Which beach-- Newport, Huntington, or Seal?

[marcar12]

We have a trip to California planned for this June. We would love to spend some time at one of the following beaches: Newport, Huntington, or Seal.

We have 4 kids, ages 16, 13, 10, and 7. Our main purpose of having beach time is to play in the sand and the waves. Maybe grab a treat somewhere. Not really interested in shopping.

Our biggest concern is parking availability. When we went to San Diego in 2021, we absolutely loved visiting La Jolla Shores and Mission Beach, but the parking situation was so stressful at both locations. There were huge parking lots, but it took us 20-30 minutes of circling lot after lot to finally find a place to park. That was frustrating, and we would love to avoid that this time.

Any insights on easiest parking at these beaches would be greatly appreciated!

 

[DLgal]

Newport Beach, specifically Corona del Mar

Get there before 10am and you will have no issues with parking. This beach has a dedicated pay lot and will not admit cars if they are full. The parking lot is right at the sand.

It's a beautiful beach with gentle waves and tide pools for exploring. There is a snack stand right there.

My second recommendation is Newport Main Beach.

Stay away from Seal Beach. It's not very pretty and the beach closes frequently due to high bacteria levels. Huntington Beach is a distant third for me. As locals, we exclusively go to Newport beaches.

 

[bcla]

Newport Beach, specifically Corona del Mar

Get there before 10am and you will have no issues with parking. This beach has a dedicated pay lot and will not admit cars if they are full. The parking lot is right at the sand.

It's a beautiful beach with gentle waves and tide pools for exploring. There is a snack stand right there.

My second recommendation is Newport Main Beach.

Stay away from Seal Beach. It's not very pretty and the beach closes frequently due to high bacteria levels. Huntington Beach is a distant third for me. As locals, we exclusively go to Newport beaches.

Oh, they had a little party down in Newport;
There was Harry, there was Mary, there was Grace.
Oh, they had a little party down in Newport,
And they had to carry Harry from the place.
Oh, they had to carry Harry to the ferry,
And the ferry carried Harry to the shore;
And the reason that they had to carry Harry to the ferry
Was that Harry couldn’t carry any more.

 

[China Expat]

I grew up in HUntington Beach, and love the long long parking lots with ample parking. Clean bathrooms, snack bars, and bike rentals. I struggle with parking in Corona Del Mar and Newport.

 

[DLgal]

I grew up in HUntington Beach, and love the long long parking lots with ample parking. Clean bathrooms, snack bars, and bike rentals. I struggle with parking in Corona Del Mar and Newport.

I don't like the crowd in HB. It's gotten dicey in the last couple years.

 

[China Expat]

I don't like the crowd in HB. It's gotten dicey in the last couple years.

We stay away from the pier area. I like the lot/area near Magnolia ave.

 

[LSUmiss]

Newport Beach, specifically Corona del Mar

Get there before 10am and you will have no issues with parking. This beach has a dedicated pay lot and will not admit cars if they are full. The parking lot is right at the sand.

It's a beautiful beach with gentle waves and tide pools for exploring. There is a snack stand right there.

My second recommendation is Newport Main Beach.

Stay away from Seal Beach. It's not very pretty and the beach closes frequently due to high bacteria levels. Huntington Beach is a distant third for me. As locals, we exclusively go to Newport beaches.

What’s wrong with Huntington Beach? We have a plan to just stay one night when we go to dlr.

 

[DLgal]

What’s wrong with Huntington Beach? We have a plan to just stay one night when we go to dlr.

I will PM you. It's political.

 

[mdmost]

We did Huntington Beach back in 2016 and really liked it. We thought it was pretty convenient from the DLR area to there which is why we chose it. We went south of the city though to Huntington State Beach. Ample parking and available restrooms. There's a decent restaurant there as well. I don't know how much it might've changed since then but we enjoyed it. Newport Beach is definitely a nicer area if you can find parking. I would imagine you want to stay away from the area where the Santa Ana River lets out into the ocean.

 

[Nickylv]

We have a trip to California planned for this June. We would love to spend some time at one of the following beaches: Newport, Huntington, or Seal.

We have 4 kids, ages 16, 13, 10, and 7. Our main purpose of having beach time is to play in the sand and the waves. Maybe grab a treat somewhere. Not really interested in shopping.

Our biggest concern is parking availability. When we went to San Diego in 2021, we absolutely loved visiting La Jolla Shores and Mission Beach, but the parking situation was so stressful at both locations. There were huge parking lots, but it took us 20-30 minutes of circling lot after lot to finally find a place to park. That was frustrating, and we would love to avoid that this time.

Any insights on easiest parking at these beaches would be greatly appreciat

We have a trip to California planned for this June. We would love to spend some time at one of the following beaches: Newport, Huntington, or Seal.

We have 4 kids, ages 16, 13, 10, and 7. Our main purpose of having beach time is to play in the sand and the waves. Maybe grab a treat somewhere. Not really interested in shopping.

Our biggest concern is parking availability. When we went to San Diego in 2021, we absolutely loved visiting La Jolla Shores and Mission Beach, but the parking situation was so stressful at both locations. There were huge parking lots, but it took us 20-30 minutes of circling lot after lot to finally find a place to park. That was frustrating, and we would love to avoid that this time.

Any insights on easiest parking at these beaches would be greatly appreciated!

We just got back from Newport Beach. We rented A VRBO 1 house from the beach. This also came with a two car garage so parking was no issue and a walk to the beach was about 30 seconds. It was my wife and I, our grandson, his wife and our Great Grandson. We had a blast. The only time we needed the car was to go off Newport Beach for a special restaurant and we did not have to worry about finding a parkings spot when we returned. The biggest pain was the one day we went to Disneyland and had to park at their lot. We are DVC members so we have always stayed on property so parking was never an issue. This was the first time we had to use the visitors lot and that will be the last time we do that. Parking was very far from the bus, which let you off and picked you up at the furthest spot to the entrance. but Newport Beach was great.