Malaga Cove

Beautiful hidden area, especially if you’re looking for a very quiet place.
The GPS won’t give you the exact trail. Luckily I was able to figure it out with my friend.
It’s considered easy to medium difficulty. You’ll get to see a very clean hidden beach!
Love it

Beautiful location… great for family portrait sessions. Forewarn your clients about parking lot filling up during weekend afternoons.

Reviewed this in error thinking it was the market!

I LOVE it here! When I was younger, this was me, my Sisters & my Dads getaway & it’s also where my Grandpa took my Dad when he was younger as well

It’s beautiful watching the sun sink into the ocean at sunset! It’s not as cool in the morning because it was super cloudy. Plenty of people jog and surf around here. This shouldn’t even be in the «hiking» category. It’s a five minute stroll to the bottom of the hill.

My GPS refused to find this spot. I used Google Maps AND the cross street right off Unilocal,but we drove in circles. Do yourself a favor and just type in «Malaga Cove High School.» Once you enter the parking lot for the school, you’ll spot the gazebo and the little path down to the beach is to the right of it.
I wouldn’t really call this a «hike,» since it’s literally a 10minute stroll down to the beach, but it is gorgeous and serene. If there is some kind of loop/​hike, then I may have missed it!

5 stars are because it’s a hidden gem and excellent spot for photo ops, couples, families, and for people like me, who like to get away from the city and be in a tranquil spot. The Gazebo is an added bonus to take photos, although not sure about the rules (or if it’s allowed/​permits required?) as far as doing professional pics there, but I did see a group from what looked like prom formals/​tuxes coming to it, so who knows?
I’m sure it’s a hit w/​the surfers as well;again a hidden gem and great if you want to enter Rat Beach thru here, that’s if your just randomly drifting thru & light carry ons or backpacking it.
The «spot» that everyone talks about is not an actual area of hiking or hiking trails, although you can definitely get a workout walking on the rocks on the beach, and going back up, is indeed an incline, but a tiny one, not challenging if your a intermediate hiker. That’s it. Once you go down to the rocks on the beach, you have options of walking to the beaches towards Redondo. Either way, it’s scenic, adventurous spot to check out.
If you go on the trail down, you’ll cross a tiny tiny creek, on your right in front of the swimming pool; I wanted to go past the pool and around the large cliff, but too many people were looking :(Ugh, maybe next time. I saw a few teenagers scuba diving too.
I walked around on the outside by the park and trail. Again, trail is a tiny one. (too little to say small) and if you walk past the Athletic Club (It’s a wrought door entry, looks very exclusive! cool if you belong to it), you can walk to the Palos Verdes Shoreline Preserve (and it’s broken up — parts here & there, locals/​people familiar with it know it well, as for me, I didn’t know this until I moved out here recently and invested time walking on Palos Verdes West and Paseo Del Mar — all of them. Allrighty drifting off Malaga Cove, I smell another review!
I love this place, romantic spot for couples, or just for you to have «me & only me time» ;) winks!

Great hiking spot with beautiful views. It doesn’t take long to go through the whole loop, and there’s a good French café when you get back to the parking lot.

What more can you ask for! Amazing view of SoCAL a great place to hike! go for a run, walk, SURF!!! really nice place I love it. Such a beautiful intimate spot. Worth to check it out!

Hidden gem. We eloped at the Gazebo near Malago Cove school. Amazing spot — no permit required if you have under 7 people.
Couldn’t have gotten married in a more beautiful intimate spot. Best part is there weren’t many people around at all. We felt like the only ones there.

This is a beautiful place. The gazebo at Roessler Point is pretty and overlooks the beach. The hike down is short and isn’t difficult. I’ve heard of peacocks roaming around, but I didn’t see any. Maybe I’ll see one next time. This is definitely a place that’s worth checking out. Make sure to bring your camera. You won’t want to miss the chance to capture the amazing views.

Great short hike with the dogs and awesome views, what more can you ask for.

Took a trip from OC just to go here and hang out, and enjoy the Italianate sculpture and arcade. Bravi!
I wish architects and developers like these existed still, today.

Great lil place for a hike with the family and I haven’t seen too many snakes around the area.

Wow this place is beautiful!
We went here on a Sunday afternoon for are engagement photo shoot.
There are tons of trees, plants and flowers. It looks like a tropical rain forest. This is a little diamond in the ruff.
You can relax here, go for a hike, have a picnic or even walk down a bit to the beach.
Super nice, a diamond in the ruff.

I recently accepted a new position that has allowed me to view The Cove on a daily basis. I first drove by and thought man that would be an incredible spot to surf. I stopped my car low & behold surfers in the water now the thought was how to get down there. If you are reading this review in hopes to figure that out, well figure it out=)
The Cove is simply incredible. There is nothing like arriving in the morning knowing you are going to see breath taking beauty when you look over the edge. Parking is street parking in a residential neighborhood so please keep it quiet. I was getting out of the water and doing the hike back up the hill and I could hear ‘Punk Rock’ music being blasted (people live here, don’t crap where you eat as the saying goes).
The walk down the hill/​path is more of a 10 – 15 minute hike which is filled with breath taking views of the Ocean, reefs, rocks, fish, kelp, surfers, paddle-​boarders etc. Please be careful of falling rocks on the path. I went surfing the other day path was free & clear of rocks, walked back to car after surf session huge boulder laying the path-​way.
Everything about this area is exciting to me. The smell of fresh cut grass, the smell of nature, and the looks on peoples faces as they are walking by saying hello or Good Morning. This is what a surfing/​hiking spot should look like.
At the bottom of the hill it is extremely rocky so bring shoes and not flip flops. The locals are cool, I heard stories about locals being jerks to outside surfers but as long as you are not a ‘KOOK’ in the water all should be good. There are plenty of waves for everyone to catch and have the time of their lives.
The waves themselves are not for beginners. The surface below the water is extremely rocky and with plus size sets rolling in you have to know what you are doing. This is definitely a longboard surf spot. You have your occasional short boarder that shows up but don’t worry they will not get in your way because taking off here on a Shorty is pretty darn hard.
I love this spot. I plan on keeping it secret and only turning people onto it that have the attitude to be there. Like I have stated in a previous if you surf at Porto stay there this place is not for you.
KEEP OUR OCEANS CLEAN. IF YOU SEE GARBAGE/​DEBRIS PICK IT UP. WE CAN WASH OUR HANDS THE OCEAN CAN NOT.

This area is beautiful. I came here with Marlon and Max… we were supposed to go hiking. We went down one trail, but then it ended. We didn’t know where to go.
After about 30 minutes, we finally found it. The trail we went on is not what you’d expect. It’s mostly straight… but you’re surrounded by houses. You get a view of everyone’s backyard. Sometimes, it seemed like we were walking down the alleys of Alabama.
There are several trails here though.
Malaga beach is nice. There are small rocks there. A nice lookout point. Not too crowded.

I was tricked into hiking…
A friend wanted to do a photo shoot and we were «assisting». I didn’t realize that it meant walking up and down hills. If it weren’t for the gorgeous views, i would have been whining about where is the cupcake at the end of the trail. Good thing i wasn’t wearing my 6 inch heels and booty shorts as i saw one gal sport while posing on the rocks with a roided out young sandy blond chap. Unfortunately i didn’t take a photo, but i’m sure it will turn up somewhere.
i did shoot a photo of this cute mermaid chick at the cove plaza

Beautiful somewhat secluded area to come and enjoy the ocean.
Great place to take photos at. I wish I had my big lens with me because there was a pod of porpoises having a ball just off the coast. They were popping up and down everywhere!
Big plus: Free parking!

The wind is ferocious today, so instead of hiking in Malaga Cove, I’ll write about it.
It’s about a mile from my house and is currently my favorite outdoor local place of enchantment. It’s a section of Palos Verdes Estates, a calm & peaceful place of green hills and tall oceanfront bluffs.
All the 70 photos tell the story, a week’s worth of pictures taken in and around this elegant area, where hiking trails & walking paths abound, with stunning ocean views.
It’s in a eucalyptus grove and the scent is intoxicating. Peacocks roam wild here, their screech is haunting. (And I chased one all over, for a damn photo haha…)
Sometimes it seems like a magical place, where I can wander aimlessly and endlessly. (The captions on my photos give directions to the paths & trails. All have free parking.)
Update ³⁄₁₆:
Today I had peacocks posing for me, go figure.
So I posted a few more pics of Mr. Proud Peacock (s).