Montara State Beach
Montara (San Mateo Coast) · near Montara / Half Moon Bay · SF Bay Area
Surfing
At a glance
- Skill level
- advanced
- Best season
- Fall and winter for power · A serious NorCal beach break
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- No
Surfing detail
- Nickname
- Mini Mavericks
- Break types
- beach
- Swell
- NW and W · 3–10ft · Hollow, powerful sandbar peaks
- Tide
- Low to mid tide best
- Wind
- Morning offshore best · Exposed
- Crowd
- Experienced locals. Powerful, sharky, and not a beginner spot despite occasional small days.
- Board
- Shortboard · Step-up on bigger days
- Wetsuit
- 4/3mm minimum, 5/4mm with boots in winter · Water 50–58°F
- Intl tip
- Montara sits on one of the most scenic stretches of the San Mateo coast. The Point Montara Lighthouse (now a hostel) and the Devil's Slide trail are right here. Combine with a stop at the Half Moon Bay / Mavericks zone just south.
The guide
Montara State Beach, just south of Pacifica on the San Mateo coast, earns its 'Mini Mavericks' nickname with raw, hollow, power…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Montara State Beach — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.542, -122.514