“discover unspoiled beauty”
Pfeiffer Beach is a beautiful, unspoiled beach that's popular with locals, somewhat unknown among tourists and well worth your time. Besides beautiful offshore views of rocks and sea stacks and some nice surfing waves, this beach has unusual purple sand, from manganese garnet particles washing down the hillside. The further north on the beach you go, the more purple it becomes.
Reviews
What a gorgeous walk this one to Pfeiffer Beach we had, The whole family was satisfied.
The water is crystal clear and then it tends to become a deep blue or even purple, if you get to see further on.
There are people visiting and they sit to admire this scenic background of the beach. This is what we did after walking..
Strongly recommended.
*** AS OF MAY 2017: CHECK to be certain Highway 1 is passible from wherever you're coming from! Recent landslides have taken out the only viable route (bridge) in the Big Sur region to this area, depending on your direction from! ***
Really beautiful and picturesque beach- definitely not touristy! My kids loved the purple sand :)
Go left at the parking lot. Really cool waterfall & info about first settlers and the foundation of their house. Very pretty! Saint Lucia Waterfall.
This is a true hidden gem! PURPLE sand!!!!!! I'm not kidding! If you go after a rain that's when there's supposed to be the most purple sand. The walk from the parking area is easy and the beach is beautiful.
Pfeiffer beach itself is a beautiful spot that usually isn't all that crowded as its not the easiest to get to! There is a ton of sea life in the rocks and the beach itself seems to go on forever past the iconic sun portal rock.
This beautiful beach was one of our favorite stops while we were in Big Sur. We caught it right at sunset and it was brilliant!!
The kids had a blast chasing the waves and water on the beach while my husband and I took in the beauty of the rock formations, sunset and surrounding area.
When sunset was done the kids didn't want to leave and kept playing with driftwood building a bridge across a little river of water.
Besides the beautiful ocean there were also gorgeous flowers all around.
This place is amazing!
So glad we came here! Only 4 stars because even though there is a parking fee, the 2 mile road down to the beach was narrow, crumbling, and dangerous. Luckily we navigated fine in our rented SUV. The purple sand was cool and we loved seeing the sun portal. No running water so it was difficult to clean up when we left. Out house style bathrooms available at the parking lot. My kids loved it as much as I did!
Worth the stop. On this 4th of July holiday weekend it was full and once the parking lot is full there is no going in. If you stop by on any other weekend its fine. Once you find the unmarked entrance off of PCH 1 you'll go down a very narrow and woodsy road. At the end is the parking area. Parking is $10 CASH ONLY. There are bathrooms but its porto-potty style so be ready for the smell. The beach is beautiful and clean. The rock formations are picture perfect with the waves crashing on them. The beach area is about 3/4 of a mile long that you can walk and enjoy. Its just so beautiful.
Then head to Pfeiffer Beach to see the Sun Portal at Pfeiffer Beach. This sea archway creates an incredible natural sun portal between December and January, when light pours out of the archway.
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Pfeiffer Beach
Hours
- Sun - Sat: 9:00 am - 8:00 pm
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Parking
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Pets Allowed
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Restrooms
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Wifi
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Wheelchair Accessible
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Credit Cards Accepted
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Outdoor Seating
Parking, Dining
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