At the southern end of the Coastside Trail, Poplar Beach is the local-favourite end of the Half Moon Bay coast. The bluff parking lot at the end of Poplar Avenue is free, and a short trail down the cliff leads to a wide stretch of sand backed by sandstone bluffs. Dogs are allowed off-leash, which makes it the only stretch in town where that is the case, and on weekend mornings the beach is full of running, swimming dogs and their owners.
The beach is also one of the few in the Bay Area where horse riders ride along the sand at the surf line — a small local stable runs guided rides here in the afternoons. The bluffs above are eroding fast (the trail edge has moved back several metres in recent decades) and parts of the cliff are unstable, so stay back from the lip. At low tide the sand widens dramatically and you can walk south for miles, all the way to the closed-off section near the Ritz-Carlton.