Moonlight State Beach

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About

Moonlight State Beach in Encinitas anchors the city's coastline at the western terminus of Encinitas Boulevard, a 25-acre California State Park operated by the City of Encinitas Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department. Named for the moonlit picnics that drew residents to the cove in the early 1900s, the beach gained its first bathhouse, boardwalk, and dance hall between 1915 and 1925 under developer J.S. Pitcher's buildout, a surf-culture lineage continued today by board-rental outfitters and lesson providers such as Atacama Surf Shop on the 101. Facilities include the Encinitas Marine Safety Headquarters, Beach Wolf seasonal snack bar, sand volleyball courts, a tennis court, a playground with adjacent turf park, ADA-accessible Mobi Mat pathways, and complimentary sand wheelchairs. The beach hosts the annual Surfing Madonna 5K/10K and 10-Mile Beach Run drawing approximately 8,000 participants, as well as the Switchfoot Bro-Am charity surf contest and concert. Visitors arriving via the Coaster commuter train at Encinitas Station can walk to the sand in roughly five minutes, and overnight guests at Cardiff by the Sea Lodge reach the beach via a short drive north on Coast Highway 101. At low tide, the unbroken shoreline connects north to Stonesteps Beach and south past D Street Beach and Boneyard to Swami's, a continuous four-beach coastal walk over exposed Torrey Sandstone reef shelves.