The hook
A beach of tiny polished pebbles and cliffs eaten into honeycomb, a short walk apart, that nearly everyone drives past.
01Why it's worth it
Two small coves a mile apart on Highway 1, linked by a flat bluff trail, each doing something odd. Pebble Beach, at the north end, is covered not in sand but in tiny polished stones, agate, jasper, jade, carnelian, that people crouch and sift through by the handful. Bean Hollow, south, has tide pools and, best of all, sandstone eaten into tafoni: delicate honeycomb lacework the salt air has carved into the rock over centuries. Neither looks like much from the car, which is exactly why they stay quiet. Up close, the pebbles and the honeycombed stone are small, strange, and worth getting down on your knees for.
02How to experience it
Park at either cove and walk the mile of bluff trail between them. Comb the pebbles at the north beach (look and admire, mostly leave them), and hunt the honeycomb tafoni on the rocks at Bean Hollow. Low tide adds the tide pools.
From the locals
It's a Bay Area native's pick for the pebbles, not the postcard: skip the famous golf-course Pebble Beach, one advises, and come here instead for "a little beach with pebble type rocks."