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El Matador State Beach

Photo: John D. from Pasadena, USA / CC BY 2.0 · source

🏖️ Beaches

El Matador State Beach

Malibu, CA · Malibu

About

A steep staircase drops off the Pacific Coast Highway to a pocket of sand where wave-carved sea stacks and a natural rock arch rise straight out of the surf. Time it for low tide and you can wander into the sea caves at the base of the bluff; time it for the hour before sunset and the whole cove turns gold, which is why photographers crowd the arch most evenings. It is small, the parking lot fills fast, and there are no lifeguards or facilities, but few stretches of California coast pack this much drama into one short walk down.

Highlights

Sea stacks and a natural rock archSea caves explorable at low tideGolden-hour sunset photographySteep bluff staircase down to the cove

Getting there

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