Sunset Cliffs Natural Park
Point Loma / Ocean Beach, San Diego · near San Diego (Point Loma) · San Diego
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- easy
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 2.5 miles
- Elevation gain
- 100 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- Year-round · Winter for dramatic surf; any clear evening for sunset
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No permit or fee (City of San Diego regional park). Free street/lot parking fills fast at sunset.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 0 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Sea-cliff bluffs · Sea caves & arches · Tide pools · World-class sunsets · Surf breaks
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- Come an hour before sunset and stay well back from the crumbling cliff edge — the sandstone collapses and rescues here are common. Check a tide chart if you want the sea caves and tide pools.
The guide
A cliff-top ramble along sculpted sandstone bluffs where the Pacific hammers into sea caves and arches — arguably the best suns…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Sunset Cliffs Natural Park — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 32.7158, -117.2554