Salt Creek Beach Park
Dana Point, CA
Salt Creek Beach Park is a genuinely popular surf and family beach with large parking lots and a grassy picnic area on the bluff above, backed by the Ritz-Carlton's clifftop trail that's open to the public for anyone wanting the view without the hotel room rate.
Reliable surf, real parking capacity, and a genuinely scenic free clifftop walk, one of the more complete beach days in Dana Point.
How we score beachesThe Ritz-Carlton's clifftop trail is a real, free public path, worth the walk even if you're not staying at the hotel.
Large fee lots serve the beach.
Dogs are not allowed on the sand or in the water at Salt Creek Beach, though leashed dogs are welcome in the grassy park area above it.
Orange County's water takes until late summer to really warm up, climbing into the low 70s by September.
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