The beauty of Highway 1 builds your anticipation for Tunitas Creek Beach, and the beach delivers on the expectation. Located between Half Moon Bay and San Gregorio, the hidden oasis hits you with a wave of awe. Renovated with new upper-bluff and mid-bluff facilities and beach access, the beach will open in mid-2025.

The 58-acre property has long been an unofficial gathering spot for people and parties, a beach without protection that suffered as gatherings grew larger. It attracted visitors who left piles of garbage and trampled the natural resources. 

In early 2020, the San Mateo County Parks department purchased the Tunitas Creek Beach property from Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST), which had bought it from a private trust for $5 million in 2017. (Reportedly, rockabilly musician Chris Isaak at one point owned the property.) Community members, neighbors, and volunteers came together to clean up and protect the beach. Daily patrols by rangers helped to shut down bonfires, raves, and what San Mateo County Parks ranger Mario Nastari calls “nefarious activities.” 

A sheer cliff made of sandstone from the five-million-year-old Purisima Formation, which was originally an ocean bed, now flanks the northern part of the beach. Look closely and you’ll find ancient fossils of snails, clams, and other marine creatures in the towering wall. At the southern end of the beach are mineral formations called concretions and in between stretches an inviting three-quarter mile of sand. The namesake creek flows perennially, emptying into the ocean and winding back into the hills.

Concretions are round or spherical formations that result from minerals cementing around organic material, such as marine invertebrates. Occasionally they can be seen at the south end of the beach. (Courtesy of San Mateo County Park)

Two trails reach the beach—and one is brand new. At the south side of the parking lot is the southern loop trail that hints at the rugged scramble some people took down the bluffs before the renovation. Walking down the bluffs, you find a diverse cast of native and nonnative plants. San Mateo County biologists and rangers protect the native plants and leave noninvasive, ornamental plants from the former property owners. As the beach renovation continues, park officials will plant native California coast species. 

Visitors can pull off Highway 1 and experience Tunitas Creek Beach from a bird’s-eye view at the overlook, where there’s seating and an Indigenous peoples land acknowledgment plaque. From here a pedestrian path leads to the mid-bluff lookout, where there are restroom facilities, an amphitheater, and opportunities to learn about nature.

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A Townsend’s big-eared bat was discovered by natural resource manager Evan Cole and his team of biologists in an old residence that they call a “bat bachelor pad.” Rangers are building bat habitats to facilitate their teaching about, and to create a safe environment for, the bats. Birders can see western snowy plovers in the winter. The cute white birds, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, use Tunitas Creek Beach as a gathering spot. 

The unified effort to protect this place is testament to its specialness. The beach embodies the mission of Surfrider Foundation’s San Mateo County chapter, says its policy manager Kimberly Williams, “[to] make sure that the beaches are protected and healthy for my niece and nephew or the kids who are going to inherit this place.”

If you go

The draw: New access to a beach with beautiful views and educational opportunities.

Trail: At the southern end of the parking lot, find the 1.75-mile southern loop trail, which includes seating areas and stairs to the beach.  

Facilities: Accessible from the parking lot, the upper bluff includes an overlook, seating, paved walkway, ADA parking, and overflow parking. The mid-bluff, reached by an ADA-
accessible pedestrian path, offers a picnic area, ranger station, amphitheater, and public restroom. The access trail from mid-bluff to the beach is not wheelchair accessible. 

Getting there: 20775 Cabrillo Highway South, Half Moon Bay

Maps: Ben Pease

Update: This article has been updated to reflect the beach’s new projected opening date in June 2025.

Kayla Smernoff is a freelance journalist completing her undergraduate journalism and graphic design degrees at Howard University. She is a Bay Area native and grew up hiking Foothills park, going to the beach, and leafing through the pages of Bay Nature magazine. She was drawn to journalism because of her passion for learning, listening, and telling stories. In her free time she enjoys exploring nature, listening to music, sitting in the sun, and drinking matcha.