Del Mar City Beach
Del Mar, CA
Del Mar City Beach is reached on foot only, via street ends running from 29th Street down to 17th Street, with Del Mar Bluffs City Park adding shoulder parking at the north end. It's a genuinely residential stretch of coast, quieter and more low-key than the beach scene around the fairgrounds further south.
A genuinely quiet, residential stretch of Del Mar's coast, easy to overlook next to the busier beach by the fairgrounds.
How we score beachesStreet-end access means no big lots here, plan on parking a few blocks in and walking.
Pay-and-display shoulder parking at Del Mar Bluffs City Park; street parking elsewhere.
Foot access only via street ends, no direct vehicle access to the sand.
Dogs are banned entirely from Del Mar's main beach between Powerhouse Park and 29th Street during summer, and must be leashed the rest of the year except for an early morning off-leash window before 8am.
San Diego County's water climbs into the upper 60s and low 70s by late summer, the most comfortable window for swimming.
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