5 Best Sights in Encinitas, North County and Around

Its large parking areas, many facilities, and proximity to the quaint coastal town of Encinitas make this beach tucked into a break in the cliffs a great getaway; it's perfect for families with young kids. The volleyball courts on the northern end attract many competent players, and professionals can be spotted surfing the break known locally as "D Street." Moonlight is easily accessible from the Encinitas Coaster train station and Coast Highway 101, which runs right through town and is lined with great shops, restaurants, and bars; there's a large free parking lot near the corner of 3rd and B Street. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking (no fee); showers; toilets. Best for: sunset; surfing; swimming.

Between Solana Beach and Encinitas, this is the most complex of the estuary systems in San Diego North County. A 7-mile network of trails surrounds the 979-acre reserve, where more than 700 species of plants, fish, and birds (many of them migratory) live. In 2021, Nature Collective began a $120 million restoration project that included new mudflats and tidal dredging in basins of San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve. Their efforts have restored habitats for wildlife and waterfowl. Be sure to stop by the San Elijo Lagoon Nature Centre. The center, open 9 to 5 daily, offers museum-quality exhibits about the region and a viewing deck overlooking the estuary. 

More than 5,300 rare, exotic, and endangered plants are on display on 37 landscaped acres. Displays include plants from Central America, Africa, Australia, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, the Himalayas, Madagascar, and more; the most diverse collection of bamboo in North America; California native plants; and subtropical fruits. The park contains the largest interactive children's garden on the West Coast, where kids can roll around in the Seeds of Wonder garden, explore a baby dinosaur forest, discover a secret garden, or play in a playhouse. An Undersea Garden displays rocks and succulents that uncannily mimic an underwater environment.

Founded in 1920 as a retreat and place of worship, the center also offers one of the best views along the Pacific Coast, a sweeping seascape extending north and south as far as the eye can see. Paramahansa Yogananda, author of the classic Autobiography of a Yogi, created two beautiful meditation gardens that are open to the public. The gardens are planted with flowering shrubs and trees and contain a series of koi ponds connected by miniature waterfalls. Swami's Point at the south end of the gardens is a popular surfer's break.

The palms and the golden lotus-flower domes of the nearby Self-Realization Fellowship temple and ashram earned this picturesque beach, also a top surfing spot (it's one of the few spots that can hold a massive winter swell), its name. Extreme low tides expose tide pools that harbor anemones, starfish, and other sea life. The only access is by a long stairway leading down from the cliff-top Swami's Seaside Park, where there's free parking. A shower is at the base of the steps. On big winter swells, the bluffs are lined with gawkers watching the area's best surfers take on—and be taken down by—some of the county's best big waves. The beach has flat, packed sand and can accumulate seaweed and some flies, so if lying out is your main objective, you might want to head north to Moonlight Beach. Offshore, divers do their thing at North County's underwater park, Encinitas Marine Life Refuge. The small park next to the Swami's parking lot offers shade trees, picnic tables, barbecues, and clean bathrooms. Across the street is the cheerful Swami's Cafe, where surfers refuel postsurf. Amenities: lifeguards; parking (no fee); showers; toilets. Best for: snorkeling; surfing; swimming.