Sunset Cliffs Natural Park
Sunset Cliffs Blvd
San Diego, CA
A mile and a half of sandstone sea cliffs on the edge of San Diego, made for watching the sun drop straight into the Pacific.
Sunset Cliffs is exactly what its name promises. For about a mile and a half along the western edge of the Point Loma peninsula, sandstone bluffs stand over the Pacific with nothing between them and the horizon, which makes this one of the best places in San Diego to watch the sun drop into the sea. Every clear evening a crowd gathers along the cliff top to see it.
Below the overlook, the cliffs are a playground of the sea's making, full of caves, arches, blowholes, and tide pools carved into the soft stone. Surfers work the breaks at the base, and at low tide beachcombers pick along the rocks. Dedicated as a city natural park in 1983, it protects a rugged, still-wild ribbon of coast on the doorstep of the nation's eighth-largest city.
What Guests Love
- Sunsets that drop straight into the open ocean, unobstructed by any land
- Sculpted sandstone cliffs with sea caves, arches, and blowholes below
- Tide pools and surf breaks tucked along the base of the bluffs
- A cliff-top walk that feels wild and windswept on the edge of a big city
Worth Knowing
- The cliffs are actively eroding and can crumble without warning, so stay back from the crumbling edges
- There are few railings, so keep a close eye on children and dogs near the drop-offs
- Access to the base and tide pools depends on the tide, so check before scrambling down
- Sunset is the busiest hour, so arrive early for a parking spot along the boulevard
Details
San Diego, CA
Learn about Sunset Cliffs Natural Park
A coast carved from two ages of rock
The cliffs are built of two very different rocks stacked on top of each other. The upper layer is Bay Point sandstone, only about 120,000 years old, soft and easily eroded. Below it lies the Point Loma Formation, hard Cretaceous bedrock 70 to 75 million years old, laid down when dinosaurs still walked and the coast looked nothing like it does today.
That older rock has given up remarkable fossils, including the bones of mosasaurs, the giant marine reptiles of the late Cretaceous, some of which are now displayed at the San Diego Natural History Museum. The soft upper layer is why the cliffs crumble so readily, and why visitors are warned to keep well back from the edge.
Kumeyaay heritage
Long before it was a park, this coast belonged to the Kumeyaay people, who considered the cliffs sacred and a place to be shared. The tide pools and shoreline were a primary food source, and shell middens, the ancient mounds of shellfish remains, have been found throughout the area.
Traces of that long presence remain within the park's boundaries, including a Kumeyaay grinding rock and a burial ground, reminders that people have gathered and lived along these bluffs for thousands of years.
Caves, tide pools, and surf
The action is at the base of the cliffs. Sea caves and arches thread the sandstone, blowholes spout on big swells, and at low tide the rocky shelves fill with anemones, crabs, and sea stars. The surf breaks here are a San Diego institution, and watching the surfers is half the show from above.
Getting down to the tide pools takes some scrambling and depends entirely on the tide, so it pays to check the tables and to move carefully on the slick, uneven rock.
Wildlife and when to go
Pelicans and cormorants stream past the cliffs, gulls and shorebirds work the rocks, and dolphins are common just offshore. In winter, gray whales pass on their migration and can sometimes be spotted from the bluff top.
The park is open year round and glorious in any season, but the whole point is the sunset, so aim for the last hour of daylight on a clear evening. Arrive early to park along the boulevard, bring a layer for the ocean wind, and give the eroding edges a wide berth.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near San Diego
Cabrillo National Monument
About 4 miles south
The tip of Point Loma, with a historic lighthouse, sweeping bay views, and some of the region's best tide pools, marking where Cabrillo landed in 1542.
Ocean Beach
About 1 mile north
A laid-back, bohemian beach neighborhood with a long fishing pier and a walkable main street just above the cliffs.
Torrey Pines State Reserve
About 20 miles north
Wild sandstone bluffs above the sea that shelter the rarest pine in the country.