Pfeiffer Beach — Local services in Monterey

READ BEFORE YOU VISIT:

What to see: Purple Sand Keyhole Arch

FEE AREA $15 entry fee per car no matter how long you’re there because you’re still using the facilities. The fees are to pay the people to clean and maintain the restrooms, pickup trash, collect other fees, welcome visitors, and do visitor control. Public lands require ongoing stewardship after initial purchase, therefore, public lands are not free. Fees are also used to deter over-loving of our natural areas in hopes of spreading out crowds.

Cash and card accepted.

Card ONLY ACCEPTED WHEN DAY USE ATTENDANT PRESENT. If not present, use a registration envelope to insert cash and deposit into FEE TUBE. Honor system.

Walk-ins not permitted. Not safe to walk down Sycamore Canyon Road. No rv’s, trailers because turnaround is difficult. And even truck campers hit the overhead of trees going in.

Arrive a couple hours early to view sunset during peak season. 2 mile drive down single lane with turnouts for oncoming traffic down a residential road so go SLOW!

This is FOREST SERVICE property operated by a private concessionaire (PMC) - they do not accept any passes at this location or offer discounts.

There’s parking for 65 cars. Once the lot is full, attendants have to turn cars away. Please be respectful because they’re just doing their job to keep the line of cars moving. Don’t argue, throw stuff, yell at, blow the gate or be a jerk in general.

The bathrooms are pit toilets. They’re deadbolts on each door - use them. Also, please go to the bathroom IN the toilet. It less sanitary to go on the floor in a location that doesn’t have running water.

Sand is not always purple so don’t be disappointed. It’s most prominent after it rains. It’s manganese exposed in the sand. When it hasn’t rained, you can see the purple as ribbons in the river closer...

This is a really nice beach, but it's difficult to access. The parking lot is small, so there are times (usually in the summer) when they will turn you away if the lot is full. If you get turned around, I recommend waiting just across from the road from Sycamore Canyon Road and counting cars. +1 for every car that goes in and -1 for every car that comes out. Once the count gets to -3, you can make your move and you will have a higher chance to be let in. We had to do this for about 10 minutes and we were able to get in. The road that goes to Pfeiffer Beach is also a single-lane road, so you will have to use the turnouts to let others pass and be very careful of the edges. The beach reminded me of Koopa Troopa Beach in the N64 Mario Kart game. The main attraction (the rock with the keyhole arch) is nice, but the rest of the beach is also worth exploring. Keyhole Arch is overrated unless you go at a very specific time of the day during a very specific time of the year. The purple sand is real! you have to remove the top layer of sand to be able to see it. Removing just the first inch or so of sand will expose the purple sand underneath. There are many interesting compositions for pictures. My favorite ones were with the large rock formations as soon as you get...

Wouldn’t allow anyone entry, never got to access beach. During our trip to Big Sur, traveling from about 6 hours away, we stopped here today at Pfeiffer Beach around 2pm hoping to enjoy its unique cove, and “purple sand”. It’s not a standard entry where you can drive into a lot and park. Driving in, we saw that the beach was another 2 miles away. We were denied entry by the attendant, a young man not in any uniform. He said that their walkie talkies weren’t working to He had just let the car before us in. When we asked him why, he said she was a journalist(?) Regardless, he had told us there had to be a gap-for every one car let in, five had to leave. We saw one car leave at that moment, so we asked ok so four more cars and we can go? He told us, no 11 actually, when he had just said five a minute ago. He said he had no way of keeping count of how many people were at the beach because his walkie talkies weren’t working didn’t have signal. Apparently they need someone to drive to him from the beach and manually relay the message. We waited for an hour across the street. There’s nowhere to park so he told us we had to come back later just to be told to come back after 5pm. We wasted pretty much two hours just for...