Mission Beach Boardwalk

The Boardwalk in Mission Beach is a great place to spend a sunny afternoon. The entire boardwalk stretches for three miles from Law Street at the north end of Pacific beach, all the way down to the jetty in Mission Beach, just across the channel from Ocean Beach. The boardwalk goes officially by the name "Ocean Boulevard" and many locations acutally use that as their address.

Along the entire boardwalk you will find restaurants, shopping, and sunny spots. In Mission Beach, especially, you will find, of course, the MB Roller coaster. This is a classic San Diego landmark, and has been around for decades. The surrounding area is now a developed "mall" with an emphasis on entertainment: There are other rides, as well as arcades and carnival type games. In other words, there are plenty of places to waste money. There are also tourist trap shops selling t-shirts with bikini bods, naked butts, USA, San Diego, and dead starfish and seahorses, among other items to waste even more money on.

There is Canes, which is a bad restaurant, but which has good concerts in the evenings. They have a deck with a fun view, looking down on the people meandering the boardwalk. Then there is Hamel's, a resource for renting all kinds of boards and blades. And of course you can also find a plethora of bars, pizza joints, and ice cream vendors, as well as strange characters riding on boards, blades, and choppers.


Mission Beach has been recently renovated, most especially notable are the surrounding houses. Check out the admirable architecture. It is mostly modern in style, which doesn't appeal to all, but it is certainly but well-done.

Head to the south end to watch the volley players and enjoy the scenery. At the end, you will find the jetty which offers a dangerous adventure if you walk out to the end. Plenty of people do it, but it can be very slippery.