Best California Beach Towns to Rent a House Without Breaking the Bank

Parent Cafe
1

We are looking to rent a 3 bedroom house for 1 week in August. Before I venture onto VRBO or other similar sites, I thought I’d ask the CC West Coast contingent for suggestions. Our main priorities are proximity to the beach, nice (but not super fancy) restaurants, and beautiful scenery. We will be traveling with our two adult children. We have stayed in resorts before, but we really want the space of a larger house, so I’m think a less expensive community may work better for use. No real preference on how far south along the coast as long as it’s nice and warm. Thanks for your advice!

2

What’s your budget?

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Good point Happy2Help! I haven’t really thought about it in terms of a set budget. I will have to give it some thought.

4

Look at Carpinteria

https://www.airbnb.com/s/Carpinteria–CA–United-States?guests=4&zoom=15&search_by_map=true&sw_lat=34.38897888123774&sw_lng=-119.53141475933609&ne_lat=34.40024593121632&ne_lng=-119.51433445232925&ss_id=4j5mfs2i&s_tag=DQdt9Jv8

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BTW we go camping on the beach there ever so often. It’s a great beach and a very cute little town. Be sure and rent a bike. And just down the coast from Santa Barbara.

6

Carpinteria and ‘Central Coast’ areas are the least expensive probably but not as warm and toasty as further south

I would also recommend Seal Beach just below Los Angeles. Cute little town, everything walkable and there might be some vacation rentals off the beach a bit

In the San Diego area the beach town of Imperial Beach is right on the border with Mexico and it is under valued. Not the best area for walkability or sightseeing and it requires getting in a car to get to the better parts of San Diego. There is also Oceanside at the north end of San Diego County that has more reasonable beach rentals. Oceanside is a military town and pretty far from the sights of San Diego.

7

D1 has been to Venice Beach (LA) a few times with her BF. They usually rent an apartment close to the beach. She said there are a lot of restaurants, nice beach. She said it’s very relaxing.
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/6262191?checkin=06%2F12%2F2016&checkout=06%2F18%2F2016&guests=4&s=j68pZT0o
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/8665591?checkin=06%2F12%2F2016&checkout=06%2F18%2F2016&guests=4&s=j68pZT0o
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/6615010?checkin=06%2F12%2F2016&checkout=06%2F18%2F2016&guests=4&s=j68pZT0o

8

Try Balboa near Newport Beach (see below).

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https://www.airbnb.com/s/Balboa-Island–CA?s_tag=O7NGVJjM

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I live in Oceanside 2 miles from the beach and love it here. There a lots of vacation rentals at the beach. Just google it. Also air b n b has places. All of north county San Diego is nice. Oceanside is much more than a military town. It is cheaper than towns south of here such as Carlsbad, Encinitas and Solana Beach. All are located near the 5 freeway for easy access to attractions further south. I do stay-cations in the summer at our local campgrounds at South Carlsbad and San Elijo. North County tends to be less crowded and more relaxed than areas further south.

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We rented a 3-bedroom condo in Dana Point a few years back, right across the street from a nice beach. Dana Point is just south of Newport Beach in Orange County. Can’t remember the exact price but I know it must have been affordable if we rented it! What was nice was that it was midway between Los Angeles and San Diego, so we could have day trips in both cities.

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The stretch of North San Diego county from Del Mar to Oceanside has some spectacular scenery and low-key eateries…classic CA surf beach towns.

http://www.localwally.com/nocounty/

I also like the Pismo Beach - Shell Beach - Avila Beach area on the Central Coast. You can spend time on the beach, but you also get mountain views and meadows (home of the Monarch butterfly preserve) and you can visit Edna Valley for wine tasting and picnics.

http://www.classiccalifornia.com/

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I live in San Clemente, which is the southernmost city in Orange County (just south of Dana Point, and 20 minutes from Laguna Beach). I feel like I’m on vacation every day! Just last night, a whale cruised past our deck at sunset :). We have beautiful beaches (famous surf breaks), plenty of good restaurants, and are an hour from San Diego to the south and Los Angeles to the north. There is a train station near the pier for easy transit either way.

https://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/usa/california/orange-county/san-clemente

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I “second” San Clemente! Wonderful restaurants, beach, pier, shopping district on Del Mar Ave., etc.

15

Another one who loves San Clemente

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We like the Oceanside/Carlsbad area of San Diego County but we usually go off-season for affordable rates.

Central Coast north of Santa Barbara is really nice in summer too, and more affordable, as other have suggested. We’ve stayed in Shell Beach and Pismo Beach, and visited Avila Beach. We had family in that area for many years and always enjoyed our visits.

17

Thanks for all the great advice! I had never even heard of many of these towns, so this was very helpful. I now have a lot of fun research to do!

18

VRBO has just added a service fee, many owners will allow you to pay them outside of VRBO to save you that fee, if you are comfortable doing that

19

Try tripping.com.
It’s like Kayak for lodging.

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http://thebalboafunzone.com