Plaskett Creek Campground and Sand Dollar Beach in Big Sur

 

Plaskett Creek Campground offers a beautiful location just minutes from Sand Dollar Beach, one of the largest and most popular beaches in central California. The campground gives visitors access to a variety of outdoor activities, including water play and exploration of the surrounding hills and forests. The family-friendly campground offers comfortably equipped sites, allowing anyone to enjoy a relaxing stay in the Los Padres National Forest.

 

Sand Dollar Day-Use Picnic Area is along the southern Big Sur coast about half-way between Cambria and Big Sur Station. The picnic area and Sand Dollar Beach are popular in the summer months. Surfers ride the waves here as this is one of the few worthy surf spots in all of Big Sur.

 

Plaskett Creek Campground is nearby across Highway 1 so the beach gets day-use visitors and campers as well. Luckily it’s a long and wide sandy beach with lots of elbow room. Despite the name, the beach is not littered with sand dollars. It’s still worth walking the beach to look for them and other beachcombing items left behind by the highest tides.

 

Beautiful jade stones and other rounded sea rocks can also be found along the back of the beach. Nearby Jade Cove has more of these lovely green rocks, but the large and most valuable ones have been hauled out already.

 

From the parking lot there is a footpath that leads to a long wooden stairway. At the bottom is a wide sandy beach with large rocks in the surf at the south end.