beaches

Solana Beach is a cute little seaside community sandwiched between Del Mar (with its famous Del Mar Race Track) to the south and Cardiff-by-the-sea to the north. The main businesses in town are along Highway 101, Lomas Santa Fe Rd, and Via de la Valle... and along the Cedros Avenue Design District north of the railroad track. The main attraction to the area, of course, is its beaches.

You can really walk the length of Solana Beach on its beach during low tide, but accessing the sandy wash from land can be problematic due to the sheer and notoriously unstable sandstone cliffs guarding the coast. Some private residences on the ocean-overlooking bluffs have their own accesses, but officially there are four public accesses. Here they are, from north to south:

Tide Park: Turn west from Highway 101 at Solana Vista and you'll run right into Tide Park beach access. There is only street parking here, I'm afraid. Your best bet is along Pacific Avenue. There is a picnic bench on the top of the bluff here that offers a good view. The beach access is a long and steep staircase with a life-guard tower on a turn and an open shower for rinsing sand off. No restroom and no handicap access. The beach itself is in a pleasant little cove with fine sand. There is an offshore reef at its north end that is ideal for tide-pooling and snorkeling. Surfing can be quite good, though the breaks are pretty close to shore so the waves are shorter and get to the shore in a hurry.

Fletcher Cove (AKA Pillbox): Turn west from Highway 101 at Lomas Santa Fe (which warps into Plaza as you move toward the coast). You really can't miss Fletcher Cove park with its public parking lot, playground, basketball court, and a positively fancy concrete access ramp lined with succulents and colorful rock mosaic. This is the only beach in the area that is handicap accessible. It even has public restrooms with handicap access, along with the mandatory open shower stalls. The area's main Life Guard Headquarter and emergency response unit is based here, and the picnic benches and tables by the lifeguard building afford very nice bird eye view of the cove.

Keep an eye out for the various sea birds when you are out here having lunch. The gulls aren't shy about finishing your sandwich for you if you aren't paying attention. If you're lucky, you might catch a good glimpse of the visiting northern harrier and other birds of prey, too. They like to hover over the beach and dive straight down for their very fresh meat. Sometimes just missing the surfers!

There is good surf to be had. Fletcher Cove is close to many good restaurants, and the smallness of its sandy beach gives off a positively intimate feel that makes it the area's favorite place for love birds (of the human kind) to come and spend a romantic afternoon at.

Seascape Sur (AKA Cherry Hill): Located just a few blocks south of Fletcher Cove, the Seascape Sur beach access is on Sierra Ave immediately south of the Solana Beach & Tennis Club. It is quite easy to miss, so keep an eye on the ocean side of Sierra for the access' blue sign when you drive up. There is a public parking lot on the east side of Sierra a bit further south. The Seascape Sur access pathway leads to an opening on the bluff between private condos. There's an open shower stall there at the top of the steep staircase down to the thin beach (it practically disappears under water during high tide). There is no life-guard service and no restroom here. The sand is good for sand-castles, jogging, and frisbeeing. Surf is pretty good, though there's a lot of seaweed.

Del Mar Shores: Turn west on Del Mar Shores from Hwy 101, look for the public parking lot at the NW corner of Del Mar Shores and Sierra. The beach access is located on the north side of the cul-de-sac, just right of the apartment complex's gate. Like most other beaches, here, it is not handicap accessible and the only amenity offered is a shower stall. Beach access is via a steep staircase tucked in between private condos. Once you get down to the sand, there is quite a lot of room, especially to the north. This beach somehow draws a lot of water birds who like to hover over the shallow water area like a pack of flies in a swamp. There are offshore reefs that offer good surfing and snorkeling.

Getting to Solana Beach beaches:
From Hwy 101, turn west at Solana Vista to access Tide Park; west at Lomas Santa Fe/Plaza to access Fletcher Cove; west at Dahlia, then north on Sierra to access Seascape Sur; and west on Del Mar Shores to access Del Mar Shores beach.

The Solana Beach Train Station (Amtrak, Coaster, Surfliner) is just half a block north of Lomas Santa Fe Rd, and this stretch of Hwy 101 is served by the NCTD Breeze bus 101 (running up and down Hwy 101 from Oceanside to UTC Transit Center in La Jolla) and bus 308 (from Solana Beach to Escondido via Del Dios Hwy).