Asilomar State Beach stretches along the western edge of Pacific Grove, where wave-cut rock platforms and sandy pockets alternate at the base of low dunes. The water is cold — this is the open Pacific — but the beach is beautiful, and the restored dune boardwalk behind it passes through a remarkable recovery of native coastal scrub that was once a parking lot.
The adjacent Asilomar Conference Grounds, designed by Julia Morgan in the early 20th century, adds an architectural dimension: the stone and wood buildings distributed through the pines carry the same quiet confidence as the landscape. The grounds are open to the public during the day. From the beach, the rocky coastal trail continues north toward Pacific Grove's main shore, making this a natural endpoint or starting point for a walk along the peninsula's wild western edge.