Van Damme State Park — Attraction in Fort Bragg

This place is an awesome spot on the beach off PCH or highway 1.

There's 2 fire pits, lots of parking and two outhouse style restrooms. No running water or sinks to wash hands in bit there is a shower to rinse off the salt water if you go in the ocean to snorkel or scuba dive for abalone.

There's kyak tours.

Camping is available across the street for a fee. The beach is open for day use from 530am until 10pm. No tents allowed.

If you do park overnight there is a $45 fee that will be sent to you in the mail per your license plate number. It's better to park in one of the rest areas before or after the beach on PCH where it's free all day and all night. Read the signs before you stop so you save yourself a surprise fee in the mail weeks later.

BONUS there's lots of abalone to find if you spend some time beach combing. It can be foggy or overcast and a bit windy but it does get quite warm between noon and 3pm, once the sun starts going down you'll want something warm around you to keep the chill and wind at bay.

This is a great place to spend the day or to just stop to rest for a few minutes if you're lucky enough to be traveling along the greatest stretch of highway in California.

The Cabrillo light House is only a few miles away as is the Botanical Gardens and other fabulous attractions of northern California.

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Absolutely beautiful beach. We were so lucky to find this little spot just outside of Van Damme National Park. Plenty of parking right off the road and as shorter walk to the ocean. My wife is on a knee scooter and so we Found out that the state parks program in California has sand accessible wheel chairs that are free. You simply call ahead to make sure one is available. Then show up with a truck because, they do not break down. We we threw ours on top of the car strapped it down. It was only a few miles from where we picked it up, to the beach. It was much lighter than it looked. Not the easiest to puch around but a great option if you need it.This is a great spot to catch sunset. Right as we are going to leave we even caught a glimpse of a seal splashing the surf. One thing to note however this is not the best beach to walk barefoot in the surf due to the fact that it is covered in beautiful pebbles they can be quite tiresome on your feet. Dog friendly as long as they are kept on leashes and you clean up after them of course so bring a bag if you bring...

I'm used to National Forest camp sites up in the Tahoe National Forest and nearby so the $45/night cost was quite the surprise. The positives: There's an RV dump station and water station, plenty of water spigots near each camp site, Wi-Fi near the visitor station if you must have an Internet connection, and of course a beach nearby. The staff was friendly. The negatives: It's a CA state park so as usual not dog-friendly at all. No dogs are allowed on any trails even if leashed. The warm showers require $1 for 5 minutes even though you paid $45 for the night. I suppose it's less expensive than booking a night in an inn. Also we dropped by without a reservation. They'd only let us pay one night at a time so we had to move each day. It's a ridiculous policy so we gave up and headed out of the area after 2 nights. I think this policy alone was worth the 3...