- A travel guide for visiting Crystal Cove State Park
in Orange County, California.
Located in between Laguna Beach and Newport Beach,
Crystal Cove about a 4,000 acre park,
has three miles of undeveloped,
pristine California coastline.
It is one of my favorite state parks in all of California
in particular because of this historic district
with 47 cottages from the 1930s,
that makes it just really neat
and that old-timey, California vibe.
Well, in this video, I'm gonna tell you
everything you need to know
if you're planning a trip to Crystal Cove State Park,
including a tour of the historic district.
We'll talk about how to get here, where to park.
We'll take a look at the beaches, the hiking paths,
the campgrounds, and of course
what there is to eat around here.
By the way, if this is your first time here,
my name is Chris.
This is Yellow Productions.
It's part of my series on California beach cities.
If you want to see more California beaches and beach cities,
you'll find the links at the end of this video
or in the description below.
But first, let's talk about the history of Crystal Cove.
Up until the 1920s,
the land where Crystal Cove currently is
was pretty much rugged, undeveloped farmland,
pretty hard to get to, but that all changed in 1926
when the state of California built Pacific Coast Highway,
the road that runs right along the coast,
that connects all of the California coastal cities.
Well that's when Crystal Cove became popular
with auto tourists that liked to come here to camp
right on the beach.
In the 1930s is when the Irvine Company
started allowing people to build these summer cottages here.
47 of these cottages were built through the 1930s
until the end of the 1930s
when the Orange County government said no more cottages
because the infrastructure can't handle it.
In the 1950s and '60s,
the area evolved into a mobile home park
bringing about 300 mobile homes,
trailers and RVs to the area.
1979, the land was purchased by the state of California
to turn into a state park.
In 2006, the last one of those mobile homes
and trailers was demolished.
And at the same time is when this historic district
that I'm standing in now officially opened,
and it's when these cottages became allowed to be bookable
by you and I as overnight stays.
All right, so we'll take a tour
of the beaches in a second,
but first I want to show you around the historic district.
I think this is the coolest part of Crystal Cove State Park.
This area is on the National Register of Historic Places
for these 47 cottages that remain.
About half of them are currently renovated.
You can book them overnight as a hotel.
They start at about $170.
They go up to 250,
depending upon how many people they sleep,
between three to eight people.
They've got a second phase renovation
that they're gonna renovate more of these cottages.
But even if you're not staying in them,
it's kind of neat just to come
and walk around this historic district
and imagine what it felt like to live in this place
in the '30s and '40s when it was just you
and some of these really quaint,
classic California-looking cottages.
Now I'll mention trying to book them.
I've been trying to book these cottages
for almost a year now, and I just can't book them.
They're highly competitive.
They book out about six months in advance.
If you stayed in one of these,
I really want to know what was your tip
to actually book one of these cottages.
Now, as you're exploring the historic district,
some of them are not used as rentals,
and they're actually just done up
kind of decorated like museum-like,
so feel free to peek in the windows
and you can really see a little bit more
of what life here in the '30s was like.
To add to that old-timey classic California feel,
the housekeepers don't use traditional housekeeping carts.
They bring their housekeeping supplies
on Radio Flyer red wagons.
I used to have one of these as a kid.
Actually, I think my dad still has it.
Oh, and if you want to pick up some Crystal Cove souvenirs,
head into the yellow cottage,
it's the Crystal Cove gift shop.
Now, before we explore the beach,
let's talk about getting to Crystal Cove.
I mentioned earlier,
it's between Laguna Beach and Newport Beach.
Traffic through both of those communities
can often be bad or awful in the summer.
So I like to get here off the 73 toll road.
You can take the Newport Coast road exit.
It's a really neat drive down to the beach.
And then off Pacific Coast Highway,
you'll find four parking areas for the state park,
two on the ocean side and two on the inland side.
If you're coming to the historic district,
then you should park in the Los Trancos lot.
Parking is $15 all day or $5 per hour.
Only for the Los Trancos lot,
you can get parking validated at the Beachcomber restaurant
for up to three hours.
Now, to get to the historic district
from the Los Trancos lot,
you can either take a shuttle bus that costs $1.50,
or you can hike the half mile path
down through a tunnel under Pacific Coast Highway.
I really like like the path,
because how often do you get to go through tunnels
underneath highways like this?
It's kind of really neat, funky, artistic looking tunnel
that might seem kind of scary if it was abandoned
and lonely, but there's a lot of people going through it,
and so it really seems kind of neat.
Now let's go ahead and explore the beach.
Crystal Cove is home to 3.2 miles of sandy beach.
And my favorite thing about the beach here
is that these high coastal bluffs
really block out the rest of the world.
It's just you, the sand, pretty peaceful.
Also because most of the beaches
are a decently far walk from the parking lot,
it keeps the big crowds away.
And so it can be pretty relaxing here
even on busy weekends.
Now, if you're looking to swim or go in the water,
a lot of the area here has submerged rocks,
which makes it really good for tide pooling,
but maybe not always super good for swimming.
The best beaches for swimming,
where we started in front of the historic district.
Nice sandy beach, not too many submerged rocks.
Also there's lifeguards there.
The other popular beach for swimming is Moro Beach.
This is another big wide sandy area.
There's no submerged rocks here,
but I think the reason why people like coming here best
is because the parking is the easiest.
It is just on the other side of Pacific Coast Highway.
There's a really short tunnel that you go through
and then you are right at the sand.
Though going through this tunnel
can be a bit of an adventure at high tide
or on a rainy day
because the creek actually runs through here,
though, if you're coming to the beach,
you probably don't mind getting your feet a little wet
and sandy to start.
Now, the reason why I don't love this part of the beach
all that much is it is right next to Pacific Coast Highway.
The bluffs are short
and so you can hear and see the cars here.
It just, for me, it doesn't seem quite as peaceful
as the other parts of Crystal Cove.
In addition to Moro Beach's parking
being some of the closest,
it's also one of the biggest parking lots here.
This parking in the summer, $15 all day, $20 on holidays.
In the winter, if you're here Monday through Friday,
then you can get hourly parking in this lot as well.
You can get the hourly parking at the kiosk as you come in
or from the Passport Parking mobile app.
Now my favorite beach just for laying around the beach
and relaxing, or maybe even walking on the beach
is Pelican Point.
This is the beach furthest north in Crystal Cove.
Why is this the most peaceful and relaxing?
Well, because it's pretty much the furthest
from all of the parking lots,
but that helps keep the crowds away
and make it a bit more serene.
In addition to the beaches,
Crystal Cove is home to some really great hiking options.
There are 18 miles of hiking trails on 17 different paths
with three major routes.
Some of the most popular start from the Moro Canyon
Moro Beach parking lot.
But my favorite is actually starting
from the Coastal Peak Park in Newport Beach.
Actually the path here
is part of the Laguna Wilderness Park.
It's this ridge-top hike where you can have amazing,
sweeping views from the top of the ridge.
It then connects into Crystal Cove
and the great part about starting your hike up here
is that there's no parking fees at the Coastal Peak Park.
Now something you can do that's pretty fun on this hike
is actually hike from the top of the ridge
all the way down to Pacific Coast Highway.
And if you're feeling extra lazy or tired,
just call an Uber or Lyft
and get yourself a ride back to your car at the top.
Now, in addition to the back country hikes,
there's also a really neat hiking trail
right above the beach.
The coastal portion of the trail
is a two and a half mile paved trail.
I really like this trail on rainy days
when the rest of the park is closed.
It's a big, wide trail,
great for social distancing in these sorts of days.
Also a great place to ride a bike, pretty flat.
But my favorite part of it is the northernmost section
by the Pelican Point, because here the trail
goes to this fenced-in tunnel of sorts.
This tunnel doesn't go under any highway.
This tunnel is here to protect you from errant golf balls
from the adjacent golf course.
One of my favorite things to do
is walk all the way to the north on the bluff top trail,
and then walk back to my car, south along the beach.
Now, if you're coming to Crystal Cove to camp,
you've got two main options.
There's the Moro campground.
This has 57 camp spots.
About half of them are for RVs.
And about half of them are not for RVs.
$75 if you want an RV spot.
$55 for the regular spot.
You have to book these online ahead of time.
They book six months out just like the cottages.
Now, if you want to rough it a little bit more,
there are about 30 primitive campsites
that are actually deep in the canyons in the park
about a three mile walk from the closest parking lot.
There's really no amenities there other than pit toilets.
Those are $25.
And as you can imagine,
those are a little bit easier to get
than the cottages or the RV sites.
But kind of the neat thing,
at least about the Moro campground right here,
it overlooks the ocean
and it's kind of like a terraced campground.
So pretty much whatever your spot is,
you have a nice ocean view.
Now let's talk about the eating options.
Crystal Cove has three main eating options.
The first one we're gonna talk about
is the Beachcomber restaurant.
This is probably the most famous,
the most iconic and the most visible.
It is a renovated beach cottage
that's been turned into a restaurant right on the sand.
There's a sit-down restaurant and a bootlegger bar.
This is the most expensive of the eating options,
but you can get your parking validated for three hours.
I will mention that if you want to eat at the restaurant,
definitely make a reservation in advance.
They do take reservations on open table.
The bootlegger bar in the back
is just kind of a walk-up type thing
with a smaller menu than the sit-down restaurant.
But you know, the place I typically end up eating at more
is just up the hill from the Beachcomber
from the historic district is up this staircase.
It's the Crystal Cove Shake Shack,
this yellow building on the side of Pacific Coast Highway.
There's also about 10 parking spots here.
It can be pretty busy, so I usually don't park there.
I usually park, walk around the beach
and then come up and eat here.
But the views from this place are amazing.
This is one of the seats on this side.
This is kind of like a private bench.
That area on the other side of the shack has about 10 tables
that have views from the top of the cliff.
Just amazing.
This place specializes in burgers sandwiches,
of course shakes and also breakfast.
They do breakfast pretty good too.
If you don't want to wait
and you don't want to come when it's busy,
probably check out breakfast time.
There's not as many people here at breakfast.
What did I get?
I got the Cove Burger with cheese fries and a Coke, $15,
not super cheap.
You are paying for the view.
And the food's pretty good too but the view is amazing.
I should point out the Shake Shack
will not validate your parking.
Only The Beachcomber down in the beach.
Third option is the Crystal Cove Shopping Center.
In here, you'll find a lot of high-end shops
and high-end restaurants.
My favorite place to eat here
for reasonably priced seafood
is the Bear Flag Fish Company.
On weekends, you'll often find a long line here,
but they've got really good seafood plates and clam chowder.
If you're with the kiddos, there's a Z Pizza.
And if you want your coffee fix,
there's a Starbucks here as well.
Another great part about this plaza,
lots of outdoor seating.
Yeah, I guess there's actually a fourth option,
which is you could bring a picnic.
You'll find a lot of picnic tables
in the Moro Canyon parking lot.
You'll also find a lot of picnic tables
along the bluff top hiking trail.
And if you're looking for picnic provisions
and you didn't bring any,
Trader Joe's in that shopping center we were just in,
great spot to get your picnic provisions.
So if your travels bring you to Orange County, California,
definitely check out Crystal Cove State Park
for some amazing beaches,
some classic 1930s California coastal vibes,
some awesome back country hikes.
And as usual, I won't say goodbye
because I'll see you in one of my other videos here
in my California coastal series.
You'll also find links in the description below.