Walking Laguna Beach's coast

The walk most people mean

The core coastal walk runs along Cliff Drive in North Laguna and ends at Main Beach. The Coastal Commission lists Heisler Park as a bluff-top park with views, bluff-top trails, paths to the beach and metered parking. It also marks the park as easy for strollers and as having disabled access. Just south, the city says a boardwalk runs the length of Main Beach, with restrooms and showers at both ends.

By the Coastal Commission’s coordinates, Heisler Park and Main Beach are under half a mile apart in a straight line. From Divers Cove, just north of Picnic Beach, to Main Beach is about 0.6 mile in a straight line. Those are map distances, not trail lengths, so allow extra for detours down to the coves. The walk makes a good sunset route.

Bicycles are off limits here. City code makes it unlawful to ride on any sidewalk, on the Main Beach Boardwalk or anywhere in a city park. The biking page covers where you can ride.

Stairs and ramps down from the bluff

Each cove below the path has its own way down, listed in the cards below and on its beach page. Picnic Beach uses a ramp through Heisler Park, Rockpile and Divers Cove use stairs from Cliff Drive, and Crescent Bay has a ramp and stairs. Crescent Bay Point Park, north of the park at the end of Crescent Bay Drive, is an overlook with no beach access.

Street-end stairways south of Main Beach

South of Main Beach the coast changes. The Coastal Commission lists stairs at the north end of Sleepy Hollow Lane and at Cleo Street, St. Ann’s Drive and Thalia Street, and stairs at most street ends from Anita Street to Pearl Street. Each leads to a separate pocket of sand, so you go down, come back up and walk along the street to the next stairway. Parking on those streets is limited, so see the parking guide or take the trolley.

Where tide and surf cut the route

Do not plan on rock-hopping between coves. The city’s beach pages set out the limits:

• Shaw’s Cove to Crescent Bay: under high surf, the city calls the point north of Shaw’s Cove especially dangerous to people walking between the two.
• Divers Cove and Picnic Beach: the city says the rocks separating them should be avoided at all times, and the rocks around Divers Cove’s north point are closed under high tides or surf.
• Rockpile: at high tide almost no dry sand remains. Bird Rock offshore is a bird sanctuary and off limits.
• Woods Cove: check with the lifeguard before exploring the northern rocks, which the city calls extremely dangerous in surf and high tide.
• Irvine Cove: the city says a rocky point has a tunnel for passing through during very low tides, but the beach lies inside a private community governed by its homeowners association. It is not a public route.

Ask Marine Safety, at (949) 497-0310, about tides and surf before you go looking for passages in the rocks. The city lists each beach on this walk as a marine protected area, so tide pooling means looking, not taking.

The California Coastal Trail

The California Coastal Trail is the state’s name for a continuous trail along the coast. The Coastal Commission describes it as a continuous interconnected public trail system, about 1,230 miles of coastline long, with about 70% constructed. The State Coastal Conservancy, which the Legislature tasked with helping complete it, coordinates the work with the Commission and State Parks. The Commission links an interactive map of the trail’s current extent.

For Laguna Beach, the best route description comes from Coastwalk, a nonprofit that tracks the trail. It puts Section 4 between the Crystal Cove Historic District and Main Beach and Section 5 between Main Beach and Aliso Beach. It says the trail meanders on and off coves, beaches and streets through town and detours onto the highway at two gated developments. That is a nonprofit’s description, so check the Commission’s map for official status. See Crystal Cove State Park for the northern end.

Treasure Island and Aliso Beach

Farther south the walk breaks into separate beaches. Treasure Island Park has ramps to the sand, and Aliso Beach has a paved pedestrian path and a tunnel walkway under Coast Highway to the inland lot. The city lists a sidewalk from the play structure to the south end of the beach.

Getting there and rules

The free Coastal Route trolley runs on Coast Highway between North Laguna and Heisler Park, downtown and South Laguna. The trolley page has current hours, and the getting around guide has the rest. The city’s Marine Safety department says beaches north of Aliso Creek close from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. The council resolution that sets park and beach hours closes Heisler Park earlier, from midnight to 5 a.m.