Sand Dollar Picnic Area - Big Sur California

The Sand Dollar Picnic Area is a day use picnic area with a large beach in Los Padres National Forest, Monterey County, California. This area is considered part of the Central California Coast.

Sand Dollar's large beach is part sand and part cobble rocks. Sand Dollar is popular for board surfing, kayaking, and standup paddle boarding (SUP).

Sand Dollar Picnic Area has a beach launch spot that is somewhat protected by a sandbar/reef when the surf is small. One major drawback to this launch spot is the long trail and stairs down the cliff over which you need to carry your kayak in order to reach the beach. The waves at Sand Dollar break out fairly far. When the waves are small it can be a gentle wave. When the surf is large at Sand Dollar, it can be very difficult to get out through the waves.

Road conditions updates for access to Sand Dollar Picnic Area and other Big Sur Locations

Sand Dollar Beach with small surf- looking North West

The following picture shows Sand Dollar Beach with Plaskett Rocks in the back ground as you look south west. The surf is bigger - I would launch at Mill Creek instead of here on a the day shown in this picture.

Sand Dollar with very BIG surf - I would launch at Mill Creek instead of here on a the day shown in this picture.

Kayaking out by Plaskett Rocks on the same December day shown in the above picture - we launched at Mill Creek