Pacifica by the Sea

Welcome to Pacifica, California, the most beautiful coastal town in the San Francisco Bay Area. Pacifica is famous for coastal scenery, friendly residents and merchants, protected hillsides, excellent restaurants, and beachfront hotels. Pacifica has the only oceanfront lodging in the San Francisco area. Pacifica is located only 15 minutes from downtown San Francisco and only 15 minutes from the San Francisco Airport.

Pacifica is also known for the Sanchez Art Center, one of the Bay Area’s finest cultural attractions. The Art Center is located on Linda Mar Boulevard about one mile east of Highway 1. Also located in the same building is the Stephen Johnson Photography Gallery and the Sanchez Concert Hall, home of Pacifica Performances and Concerts by the Sea. Pacifica Performances, offers programs of jazz, classical, world, folk, opera, and contemporary music, as well as drama, poetry, and dance. Excellent local theater productions are offered by Pacifica Spindrift Players. Just west of the Concert Hall is Pacifica’s historic Sanchez Adobe. This is an 1846 classic adobe building with authentic refurbished rooms filled with historic furniture, clothing, and tools from the Spanish era of California.

Pacifica is also the home of three Golden Gate National Recreation Areas: Milagra Ridge, Sweeney Ridge, and Mori Point. All three areas afford hiking and panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean. At Pacifica State Beach, near Linda Mar, you can see surfers and the triangle-shaped San Pedro Rock in the background. San Pedro Rock is a registered California Coastal National Monument. Twelve minutes south of Pacifica is the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve that includes some of the largest tidepools in the world.

Just a short drive from Pacifica are three lighthouses: Point Montara, Point Bonita, and Pigeon Point. Pacifica is known for the “Gateway to San Francisco” driving north, and the Pacific Coast Highway driving south. Other attractions in Pacifica are the Shelldance Orchid Nursery, the Pacifica Skate Park, Rockaway Beach, and the Pacifica Pier, where as many as 1,000 salmon have been caught in a single day

Drop by the Pacifica Visitor Center and we will provide you with maps and tourist information for Monterey, Carmel, Yosemite , Napa Valley Wine Country, Muir Woods, Half Moon Bay, Big Sur, and Hearst Castle. If you are visiting San Francisco and don't know where to go, the staff at the Pacifica Visitor Center will show you all the best spots, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Chinatown, the Cable Cars, Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz, Pier 39, and Sausalito. Come to Pacifica and enjoy our Alister Mackenzie designed golf course, hiking, biking, Segway tours, skateboarding, parasailing, tide pooling, and surfing.

The Pacifica Visitor Center is located at 225 Rockaway Beach Avenue. We look forward to meeting you and welcoming you to Pacifica, California, where every day is another day in paradise.