San Diego Reader

Coronado Municipal Beach

This beach is only a mile or so in length, but as wide as our beaches can be. The gently shelving surface of wet, firm sand, especially at low tide, is easy on the ankles -- and you can't beat the scenery. From a fair distance down the beach the Victorian turrets of the Hotel Del Coronado seem to float on a hazy blanket of salt spray, and the long, southward-pointing finger of Point Loma interrupts the flat horizon. The price is right: curbside parking is free, and so is passage over the Coronado Bridge, now that the tollbooths are gone.