During the winter months, whale-watching excursions showcase gray whales and sometimes orcas on their annual migrations. In summer, you can spot marine wildlife in the James Fitzgerald Marine Reserve tide pools. Private and small-group tours travel down the Pacific Coast Highway and typically include the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Monterey, and Carmel-by-the-Sea with stops in Half Moon Bay. If you’re looking to catch huge surfing waves, head to Mavericks Beach at Pillar Point.
Half Moon Bay is popular with families, food lovers, and surfers and other outdoor adventurers.
Day trips often include hotel pickup and drop-off and can last upwards of 14 hours.
Bring a jacket; temperatures can fluctuate quickly, with coastal fog even in summer.
Be sure to wear a wetsuit for surfing, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, and other water play, as the Pacific Ocean is chilly here.
The coastal enclave is located roughly 28 miles (45 kilometers) south of San Francisco and 55 miles (80 kilometers) north of Santa Cruz along California’s legendary Highway 1. Limited public transportation is available via SamTrans; without your own car, the simplest way to get to Half Moon Bay is with a guided tour. To reach Mavericks, drive north to Princeton-by-the-Sea, then turn onto West Point Avenue and continue to the Pillar Point parking lot.
Art fairs, farmers’ markets, and annual festivals make Half Moon Bay a destination year-round. The Art & Pumpkin Festival takes place in October, while the Mavericks Challenge—the eponymous name of the annual big-wave surfing competition—happens between November and March (dependending on surf conditions).
Half Moon Bay’s Victorian-era Main Street harkens back to its days as a tourist destination in the 1800s, when the locale slowly evolved from a fishing village with a Spanish mission to a booming town with a major stagecoach depot. Visit the History Room at the Zaballa House Inn, the seatown’s first building, to view a diorama depicting Main Street circa the 1860s.
