About 5 miles south of the town of Pacifica, this wide-open crescent is a local favorite for its pristine sand. Inland the park encompasses McNee Ranch, which has hiking and cycling trails aplenty, including a strenuous ascent to a panoramic viewpoint atop Montara Mountain (1898ft); it's a 7.6-mile round-trip from Hwy 1.
Montara State Beach
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
14.5 MILES
When Frederick Law Olmsted, architect of New York's Central Park, gazed in 1865 upon the plot of land San Francisco Mayor Frank McCoppin wanted to turn…
14.9 MILES
Was it the fall of 1966 or the winter of ’67? As the Haight saying goes, if you can remember the Summer of Love, you probably weren’t here. The fog was…
17.22 MILES
If you look close today at the clinker-brick buildings lining these narrow backstreets, past the temple balconies jutting out over bakeries, acupuncture…
17.4 MILES
No one could have predicted the cultural force City Lights would become when it first opened in 1953. Sure, it had a proletarian ethos suggested by its…
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
16.74 MILES
When the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art expanded in 2016, it was a mind-boggling feat that nearly tripled the institution's size to accommodate a…
17.73 MILES
If you want to really see San Francisco, head to Coit Tower, a 1933 art deco beaut designed by Arthur Brown, Jr. and Henry Howard that sits high up on…
17.48 MILES
Few cities boast a structure so iconic as the Golden Gate Bridge, commemorated in everything from films like The Maltese Falcon to not one but two emojis…
14.56 MILES
Welcome to San Francisco's sunny side, the land of street ball and Mayan-pyramid playgrounds, semiprofessional tanning and taco picnics. Although the…
Nearby attractions
1. Gray Whale Cove State Beach
0.31 MILES
This is one of the coast’s popular clothing-optional beaches. Park across the road and cross Hwy 1 very carefully to the beach. It's located just south of…
1.59 MILES
Trails climb from Montara State Beach to access the undeveloped 4000-acre park of Rancho Corral de Tierra, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation…
2.56 MILES
At Moss Beach, this marine reserve protects tide pools teeming with sea life. Walk out among the pools at low tide – wearing shoes that you can get wet –…
2.65 MILES
Getting a suntan or catching a wave are the main attractions at popular Pacifica State Beach, as well as at Rockaway Beach just north.
6.67 MILES
Busy Half Moon Bay is bordered by this 4-mile-long, crescent-shaped beach. Stop by the park visitor center (open weekends only) at the parking lot to…
7.43 MILES
Located where a branch of the San Andreas Fault meets the ocean, this city park with landmark offshore rock formations is the closest spot to the…
7. San Bruno Mountain State & County Park
10.4 MILES
Look at a driving map of the Bay Area and you may wonder at an odd island just south of San Francisco where roads are absent. This is San Bruno mountain,…
8. Coyote Point Recreation Area
10.67 MILES
Right on the bay at the northern edge of San Mateo, 5 miles south of San Francisco International Airport, this is a popular park and windsurfing…