Cayucos State Beach — Attraction in Cayucos

I've seen whales breach here. Not just come to the surface, spout some water, and go back down. I've seen them come shooting up out of the ocean, and fall back into it on their sides. Over and over and over again, until my eyes grew tired and my mouth dried out due to my slack-jawed gaping. Parking is free, and you cannot get any closer to the beach without crashing onto it. There are public bathrooms, children's playground equipment, and Life Guards during busy times. There are also restaurants, including a pizza-by-the-slice joint, and an affordable breakfast and lunch diner on the same beach-facing street. Others seem to like it too, so parking can be hard to find on busy days. But if you arrive early, ocean-side free public parking is there. At least...

Nice beach in a very small town but Way too crowded in July! The entire town seems to have grown from as-close-as-possible to the beach outward. All the limited parking I could find was filled to overflowing. To be fair, my review is based on driving around trying to dodge moving and parked cars and pedestrians, with a quick siting of the beach as I drove through its small parking lot. Ended up driving back down 1 to Morro Strand Beach where I had better luck—1 space left! :) On a more positive note, during slower seasons, or if you know of a place to park away from the beach and town, there are restaurants and shops very convenient...

Amazing weather today spent the entire afternoon with my grandchildren on the beach. Fabulous time looking through the tide pools. Showed a big red crab and 2 different types of starfish to the kids. Shared the thrill of lightly sticking a finger on the tentacles of an anemone explaining how they eat. Had one spit out the remains of a sand flea and a small crab at the perfect time for my granddaughter to see...