4 Best Beaches near Irvine, CA
While Irvine is a bit inland and full of business buildings, the city is still within miles of some wonderful beaches.
Here are four of our favorites.
Laguna Beach
The city of Laguna Beach, and the long beachfront itself, is a popular destination near Irvine. The city has 30 beaches, but we like to think of them as one continuous ocean-side destination that includes fun stops like Three Arch Bay and Thousand Steps Beach. In the area, you’ll find walking trails with spectacular views, popular restaurants like Nick’s Laguna Beach, Driftwood Kitchen, and Splashes.
These beaches, which cover seven miles of coastline, have clean, whitish sand, sparkling blue waters, and often big, beautiful waves. Like most California beaches, one can go swimming and surfing year-round here.
Crystal Cove State Beach
While Crystal Cove State Beach is in Laguna Beach and can be considered part of the larger beach system, it deserves its own entry. Part of Crystal Cove State Park, this beach is 3.2 miles long. The park area includes 2,400 acres of wilderness.
The park is a campground, so if you’re visiting from out of town and want to spend a few days on the beach and the hiking trails, you can bring a tent or your RV and have a wonderful mini vacation. Make some sandcastles on the beach, peruse the tidepools and swim, surf, or boogie board in the ocean.
When you want to check out more of the city, head over to the Crystal Cove Historic District for a look at the historic cottages from the 1930s and 1940s.
Corona Del Mar
There are also many great beaches in Newport Beach, and we encourage you to check out any of them. We’d like to highlight Corona Del Mar. This is a smaller beach, but you’re bound to love it for its enviable sunset tidepools, and rocky shoreline. You’ll enjoy climbing the rocks, checking out the sea life, and relaxing on clean, white sands.
Nearby in Newport Beach, you can enjoy the Newport Beach Film Festival in October, and fireworks on July 4 during Newport Beach Independence Day. The area includes hiking and biking trails, and this is a good place to go paddleboarding, kayaking, jet-skiing, and scuba diving.
Huntington State Beach
Huntington State Beach is a fantastic, two-mile-long beach you won’t want to miss if you’re in the Irvine area. It begins at the Huntington Beach Boardwalk and goes all the way to the Santa Ana River Channel. Yes, surfing is ubiquitous at California beaches, so it’s impressive that Huntington State Beach owns the title “Surf City USA.” While people mostly know this beach for its surfing, you can enjoy so much more like bonfires, building sandcastles, sunbathing, playing frisbee, swimming, and boogie boarding in the ocean.
It’s easy to find parking in the big parking lot on Pacific Coast Highway, and if you want to camp in the area, you can do so at Bolsa Chica State Beach.
When you’re ready to grab a bite to eat or do some seaside shopping, visit the Huntington Beach Pier, which extends from the beach itself into the ocean. This 1,850-foot structure is one of the longest piers in California. It’s open from 5:00 a.m. to midnight and features. Stores include Surf City Store featuring local souvenirs, The Kite Connection, and the angler shop Let’s Go Fishing.
If you want to check out the local wildlife, stop by Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, a 1,300-acre estuary with coastal dunes, a salt marsh, mudflats, a freshwater marsh, and more. More than 200 species of birds live here. If you enjoy nature photography, you’ll love this spot and get a ton of great pictures.
After some time on the beach or in the wilderness, have a picnic at one of the many tables at the beach’s back end. You can even cook over one of the fire rings. There are volleyball courts, and you can go fishing without a license.
If you enjoy camping in your RV, or boating on the ocean, then you’ll need a place to store your vehicle. At RV Storage Depot, we have properties in Irvine, McClellan Park, and Norwalk where you can do just that. Get your vehicle out of your driveway and somewhere safe and secure. Our gate hours are 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily, so it’s easy to get your vehicle when you’re ready for a trip and to drop it off when you get back.
