The 9 Best Things to Do in Del Mar, Ranked

Powerhouse is the park that falls onto the beach. Lawn, playground, showers, restrooms, and two walkways down to the sand, so nobody in the group has to choose between the ocean and somewhere for a small child to be a small child. Accessible paths run through it, which makes this one of the few beach approaches in town that works for everybody who came. Two free Twilight Concerts are left this summer, July 28 and August 11, with the opening act at 6 and the headliner at 7. Bring something to sit on and get there before the lawn goes.

Time this right and you get miles of coastline to yourself. Drop to the sand at Seagrove Park and walk south, and the tide decides how far you get — roughly 3.5 miles round trip reaches the Los Peñasquitos Lagoon mouth, and about 5.5 puts you at Flat Rock. The bluffs get taller as you go, the town falls away behind you, and somewhere in there the sand becomes Torrey Pines State Beach without anything marking it. Start on a falling tide, and take the whole morning if the water lets you.

This is where the dogs go. North Beach runs long and open at the river mouth, and for most of the year — the day after Labor Day through June 15 — a voice-controlled dog gets the whole beach, all day, no leash. Summer shrinks that to the hour before 8 AM, which is worth an alarm anyway, because the river mouth at that hour is the best thing about this stretch of sand. Plenty of people without dogs come for the sunsets alone. Bring water, give everyone room, and let it run.

Seagrove is one small lawn on a bluff and it does exactly one thing perfectly. Mown grass, benches, open western ocean, and enough height above the sand that the evening stays quiet up here while the beach does whatever the beach is doing. It is the best free seat in the village and the whole town knows it, which somehow does not spoil it — everyone is there for the same reason and nobody is in a hurry. Get up here while the light is still high and watch the entire thing happen.

The parrots have opinions and they will share them. Free Flight is a small nonprofit sanctuary on Jimmy Durante Blvd, close enough quarters that you end up seeing personalities rather than plumage. You can feed some of the residents. The staff know these birds individually and will talk about them for as long as you let them, which is most of what makes the hour worth having. You look and you feed; you do not hold. Book a slot and go — it is the least Del Mar thing in Del Mar.

The Extension gets you the rare pines and the rust-red sandstone with nobody queued up at a gate for it. Trails run quiet here, the loops are short enough to fit into the back end of an afternoon, and Red Ridge is the compact payoff — sandstone underfoot, the lagoon laid out below, open ocean past that. The trailhead is a residential street at the end of Del Mar Scenic Pkwy, a few minutes south of the village, and finding it the first time is most of the work. Go late and let the light do the rest.

Grand Avenue Overlook is where you go when you want the lagoon instead of the ocean. The path is flat, the restored habitat pulls in birds all morning, and it is the one walk in this town where nobody is carrying a surfboard past you. Stick to the signed western segments; the half-mile link toward Crest Canyon is still unbuilt. Go early, while the water is flat and the birds still have the place to themselves.

The best free ocean view in the village sits on the top level of a shopping center, and nobody is going to stop you taking it. Del Mar Plaza's open-air decks are public — walk up, find a railing, and the coast opens out in front of you with the whole village at your back. Restaurants share those same levels, so dinner with that view is mostly a question of which door you pick. Come at golden hour and stay through the sunset. It is the one thing up here nobody charges you for.