The Best Beaches in L.A. County, Ranked for Summer

Zuma takes the crown, El Matador takes the photos, and a Palos Verdes sleeper takes the only clean-water honors in the county — plus where not to swim.

Ranking L.A. beaches is a summer tradition roughly as old as the parking dispute, so here is ours. No. 1 is Zuma, and it isn't close: it's the rare L.A. beach that still feels roomy on an August Saturday, with the full amenity stack — lifeguards, volleyball courts, restrooms and actual parking — per U.S. News. No. 2 is El Matador, the sea-cave-and-rock-arch stunner that local guides like The Malibu Life rank among Malibu's most photographed spots — just know the price of admission is a long stair climb down the bluff and back up. And the dark-horse No. 3 is Bluff Cove in Palos Verdes Estates, which per CBS Los Angeles was the only L.A. County beach to make Heal the Bay's honor roll this year — the water-quality equivalent of a perfect SAT score.

No. 4 goes to Dockweiler, less for scenery (the jets climbing out of LAX are the scenery) than for a genuine monopoly: it is the city's beach for legal bonfires, with dozens of first-come, first-served concrete fire rings clustered near the RV park and the Imperial Highway lots, per L.A. County Beaches & Harbors — which is also clear that fires anywhere else on county sand are a no-go. If your ideal summer night ends in charcoal smoke and a marine-layer sunset, this is the only ranking that matters.

The asterisk on all of it is the water itself. Heal the Bay's latest report card, covering April 2025 through March 2026, put just 21 California beaches on its honor roll — down from 62 the year before — and handed the water at Santa Monica Pier an F, landing it on the “Beach Bummers” list among the state's most polluted dry-weather beaches, per CBS Los Angeles. So ride the Ferris wheel, skip the swim there, and check L.A. County Public Health's beach advisory page before anyone gets in the ocean.