1 day in Malibu
Our California Tour continues north to San Francisco! After Los Angeles, we have two options: make a single 6-hour drive to San Francisco or break the journey by taking a night on the way. This is how we decide to have a night in Santa Barbara and travel at least a piece of the famous Pacific Coast Highway! The ideal program that we advise you to do (and that we will do for sure in the next trip to California) is to travel entirely the Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles to San Francisco, trying to organize more stops on the route to fully enjoy all the countries you meet . In our case a piece of the Pacific Coast Highway is closed and we can’t help but walk the internal Freeway. In any case we can not do 1 day in Malibu!
Quokka Recommend: Starting from Los Angeles, the best way to take the Pacific Coast Highway is definitely to go down to the coast in Santa Monica and then head north. In this way you are able to cover a longer stretch and you have the ocean to be your background right away!
The Getty Villa
Start walking the Pacific Coast Highway and you will be enchanted by the spectacle of the ocean! This road offers fantastic views: on the one hand the ocean, on the other the cliff with the sheer houses and in front of you an endless road worthy of the best films On The Road! Just before Topanga Beach, a little hidden, you find the Getty Villa (the original home of the Getty Museum). Don’t be intimidated by the triumphal entrance you have before you, entry is free and a tour inside deserves even for those who are not fond of art.
Malibù Vip
After passing Topanga Beach the view you have in front of you changes a lot. On one side there is always the red earth cliff, but on the other side the open view of the ocean has been replaced by a row of dream villas that obscure the view. Malibu is a heavily inflated destination for VIPs who are looking for some privacy and “rightly” the villas, on the street side, are armored and nothing can be seen behind the high fences and gates. It even becomes difficult to find a way to access the beach! After a few miles of research, we can find a gap and access the beach! The Villas on this side are completely open to the view of the Ocean, with immense windows and manicured lawns.
We sit on the steps of one of these villas to enjoy the breathtaking view, but within 2 seconds, maybe even less, a voice comes out of a megaphone hidden in the bushes that tells us to get up and walk away! Even if these villas seem empty and most are, they are always well guarded!
Malibù Pier
We approach the heart of Malibu! The Malibu Pier is the heart, as well as the most known attraction of all Malibu. From here you can see the army of surfers, of all ages, playing with the waves of the ocean. In reality, not only the Pier is the central attraction of Malibu, but everything revolves around him. In addition to the Pier, in fact, within a few meters there are:
- the Malibu Beach Inn, the most exclusive Malibu hotel overlooking the beach;
- the Malibu Farm, both in restaurant and cafe version;
- the Surfrider Beach, an exclusive destination for World Surfing.
Surfrider Beach
The Surfrider Beach is famous for being one of the perfect waves beaches and is the first World Surfing Reserve, that is, the first protected area in the world where to surf. If you pass by here you can’t stop! The atmosphere in this area is truly magical, an army of surfers from all parts of the world and of all ages gathered here! Some just to do some surfing, others on a permanent basis with their vans or their cars set up as improvised dormitories.
Among these we were struck by a gentleman, about 60/70, we were not able to give him a precise age, perhaps because he was cooked by the sun like fishermen. Lives here! He and his dog in their broken-down vintage car between a ride and a barbecue.
And you? Have you ever been to Malibu? Do you have any place to recommend us for the next desire? Leave a comment and share!
