Moonlight State Beach — Attraction in Encinitas

One of my favorite things about Moonlight State Beach is the relatively sizable free parking lot here. On B Street, heading toward the ocean, you'll make a left onto a perpendicular street, right before a small Circle Drive drop-off point, with 3 Handicapped parking spots at this beach. You'll l then proceed uphill a short ways, when you'll notice a medium-size parking lot on the right, which you may turn into. If there's no parking in there, usually a summer-time problem, continue up this hilly road, where you'll find parking spaces, ringing the U-shaped end of this road. From up here, you'll have sweeping views of Moonlight State Beach, and the ocean, a bit further out.

I also love how close it is to the beach, from the parking areas. We watched an epic sunset at this beach, on 1/12/23.

Another plus here, if you like Beach Volleyball, is they have 3 regulation-size beach volleyball courts set up on the sand. If I were forty years younger, heck, I might even have been out there, playing on one.

As an added bonus, there are public restrooms with soap dispensers at the sinks here, plus a super handy concession stand, in case you get hungry, during your visit. Not only that, Moonlight State Beach has a small rental shop, next to this food place, where you can rent beach gear, such as surf boards, wetsuits, Boogie Boards & the like, in case you don't have your own.

It's just a short jaunt across the sand, or a provided concrete walkway, that dissects the middle of this beach, which ends at a concrete circle, surrounding a towering Palm tree. From there, it's across a bit of sand, to a hilly berm, overlooking the water. Then proceed downhill, across a slightly-inclined band of round rocks, which in turn give way to a thin bit of sand, at the water, you'll notice, at low tide. These rocks will shift under your feet as you walk. They also add interest to this rather plain-looking beach. Slightly further south, from the concrete walkway, is a mesh walkway, very helpful for disabled, or handicapped persons, which will get you closer to the water, than the concrete walkway does.

I witnessed a continuous procession of 3 different waves lines form, from furthest, all the way into the more gentle shore breaker waves. The waves farthest out were nice-sized 6 footers, when we were here. I witnessed 2 surfers get some truly epic rides out there,...

I love Moonlight Beach! My friend and I took my kids and her grandkids their years ago and we ate at the concession stand and had one of the best days I've ever had at the beach. Recently my boyfriend and I have taken to bringing our dinner and some blankets and going to the beach for sunset and sometimes afterwards. It is a beautiful beach. We saw a couple get engaged one night they had a background of a heart made with lights and something else they had like a professional video taken of The proposal. The girl looked absolutely gorgeous in a very very beautiful tailored dress and her fiance looked very handsome in a tux. I hope they have a long and happy marriage and we said that to them as they walked by. There is always something interesting going on at Moonlight Beach. One night we went just after sunset and we ate dinner that my boyfriend had made and sat and talked on the blankets for an hour or two. I felt completely safe at Moonlight Beach. WARNING The parking lot at that beach apparently closes at 10:00 p.m. My boyfriend tonight each received a ticket for parking after the lot had closed. We searched and searched for a sign and none was visible. We finally did find a sign that was 75 to 85% covered by branches. It was certainly not visible to us or anyone to read. We have appealed the ticket based on the fact that the signage was covered. My boyfriend went back during the day and took a picture to send along with the appeal as proof the sign stating the hours of the parking lot was not readable. Just be careful that's all I'm saying. It is a very beautiful beach and we will continue to go but now we will park on the street or leave before 10:00 p.m.. I just want to make sure that nobody else gets a ticket and that they trim back the branches that covered the sign. Thanks I hope you enjoy Moonlight Beach as...

Parking extremely difficult at busy times but worth the walk! We prefer to go off busy times but even on a very busy day made it work. They have life guards who really are on top of their game. Our son, a strong swimmer and EMT, got trapped in a rip current and life guards went straight out to help. He ended up knowing the guy, another EMT, who went to rescue him. They actually saved a lot of people who ventured past the sandy shorelines and out into surf to swim. They have clean bathrooms, a place outside to rinse off, 3 handicap spots right at the beach, 2 drop off locations and a parking lot up a steep path. When that's full you have to park in the neighborhoods if you can't grab the 4 or so parking spots on the street. There's beach volleyball, a food stand, a creek which young kids play in but shouldn't as it comes from the storm drain, and a small bridge over it. There are boulders at some of the cliff lines and dangerous unstable cliffs that back the shore at another part but danger signs are posted to keep you far enough away. But the beach is long, sandy, and lined with beautiful rocks and shells for the youngsters to explore. Our 3 year old grandson loves this beach and jumping in the waves... Attended of course at all times! And after we're done at the beach for the day we head to the playground attached to the beach while grandpa gets the car! They have fire pits but we brought our own picnic. As a heads up there's no glass bottles, no feeding the birds, and no dogs allowed at this beach. But they do have wheelchairs with the big blue up wheels for the beach for disabled individuals to get into the water and...