The hook
The only sea cave in California you can reach on foot is at the bottom of a hand-dug tunnel that starts inside a La Jolla gift shop.
01Why it's worth it
In 1902 a German entrepreneur named Gustav Schultz had two laborers dig a tunnel down through the cliff from his shop to a sea cave below, and you still get to it the same strange way. You pay at the counter of The Cave Store, then climb down a hundred and forty-five steps through the damp, century-old passage to a platform inside the cave, where the ocean surges in and the light comes off the water green. The cave took its name from L. Frank Baum, who wrote The Wizard of Oz and thought the shape of its mouth, seen from inside, looked like Sunny Jim, a grinning cartoon mascot off a British cereal box. It's short and a little touristy and completely one of a kind.
02How to experience it
It's in La Jolla, about eight hours from the Bay or ten minutes from downtown San Diego. Access is through The Cave Store for a small fee, and the stairs are steep, narrow, and slick, so mind your footing. It takes fifteen minutes, so pair it with the cove and the coast walk right there.