How to see the Sunset Cliffs sea caves (and why the tide decides everything)
Only at a negative low tide on a calm day. Sunset Cliffs Natural Park in Point Loma hides arches and sea caves below 68 acres of bluffs, but the cliffs are unstable, falls have been fatal, and even at low tide you may wade or swim.
- Park size
- 68 acres
- Tide needed
- Negative
- Cost
- Free
- Risk
- High
Adair St to Ladera St
Below 0 ft, calm swell
City park
Unstable bluffs, fatal falls
The short version
- Sunset Cliffs Natural Park is a 68-acre City of San Diego park in Point Loma, running from Adair Street to Ladera Street.
- The bluffs are carved into arches and sea caves that are only reachable at low tide.
- Explorers recommend a 0-foot or negative tide and a calm day; even then you may need to wade or swim.
- The cliffside trails are undeveloped and unstable, and falls have killed people here.
- Albert Spalding built bridges and stairways along the cliffs around 1915; erosion destroyed them and the city removed what remained.
Most people see Sunset Cliffs from the top, at sunset. Below the bluffs, the sea has carved arches, blowholes and caves into the sandstone. A few days a month, when the tide drops below zero and the surf lies down, you can get to some of them. The rest of the time, the ocean owns them.
Park
Park pin from OpenStreetMap. Check a tide chart before you go. Checked October 6, 2026.
If you go
- 01
Pick a negative tide
Use a tide chart and aim for a tide below 0 feet. Winter afternoons and summer mornings bring the lowest ones. Our tide pool days guide lists this winter's best dates.
- 02
Check the surf
Sea caves are dangerous in any real swell. Go only on a calm day, and never turn your back on the waves.
- 03
Use the established access
Take the rough steps surfers use rather than scrambling down the bluff face. Stay off cliff edges; the sandstone crumbles.
- 04
Plan to get wet
Even at a minus tide you may wade knee-deep or deeper. Wear water shoes, and get out well before the tide turns.
SOURCES
Everything above traces back to one of these. Follow them — if one has changed and we haven't, that's our mistake, not yours.
- BackgroundSunset Cliffs, San Diego
Wikipedia · Checked October 6, 2026
Park size, boundaries, history, dangers
- PrimarySunset Cliffs Natural Park
City of San Diego · Checked October 6, 2026
City park
- BackgroundSunset Cliffs Caves
Ropewiki · Checked October 6, 2026
Tide and swell guidance
Times of San Diego · July 15, 2014
Fatal fall