Del Mar Beach

Del Mar City Beach is the main public sand beach of the city of Del Mar in northern San Diego County, running from approximately 15th Street north to the San Dieguito River mouth at the Del Mar Dog Beach. The beach sits below the Coast Boulevard bluff, with block-by-block access and stairways at most cross streets. The Del Mar Race Track summer racing season runs July through September and fills the town and beach with race-day visitors. The Auberge Del Mar resort fronts the bluff at 15th Street, and Powerhouse Park sits at the north end near the river mouth.

The bottom is sand throughout, with breaking surf and no offshore reef or kelp structure at the named beach, which makes the spot a surf zone biome. Swimming and surfing draw the most use, and hook-and-line surf fishing is common. With no rocky structure to hold fish, spearfishing, snorkeling, and scuba are uncommon.

Metered street parking lines Coast Boulevard and the cross streets between 15th and 29th, and two paid public lots sit on Coast Boulevard itself. Most spots fill before 11 a.m. during summer racing-season afternoons. The Powerhouse Park lot, closer to the river mouth, is sometimes the easier alternative. Fishing and spearfishing are legal here under standard California regulations.