Parking Tips

La Jolla Locations: Parking is mostly residential and on the street. If it’s summer, parking will be limited, so plan to arrive 10 minutes ahead- if you’re running early and haven’t received a text from your Picnic Tech, take a quick walk! There are tons of great oceanfront paths along Coast Blvd and interesting architecture in the neighborhoods between Bird Rock + Cuvier Park.

Sunset Cliffs: There is a free parking lot adjacent to the picnic site but it fills up quickly. Street parking in the neighborhood is close (1-2 minute walk) and really close street parking (on Sunset Cliffs Blvd, heading north) is usually open year-round.

Torrey Pines Sunset Seat: The paid street parking on Camino Del Mar, adjacent to the picnic site is your best bet; it’s a quick (and flat) 1-2 min walk to your picnic. 

  • How to get there: Whether heading north or south on the 5, take Del Mar Heights Road, head west. At the bottom of the hill, turn left on Camino Del Mar. In about 1/4 mile, you’ll see street parking on your right, you should park at any available spot- don’t forget to pay at the station! (If you get to the light at Carmel Valley Rd, you’ve gone too far). You can also park at the bottom of the hill (south of Carmel Valley Rd), closer to the beach, where there is free street parking and a paid lot. 

  • Walking to Spot 1: park when you see street parking available. Walk to the south pay station then head west. Your picnic is in line with that south pay station. 

  • Walking to Spot 2: park at the north end of the park, find the carved wooden eagle off the main path, then turn towards the ocean and head to the water, you should see your picnic on the cliff edge.

Balboa Park has free parking lots throughout the park. We recommend the lots all along Park Blvd as the easiest to find parking (Inspiration Point is the least busy, the lots at Village Place will be closest to your picnic spot.) The other side of the park (the west side, along 6th Ave, is much harder to find parking.) It’s about a 15 minute walk across the park from 6th Ave to Park Ave.) The Park Ave side is also closer to the Rose Garden and East Lawn picnic locations.

Mission Beach, Pacific Beach + Mission Bay: free street parking in this part of town is very difficult to find in the summer. We do not recommend these locations if you will be driving to your picnic (but these are great options is you are staying nearby + can walk to your picnic.) If you are driving here, we recommend parking one of the free lots at San Gabriel Pl, El Carmel Point, Belmont Park or Mission Bay Park. We recommend planning at least an extra 15-30 minutes for parking + traffic in the summer. A few weeks after Labor Day- a week or so before Memorial Day are great times to visit this part of town!

  • Tourmaline Beach has a lot adjacent to the beach but it fills up quickly. The next closest parking is in the neighborhood up a steep hill.

  • Kate Sessions Park can get busy on a weekend morning + midday but there is quite a bit of free parking in the lots adjacent to the park. Neighborhood street parking is the next best bet, only a 2-4 minute walk away.

State Beach Locations:

  • Silver Strand, Cardiff + Tamarack State Beach: all have paid lots adjacent to the beach. There is street parking quite a ways away (more than 1/4 mile.)

  • Warm Waters has free street parking adjacent to the beach.

  • Torrey Pines Beach: There is free street parking along Camino Del Mar (at the bottom of the hill) or you can park in one of the 2 paid lots that are part of the CA State Park- the closer one is at the south end of Camino Del Mar, you’ll see it to the right, before the road starts to go up the hill. The other parking lot is off of Carmel Valley Road. If you’re heading south on Camino Del Mar, you’ll need to make a U-turn and turn right on Carmel Valley Road. Form there, head down the hill about a 1/4 mile, then turn right into the parking lot. There is a path that connects the lot to the beach on the other side of the bridge; it’s about a 5 minute walk to your picnic from this lot.

Embarcadero South: the closest parking is metered in the lot near the park. There is also a private paid lot at Seaport Village, about a 5 minute walk.

Waterfront Park: all nearby parking is metered street parking. We recommend parking by the water and walking across Pacific Highway if you can’t find a spot adjacent to the park.