Leo Carrillo State Park

Malibu & Pacific Palisades


Families love this summer-camp-style beach with enough stimulating tide pools, cliff caves, nature trails and great swimming and surfing to tire out even the most hyperactive kids. Though it was badly damaged by the massive Woolsey Fire in November 2018, it reopened in June 2019.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Malibu & Pacific Palisades attractions

1. El Matador State Beach

3.42 MILES

Arguably Malibu’s most stunning beach, where you park on the bluffs and stroll down a trail to sandstone rock towers that rise from emerald coves. Topless…

2. Westward Beach

6.86 MILES

At this west-facing beach, the surf thunders and rip currents can be strong (so you'll want to be a strong swimmer), but the water is crystal clear, and…

3. Zuma Beach

7.96 MILES

Zuma is easy to find, and thanks to the wide sweep of blonde sand that has been attracting valley kids to the shore since the 1970s, it gets busy on…

4. Frederick R Weisman Museum of Art

12.94 MILES

This art museum on the Pepperdine University campus hosts temporary exhibits of mostly 20th-century art (Claes Oldenburg, Dale Chihuly, Roy Liechtenstein…

5. Pepperdine University

12.95 MILES

Self-assuredly holding court on 830 acres atop a grassy slope down to the ocean where deer graze at sundown, this private, Christian institution has views…

6. Malibu Hindu Temple

13.74 MILES

This house (or, more precisely, these houses) of Hindu gods sneaks up on you as you drive up Malibu Canyon, but you won’t miss the ivory towers located 6…

7. Legacy Park

14.08 MILES

On gently rolling hills across from Malibu City Hall and next to the Malibu Country Mart, this 15-acre park is a microcosm of six SoCal landscapes all in…

8. Malibu Colony

14.29 MILES

Malibu has been celebrity central since the 1930s, when money troubles forced landowner May Rindge to lease out property to her famous Hollywood buds…