family's » Santa Monica, CA

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Santa Monica’s coastline is the stuff Baywatch dreams are made of…a wide, 3.5-mile-long beach dotted with lifeguard towers, volleyball nets and – during the summer months – huge crowds including tourists, local families, serious beach volleyball players and, of course, surfers. Every morning of the year the (often cold) ocean south of the Santa Monica Pier is filled with a slew of wetsuit-clad die-hards of all ages seeking that perfect wave. If you’re looking for a bit more peace and quiet, visit any weekday during the cooler, off-season winter months and you can pretty much have the entire beach to yourself. On weekends, metered street parking can be tough to come by, but might be worth the search as the public parking lots can be pricey. For a short jaunt to the beach, the lot at the corner of Ocean and Hollister offers the area’s best bargain – two-hour parking for $2. Santa Monica’s beach is bordered by a walking path and The South Bay Bicycle Path, a 22-mile paved trail that runs the entire coastline from Malibu to Redondo Beach. You can rent beach cruisers, Rollerblades or mountain bikes at one of Perry’s Café’s six Santa Monica beachfront rental shops for $8 for an hour or $23 all day. The shops also offer the usual snack bar fare of hot dogs, pizza, burgers and ice cream.

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