San Buenaventura State Beach

San Buenaventura State Beach is a two-mile sand beach on the central Ventura shoreline, anchored at its northern end by the 1,600-foot wooden Ventura Pier. The pier is the longest wooden pier in California and the standard surf-fishing landmark for the city. Major winter storms in 2022 and 2023 damaged a large portion of it, and after repairs the pier reopened on June 29, 2024. South of the pier, the beach runs across the Pierpont Bay shoreline, fronting the residential Pierpont neighborhood, with the Ventura Promenade and the Omer Rains Bike Path running along the inland edge all the way to the harbor. The day-use side of the park has restrooms, showers, picnic areas, a snack bar, and a designated swim area.

The sand bottom and breaking surf along the open beach are a surf zone biome.

The pier carries most of the water activity. Anglers report perch from the deck. Surfing is common along the beach through the summer, and swimming concentrates at the designated lifeguard areas in the same season. The sand bottom and the swim and surf crowds keep spearfishing along the beach uncommon in practice, and snorkeling and scuba are uncommon for the same reasons.

The state park lot at San Pedro Street charges a day-use fee, with free public parking on Pierpont Boulevard and nearby residential streets. Fishing from the pier requires no California fishing license. No city ordinance sets a spearfishing exclusion around Ventura Pier, though city code bars jumping or diving from the pier itself, and spearfishing along the beach is legal under standard California regulations.