Ocean Beach

What you need to know

What’s There

Three and a half miles of sand along the city’s Pacific edge, running from the Richmond down past the Sunset. The National Park Service manages it as part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area. There are no lifeguards anywhere on it.

Beach fires are allowed only between March 1 and October 31, and only in the park service fire rings between Stairwells 15 and 20. From July 1 through May 15 dogs must be leashed in the snowy plover protection area, the stretch between Stairwell 21 and Sloat Boulevard.

The Story

The road alongside the beach changed permanently this decade. Proposition K passed in November 2024, the Upper Great Highway closed to private cars on 14 March 2025, and the two mile stretch between Lincoln Way and Sloat Boulevard reopened a month later as Sunset Dunes, a 77 acre park. A reversal measure, Proposition G, is on the November 2026 ballot and would reopen it to weekday traffic.

South of Sloat the beach is actively eroding while the north end builds up. The city’s adaptation project will bury a seawall and move the roadway inland, but major construction is not expected to begin until late 2029.

Visiting

Neighborhood: Outer Sunset and Outer Richmond

Cost: Free

Hours: The beach is open 24 hours. Parking lots run sunrise to sunset.

Best time to go: Late afternoon, once the morning fog has burned off.

What to know: This is a walking beach, not a swimming beach. The park service is blunt about it: swimming is strongly discouraged because of rip currents, and people have been swept out in three feet of water. Wading to the knees is as far as you should go.

Getting There

Transit: Muni N-Judah to the end of the line at Judah and La Playa, or the 5-Fulton for the north end.

Parking: The Beach Chalet lot off the Great Highway at Fulton at the north end, or the lot at Sloat at the south end. You can no longer drive the stretch in between.

Combining: The Sutro Baths ruins and Lands End sit a short drive north. Golden Gate Park runs east from the Beach Chalet.