God created a beautiful world for us to enjoy! El Matador State Beach–a beautiful cliffside beach in Malibu, California–is a perfect example of that.
Getting There
It is a hidden gem of a beach that you can easily miss from the Pacific Coast Highway. So if you want to visit, and I highly recommend that you do, make sure to enter El Matador Beach in your GPS and when you do, select nearest parking lot.
The parking lot is invisible from the Pacific Coast Highway but there is a sign there that the GPS will help you spot. Turn at that sign and take the winding road to the small lot. When we arrived at about 9:45am, there was still plenty of parking. We opted to pay $10 to park all day, but if you are only going to be there for a couple hours, you can pay less. I think it was $2 per hour. It is a self-serve lot that fills up fast. And once it does, they close it and leave it closed even after cars leave, opening up spots. So I recommend you get there early.
The parking lot is perched at the top of a cliff. From there you have to hike down a path to a set of staircases that lead to the beach. I highly recommend wearing sneakers for this because I found it to be pretty steep for the flip flops I was wearing.
What to Bring
I also recommend stopping beforehand to buy water and snacks because there are no snack shops on this beach. And it is quite a trek to get to so you will not want to make a snack run after arriving.
This beach is covered with rock formations to climb and caves to explore. It is the perfect place to take photos. The views are beautiful, especially during golden hour. Since the lot closes when it first fills up, you may want to make that a sunrise photo shoot rather than a sunset one.
Since this is a secluded beach, it is not crowded with tourists like Santa Monica Beach. It is such a peaceful place, you will want to spend all day soaking up the sun and enjoying it. That is, if the sun is out. The day we went, there was a thick marine layer most of the morning and the sun did not start to come out until we were leaving. We would have stayed to enjoy some more time there, but we were quite hungry without snacks! We didn’t anticipate staying for long so we didn’t bring any. Do not make this mistake; you will want to stay awhile, so come prepared!
Some of the things you can do there is walk the length of the beach; there are giant rocks up and down it to climb. There are also rocks out in the water that you can climb out and caves to go in, so you may want to wear water shoes rather than attempt to do this barefoot. Plus they will come in handy when you have to take those two flights back up, not to mention that steep hike to the parking lot. A word of caution: you will get very wet if you go exploring the rock formations in the water. The water under the arch that I am standing under quickly rose from ankle-deep to knee-deep.
You can also just sit and recline on the beach, so make sure you bring your beach towels and an umbrella along with your snacks.
But keep in mind that you have to carry everything; you cannot use a beach wagon to help you like you can at other beaches since this one is at the bottom of a cliff! A backpack is a perfect solution.
We brought an umbrella, but we were so eager to explore that we never set it up. 🙂
When I was reading up on some background information about this beach, I learned that one scene from the popular movie, The Notebook, was filmed at El Matador State Beach. This even though the setting for the movie is South Carolina. I am not surprised; it is such a beautiful beach.
If you are planning to visit Southern California, I recommend adding this beautiful beach to your itinerary.
El Matador State Beach 32350 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, CA 90265
Until next time,
Enjoy God’s goodness! 👀🙌🏽
Looks like a lovely place! We live on the Texas Gulf Coast, so we are very close to beaches. However, I find that many on the East and West Coasts have more to offer in terms of views and varied terrain.
My cousins used to live in Houston and mentioned that they did not like the beach on the Texas Gulf Coast. I was surprised because I thought it would be nice. But yes, the beach I visited was absolutely lovely and a must-visit if you are ever in Southern California. Thank you for stopping by! 🤗