{"id":365815,"date":"2026-06-18T15:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T15:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/365815\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T15:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T15:14:11","slug":"the-best-and-most-underrated-beaches-in-california-to-visit-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/365815\/","title":{"rendered":"The best and most underrated beaches in California to visit in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sun\u2019s out, guns out \u2013 but where to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/tag\/travel-top-ten\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">take that beach vacation<\/a> this year?<\/p>\n<p>At Fodors Travel, hot suggestions fly in a new guide to \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fodors.com\/world\/north-america\/usa\/california\/experiences\/news\/photos\/best-under-the-radar-california-beaches\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">The 10 Most Underrated Beaches in California<\/a>.\u201d The picks range from rough and secluded to locally popular with all the expected facilities, from sunny San Diego all the way up to the redwood coast of Humboldt County. The Bay Area is represented, as well, with picks near Pescadero and in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/2023\/11\/15\/searching-for-the-chicken-in-petaluma-the-former-egg-basket-of-the-world\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sonoma County<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith 840 miles of coastline, California is synonymous with beaches in many people\u2019s minds,\u201d the travel site writes. \u201cBeaches like Venice and Santa Monica are world famous, but with over 420 beaches in the Golden State, many more underrated beaches offer scenic views, soft sand or unique geological features you can explore without the large crowds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>1 South Leucadia State Beach, Encinitas, San Diego County<\/p>\n<p>2 Avila Beach, San Luis Obispo County<\/p>\n<p>3 Jalama Beach, Santa Barbara County<\/p>\n<p>4 Schooner Gulch State Beach, Mendocino County<\/p>\n<p>5 Shaw\u2019s Cove, Orange County<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"A couple walks on Bowling Ball Beach, part of Schooner Gulch State Beach on Sunday, June 28, 2015 south of Point Arena. (BETH SCHLANKER \/ The Press Democrat)\" width=\"3600\" height=\"301\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/SJM-L-TRAVTOP10-0621.jpeg\" data-attachment-id=\"12927929\" \/>A couple walks on Bowling Ball Beach, part of Schooner Gulch State Beach, on Sunday, June 28, 2015. (Beth Schlanker\/The Press Democrat)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>6 San Buenaventura State Beach, Ventura County<\/p>\n<p>7 Big River Beach, Mendocino County<\/p>\n<p>8 Gold Bluffs Beach, Humboldt County<\/p>\n<p>9 Bean Hollow State Beach, San Mateo County<\/p>\n<p>10 Gualala Point Regional Park, Sonoma County<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fodors.com\/world\/north-america\/usa\/california\/experiences\/news\/photos\/best-under-the-radar-california-beaches\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">fodors.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sun\u2019s out, guns out \u2013 but where to take that beach vacation this year? At Fodors Travel, hot&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[148489,7,9,8,4601,148492,148497,148491,148498,148494,148495,148493,148496,3628,148490],"class_list":["post-365815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-best-and-most-underrated-beaches-in-california-to-visit-in-2026-6-san-buenaventura-state-beach","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-encinitas","tag-humboldt-county-9-bean-hollow-state-beach","tag-mendocino-county-5-shaws-cove","tag-mendocino-county-8-gold-bluffs-beach","tag-orange-county-10-gualala-point-regional-park","tag-san-diego-county-2-avila-beach","tag-san-luis-obispo-county-3-jalama-beach","tag-san-mateo-county-1-south-leucadia-state-beach","tag-santa-barbara-county-4-schooner-gulch-state-beach","tag-sonoma-county","tag-ventura-county-7-big-river-beach"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}