Things to do / Travel Guide
Address:Santa Monica, California
When it comes to beaches, Santa Monica Beach is something of a red carpet celebrity. Santa Monica is the Baywatch beach. It is also the Beverly Hills 90210 beach and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer beach. The beach is also used by fitness-conscious joggers, walkers, rollerbladers, rollerskaters and cyclists conquering the broad, paved Ocean Front Walk that parallels Santa Monica's powder-white sands. You see, the Santa Monica Beach scene is all about being beautiful. Not only are celebrity sightings run-of-the-mill at Santa Monica Beach, the beach itself is as pretty as they come. With more than three and a half miles of sweeping coastline, dolphins surfacing for a morning swim, 340 days of sunshine each year, and the beautiful, warm Pacific, Santa Monica has the beach essentials down pat. Add to the list of pros couture boutique shops, gourmet restaurants, cute cafes and the historic Santa Monica Pier with its solar powered, nine-story-high ferris wheel, the only of its kind in the world. For best, picture-perfect beach scenes, Santa Monica Beach deserves its own Academy Award.
The Santa Monica Beach is located 16 miles west of downtown Los Angeles and 8 miles north of Los Angeles International Airport. Folks of all shapes and sizes perfect the art of tanning, enjoy outdoor pilates classes, heat up the sands with beach volleyball matches, and take the waters by storm by surfing or swimming. True to its Baywatch past, Santa Monica's lifeguard stations are manned during daylight hours. Build sand castles and bike the South Bay Bicycle Trail. You can also walk, skate, or bike south along the paved beach paths for several miles toward Venice Beach.
To amuse yourself further (and maybe end up as a movie extra), head to the historic, world famous Santa Monica Pier, one of the most well filmed pleasure piers in the world. The pier's official website even offers its services for film and television shootings. Ride the restored, 1922 Looff Hippodrome Carousel, whip and whir along the pier roller coaster, or catch a seat on the Pacific Wheel, the nine-story-high, solar-powered Ferris wheel for breathtaking (and stomach-churning) views of Santa Monica Bay and coastline. Fishermen will appreciate the end and north side of Santa Monica Pier for catching halibut and mackerel; the inshore pier area for croakers and barred surfperch.
While Santa Monica Beach offers many big parking lots, you'd be better off ditching your four wheels as soon as you can; Santa Monica Beach is best explored by foot. With paved beach paths, the pedestrian mall and promenade on Third Street, as well as plenty of sidewalks, Santa Monica Beach also offers an electric powered Tide Shuttle that runs along the beach. If you prefer to stroll in style, bike and skate rentals are available along the beachfront. Of course, the best and trendiest way to zip around Santa Monica's beach is just to rent an electronic stand-up-and-go Segway scooter. You can find Segway rentals on Ocean Avenue, one block south of the pier.
For one of the hippest beach vibes on the Southern California coast, where beauty meets stardom, Santa Monica is a two-thumbs-up vacation choice.