Such a beautiful beach. Easily accessible from the parking area. Lots of free spots and tons of sand to enjoy. My go to beach during the work week. It appears to be the "lover's lane" for the young kids and young at heart lol. Bring comfortable shoes, sunglasses and sunblock and a good adult beverage. You'll thank me later. read more

North Ponto Beach - Sushi is fresher by the ocean lol - Beaches Near Me - Carlsbad, California

The beach north of the campground. A little more sandy and available to beach goers. Cool spot for day beach goers. Families and such, it ha good parking in the lot and across the street. Long Beach (half mile) so find your spot and distance. No amenities, no food so be prepared to bring your picnic. But all in all a great beach! read more

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I always pull in the parking off PCH to have a quick break, this time we brought lunch to eat while watching the surf and surfers. Relax awhile as you eat and have a high cliff view of the water and horizon. read more

North Ponto Beach - Water - Beaches Near Me - Carlsbad, California

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Beautiful beach combination of rocks and sand, nice enjoyable walk by the beach, from this point if walking south you will get to south ponto beach. Parking is free, it fills up quickly on the weekends. Some days this area is perfect to ocean or sunset watch from your car and eat your food. Trash and recycling cans to dispose of waste. There is a just one vault style bathroom, no soap or water to wash hands, the big campground right next has nicer bathrooms if you are willing to walk. read more

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A beautiful public beach that is full of surfers, stoners, and people living out of their vans. Every person I talked to was friendly and waved from a social distance most of the time. The view was pretty and nostalgic. I saw several types of birds and a huge dead seal. I loved going on long walks in the morning . Peaceful and quiet. Highly recommended read more

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North Ponto Beach is nice place for long walks alongside crashing waves. NPB is a true beach ( regardless if there is sand or rocks) as people lounge around no matter the weather or beach conditions. We came after the winter storms and much of the beach sand had been swept away. If you walked south there was a landing strip of sand with few pebbles. Anything north of the lifeguard tower was pure rocks. Some people just put a blanked over the rocks and parked it... There is a set of worn down stairs if you walk south along the beach which is part of the state campground. If you keep walking down the beach you'll end up at South Ponto Beach, but that's a long long walk. Learning exercise - Learn more about Chief Ponto of the Kumeyaay (namesake of the this beach) at the San Pasqual Battlefield in Escondido CA. - If you're coming here looking for beach glass or shells this isn't your beach. Very few items worth collecting. - An expensive transgender bathroom has been added to the parking lot.. - Parking is free at North Ponto Beach. South Ponto Beach is pay parking. read more

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Nice beach right off the freeway. It's a combination of rocks and sand so making sand castles and collecting rocks is easy here. Parking can be a beast but just show up early:) We come here often with the kids to let them blow off some steam and swim. Great surf!! read more

This beach is one of the most beautiful sections of Carlsbad beaches. IMHO Coming south on the coast around the corner past Palomar airport road this stretch of beach is just breath taking! The beach is fairly small and parking is awful small [minus one star] but if you are lucky enough to catch a spot, stop here and linger awhile. You won't regret spending time on this gorgeous stretch of shoreline read more

Beach near Terra Mar Point. Easy access from the roads. Must take stairs to enter beach. Shorter sandy beach. No bathrooms or showers and no dogs allowed but we saw a couple dogs from time to time. If over crowded, this beach can be no fun since small but perfect if not a lot of people. Enjoyed this beach a lot with the family. read more

Beautiful beach. Lots of rock. It's neat if you listen to the waves hit the rocks, like natures music.

Very peaceful, there are a lot of rocks washed up, but that doesn't bother me. My boys enjoyed digging in the sand and I enjoyed the fact that there was free parking. I saw 2 small parking lots, one was full and one had several spots available. It wasn't crowded at all (we came on a Friday afternoon). I will definitely visit this beach again. read more

North Ponto Beach - Beaches Near Me - Carlsbad, California

This has been my go to spot for many years, up until now. I cant get comfortable here anymore due to the amount of rocks that have washed up recently due to the storms. The sand is completely gone, so if you would like to take a walk in the surf and look for cool rocks then this is now the place to come. If you need a place to spread out you should head more north. This place is great for walking the cliffside for the view though, plenty of free street parking so I will continue to come here for my walks, dog friendly if leashed. read more

Ponto Beach has easy parking. There are two free parking lots. One of them is just North of the campground. The other one is just across the Hilton Garden Inn hotel. The beach is nice overall, however some areas have a lot of rocks and the beach also disappears at high tide. The best time to come to these beaches at low tide. Dogs are not allowed on the beach however you can walk them on the street by the cliffs. The best access to the beach is if you park in the parking just north of the campground there is also a restroom in there. That parking lot also has two handicapped spaces for parking. There is also a lifeguard on duty. If you decide to park by the Hilton Garden Inn the only access to the beach is by going down a steep Cliff. This is not recommended for elderly or people with children. During the busy summer months, when it is almost impossible to find parking you can take the coaster to Poinsettia station or by parking at the Poinsettia coaster station, then crossing the railroad tracks and going through the neighborhood on Franciscan Rd, it's about 3 blocks to the beach walking distance. read more

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I really like this beach. It seems every time I come here I meet someone who is really nice. Mainly it is people from the campgrounds or from the hotel across the street. I bring my dog here and so do a lot of other people. I find that mornings and evenings are best. I'll be back read more

DO NOT GO TO THIS BEACH unless you want to ruin a pair or shoes with tar or spend the rest of your day trying to get tar off of your feet. What the heck happened to this place? Horrible! The rocks and sand are full of bits of tar. I saw a few shoes and flip flops that I thought people had forgot then I realized that they left them there because they could get the tar off. On the way back to our car I say many people trying to get tar off of their shoes and feet. When did this happen? It's almost like bits of tar used to fill in potholes got rained down on the rocks at this beach. It was Memorial Day and the the sun was finally out. Made the bits of tar start oozing. This used to be a nice beach. I hope they somehow fix the problem. Wife and I threw away our shoes. read more