leo carrillo state park and beach

debbbiew

Leo Carrillo is a very interesting beach in Malibu. I am from Maine originally and it kind of reminded me of my days at the beach there. It is a much more natural beach with tidal pools, sea weed, rock formations and little inlets. The nice thing is dogs are allowed here on a leash. If you are lucky enough to get there early, you can put your chair in one of the rock "caves" along the water's edge to get out of the sun. This is a nature lover's beach. Kids will love exploring to see what is hiding in the tidal pools.

batac2015

Great place to visit and camp. Ocean was calm when we are at the beach. The breeze of the tides ashore were breathtaking. Amazing.

caml77

An interesting diversion from the usual plain sandy Californian beach. We were there at low tide so there was plenty of craggy rocks to explore including tiny rocky caves below the bluff. Please respect the crabs and sealife clinging to the rocks.

bdkLosAngeles

Beach to the east of the lifeguard station for tidepools. Lovely cliffs with a couple of caves. Then to the west, you can take your dogs on the lovely long sandy beach - but keep them on the leash. Park along the road, in the first large state park lot, or keep going once you're past that lot, under the bridge, and to the bigge rlots furtehr along. Small museum open at weekends in season. Flush toilets along the western beach. A few picnic tables. Deserted during winter weekdays.

mrob1515

I have camped here several times and always enjoyed it even though my campsite was burglarized one day when I left for a trip into Los Angeles.

bertaannf

First, street parking is free! This a great beach for adventure.The beach public facilities have just been updated, always clean. Even when the life guard stands are closed they patrol by truck and helicopter.The beach is sub divided by lots of, climbable rock walls and tide pools. Great photo locations!!!! We try to go after a storm as we always find lots of unique treasures.Easy access by the restrooms. If you bring children they will love it, but, they will strict supervision!If you surf this is a popular spot.Check the tide table and go for low tide!There are area for picnics, be prepared to share with the birds.El Matador Beach is also nice, $8.00 to park.

MrBLosAngeles

If you can only make a very quick stop to a beach, certainly it makes sense to visit Venice Beach or the Santa Monica Pier. They are quick and full of local cultural vibe. But if time allows and you would like to enjoy more coastal beauty…then I highly recommend driving up the coast just 45 minutes to Leo Carrrillo State Beach. It is a picturesque small bay with a large rock set off the shoreline with surfers on longboards enjoying nearly year round. You can take a nice walk along the beach… enjoy one of the best tide pools to explore whenever the tide is even close to low…and climb up on some rocks for one of the most beautiful panoramas and pictures you will get. Afterwards… drive just a couple miles further north and have a meal at the local hangout called Neptune’s Net. This is our favorite place to go as a local family as well as for taking visitors.

jackson1traveler

This is a nice family friendly campground. Bathrooms generally clean and hot showers! If anyone is interested in shaping spots for Memorial Day weekend 2015, please reply!

Orlando_Couple

The beach is nice and family friendly. Parking is a bit dodgy if you decide to park along PCH, but you can pay and go into the park and that is much easier. Surf spots look nice. Coming from Florida the water is much colder during the summer than our waters from the Sunshine State.

958JasonK

Our sister inlaw took us here, it is their family's favorite beach in North LA and Ventura Counties. We enjoyed ourselves for 4 hours, I surfed for most of that time. The facilities are nice, you can park for free on the PCH, the walk is not any longer than in the state beach lots. Want to go back again!

jgiorgianni

It's one of the only Los Angeles beaches that allows dogs. The dog owner seem to be responsible, didn't see any dog pop on the beach. There are grills and pi chic tables, but you'll need to get there early to lay claim.

WelcomeMat

Yet another great beach near Malibu, the rocky outcrops are where the start of Grease was filmed for those movie buffs.Clean, lots of lifeguards, I suggest trying to park along the highway to save some cash.

d2s1c2j

From my research, several sites stated this beach is good for a one day beach goer. There are a lot of things to do and it worth a longer drive and it should not be crowded, I took the bait. We had to wait one half of an hour in traffic to turn in to the parking lot, the cars were line up waiting to go in. The parking fee is 12 dollars. There are 2 parking lot to take you to the beach; the first left or go straight in. We decided to drive in, the road took us under the highway and another 500 ft to the parking lot. We could not find any cave or anything else other than beach. On our way out we drove pass the first parking lot which leads to a nicer beach for walking. For us the beaches closer in to LA are as nice as this beach. For me this beach is not worth addition one half of an hour drive.

JoeT394

You can camp, swim, scuba, fish, kitesurf, stand up paddle, surf, hike, or just sit and have a beer watching your campfire. I visit a lot, just to ride my bicycle around the camps , and under the bridge to the beach, and up to the lifeguard lookout for views. This place is a gem ! You really need to book in advance in the summer though if you want a spot. I wrote there is a fee, but if you're an adult and can safely walk to the beach from the highway, you can park on PCH. BE Careful ! It's a highway, and people are driving by in the 55 zone at 70 plus. Stay off the shoulder, walk between the cars and the land. NOT between the cars and the moving traffic. It's great here ! There is a store in the summer open. Otherwise you will need to bring everything, because the nearest store is miles away .

795nicoleh

Wow! What a wonderful place to explore! The beach area was a bit crowded, but it was June anyway. The tide pools were incredible to explore, we saw crabs, snails, fish, mussels, birds, etc. What was really exciting were the sea caves! We'd wait for the waves to roll out to scoot through and around the crags to the next section! Before we knew it, we'd covered a huge portion of the beach! Then the rocks and mountains that we could climb to watch the waves and the pools were awesome. The life guard started shooing us away when the tides started to come in and higher (on the rocks, which become slippery - so just for our protection not to be bossy). We went to the little store in the camping area which was night and day different from the coast to the green camping area, being only a short distance away from each other! Nominal parking fee required.