Best beaches with no waves

Week 3 Summer Play Trips + a favorite destination playground at the beach

Jun 27, 2025

∙ Paid

Is it time for beaches yet? Next week is the start of July, we’ll see if June Gloom is done with us.

I just spent this whole week updating my guides to beaches without waves. The original list called “Best Toddler Beaches With No Waves” was a result of questions YOU asked me back in 2013.

Things to remember about these beaches:

Still water beaches, meaning no waves or surf, have a general propensity for water quality issues and they can also be good stingray habitat - at least along the warm sandy edges.

Check Heal the Bay Beach Report Card for water quality. Make sure a lifeguard is watching and ask for his/her advice about local conditions on the day you visit.

Any body of water is a dangerous place for a toddler - you should be within arm's length of any child under 4 years old when they are wading or swimming - and this especially applies at the beach!

I was planning a break in the weekly newsletter for next weekend, but I think I will use it to launch the Summer Play Guide printable (now it will be nicknamed the July Play Guide). Thanks for your patience as I nurse this fractured right shoulder before surgery. I’ll be on the other side of this and finally getting healed up soon!

In play,
Michele

As a friendly reminder, make sure you ALWAYS check official sources when you are heading out to any of the locations I share. These are merely suggestions. Only you know what works for your family. Plus, your experience may not be the same as mine — and there can be changes to the hours or unforeseen circumstances or conditions at the suggested locations.

Fun Question of the Week

I’m going to pause the poll for this week. But here’s what you had to say last week!

LAST WEEK’S QUESTION: In a normal week, how many days do you visit a park?

No one goes every day of the week and 5% go 0 days per week. Here’s how the rest plays out:

55% go 1-2 days per week
27% go 3-4 days per week
14% go 5-6 days per week

That seems like a pretty typical distribution for summer to me!

Week 3: Summer Play Trips

Best Waveless Beaches in Orange County

There are more than 6 waveless beaches in OC, but these are the ones I like the most. Click the photos below to link to the beach guides.

For North OC Families

For Central OC Families

Go to the Pirate’s Cove area of this beach for no waves.

For South OC Families

Coffee Importers has just moved close to here so go for breakfast and sandwiches at their new location at the Ocean Institute.

Marina Park in Newport Beach at the beach!

This one is also part of the beaches with no waves list and falls in Central OC. It can be extra busy with parking during the summer, but go early or late and there is still some quiet. Or keep it in your back pocket for August/September. It’s also at Trolley Stop 17 of the Balboa Peninsula Trolley - free and running on summer weekends - to avoid parking hassles altogether.