La Jolla Cove - CA beach

Pronounced with a Spanish tongue 'la-hoy-a', La Jolla is just 15 minutes from downtown San Diego. It's a small beach in an densely housed area, so gets very crowed at popular times in summer. But its popularity is testiment to its beauty, with golden sands below jagged sandstone cliffs.

The sea, which forms part of the La Jolla ecological preserve, is teaming with marine life. Snorkelling and scuba-diving are very popular - look out for a monster lobster, often to be seen just offshore. On a boat you can venture further out to the Kelp Forest.

From the cove, you can make forays both ways along the Coast Walk path. One way takes you to the Cave store, from which you can descend 145 steps through a man-made tunnel to Sunny Jim Cave. The other way takes you through Ellen Browning Scripps park - admire the Torrey pines, unique to the area - to Children's pool, another pretty cove, and the basking site of a colony of harbor seals.