Glass Beach

Nice beach. Parking just near the beach. You can walk down one of several sand and dirt trails to get to any of the beaches. There and many rocks out in the surf making for a moody and crashing beach at any season. Beautiful views and some local wildlife when we visited complete this beach.

I’ve been wanting to come here for years and it didn’t disappoint. I was surprised at the steep incline to get to the beach. When looking for the right spot to go down just look for the sign along the pathway a bit south of the parking lot.

It’s interesting and beautiful beach. Very clean, water’s so clear!!!! There are many big high rocks around so you can climb to search for any rare glass piece left or alive crabs, snails, claims… If you are coming here because of all good pictures with nice glass pebbles have been shown online for century then i’m so sorry. You not gonna find it. There still some colored stone left. It’s good for walking around couple hours. Great for walking on rocks, around the sand to look for glass. I think’s it depends on the tide. At some point of time in the day when tide goes low you can find more interesting things underneath the sand. Long short story for glass beach. It transformed perfectly from the dumpster into a stunning beautiful tourist- attraction.! Recommend a stop by if you are around this area

Wasn’t too crowded and tons of tiny glass on the beach mixed in with little pebbles. Some nice views of the ocean. Nice spot for lunch at the picnic tables

Visited Glass Beach while vacationing. Not what you would expect by the over edited photos online. I took my glass ball for a photo and I thought it turned out amazing. Definitely glad we visited!

Wow! It’s so beautiful! Also the tide pool is very fun! My kids found many different fishes 🐟, crabs,🦀 sea anemones，and sea crabs, and many shells.

This place is amazing, if you ever get the chance to go. Go! When you get there, you'll have to find a spot to hike down safely. It will look like there's no sea glass and its just sand, but trust me, its a really sea glass. Do us all a favor and dont take any. Leave it alone so that others can go and see it in its beauty as over the years the sea glass is disappearing due to people taking it. There's a little museum that a Sea Captain opened up just in town there. Real cute and quaint. Neat story, I also suggest going there if you would like to know the history on the town.

I don't know how others are posting the beach isn't glass any longer. We went yesterday and let me tell you, Glass beach is absolutely breath-taking. It is absolutely worth the trip. If you want to find it bad enough, you will. We just happened upon it and we will go back if we are ever in town again.

Uniqueness: Glass at the beach obviously! Wait Time: [x][x][x][x][x] Park Quality: [x][x][x][x][x] Service: None Setting: [x][x][x][x][x] Cost: [x][x][x][x][x] Recommendation? Come here early to avoid the crowd and don't be taking those glass pieces! Glass Beach is a wide beach/park that is free for all to come and visit. Came here early to see what all the hype was about this Glass beach and unsurprisingly for a beach called Glass Beach, there wasn't that many pieces of glass scattered on the beach as we all expected. Likely of course due to all the tourists in the past already picking up all the glass to begin with. But other than the glass itself, the park has beautiful coastlines stretching all over the Fort Bragg coastline here. You can walk for miles to soak in the sea breeze here and be at complete peace coming here. Coming here early, there was not too much of a tourist crowd so walking the trails was sparse and perfect for those who want to enjoy their peace in the early morning outdoors. There are tiny specks of glass on the trail it turns out as I guess the waves from time to time pound the coast and glass does fly to the trail so you might see some specks of green, white, or brown on the ground. As for a beach that was littered with glass, you probably won't see it as the news portrays--or could you if you know where they really are?

Glass Beach in Fort Bragg, California, is a unique and beautiful place with stunning ocean views. While it's known for its colorful sea glass, there aren't as many glass pieces as expected due to visitors taking them over time. Still, it's a great spot to explore, take photos, and enjoy the scenery. Parking is available, and the walk to the beach is easy. A nice place to visit if you're in the area.

It's a gorgeous beach however the glass is starting to go away as so many people have bags just raking it all. Wish I could have seen it during its peak time, it truly could have been beautiful.

Stopped at Glass Beach during our stay in Fort Bragg. It's a great area to walk along and search for the colorful bits of beach glass, but don't expect long expanses of beach. It's pretty rocky and you have to climb down some spots to get to the small separate beach areas. The glass I saw were in little bits and pieces, so nothing big enough for a pendant or anything, but maybe I wasn't really looking in the right places since I wasn't planning to take any of the glass anyway. There's a retired ranger, Ranger Ron, at the head of the trail sharing stories about the history of the beach. Nice to just chat with him for a minute or two! There are lots of squirrels around that aren't shy of people; one started coming toward me, but I'm not one to feed wild animals, so I just watched it go to someone else.

Not exactly as portrayed online, this tourist spot is one of the more popular destinations here. Its okay but underwhelming. A beautiful view point of the ocean but, thinking you will find bits and pieces of ocean washed colored glass about, are days from the past period. Most all of that beautiful glass has been taken by said tourists over the decades and its a far shade of its glory days. Still a beautiful place to watch the ocean and be in nature but do not expect to find ocean glass laying around in piles, it doesn't 3 Stars a nice outcrop area, there are better beaches though in the immediate area. 00975

I came here to check out the rainbow of smooth pebbles made of sea glass along the shore! Jokes on me, I should have read the prior reviews before making this trip. Most of the sea glass had been taken by prior tourists. Glass Beach didn't turn out to be the view I expected, but the large waves crashing against giant black rocks was still an incredible sight.

A fun spot to enjoy a bit of sandy beach and climb on some rocks, but not a lot of glass. We went on a sunny day and it was very busy. But I'd say the spots of glass pebbles and the beautiful rocks make it a worthwhile spot if you're in the area.

A bit of a climb to get to part of the beach. Lots of interesting junk and debris that's been melted into chunks.

A hidden gem.. glass beach has some "real glass" colour & texture ... remnants of past ... it's peaceful and makes a nice getaway.

I read how the glass wasn't there as much as it has been in the past, but it is still such a staple, that I wanted to come and see it anyways. I did hear from a local of a certain part to take that is not soo touristy, and it was great! Less people, more glass, amazing views. There were people picking through the glass even though there are numerous signs saying not too, just sad that it probably won't last too many more years if it keeps getting picked at.

If you go to Glass Beach looking for a beach covered in glass, you will be sorely disappointed and about 15 years too late. There's not a ton of glass there anymore. What IS there is an access point to one of the most beautiful multi-use urban/suburban trails in the country. In terms of access, scenery, and diversity, it puts the other similar regional trails to shame: Jedediah Smith Memorial in Sacramento, Iron Horse Trail in Walnut Creek, Silverado Trail etc. Whether you just need to look at the waves during a quick smoke break, want to get in a long walk or run along the ocean, or want to spend the day on the beach reading a book or tide-pooling, you can start at Glass Beach. The beach or beaches that comprise Glass Beach aren't the best as far as access and beach goer friendliness. Walk a little north (ocean on the left) and you'll find better.

Fort Bragg local reviewing here: Glass Beach is beautiful despite the fact that the sea glass has nearly been completely scavenged. I saw an individual selling at least two of the 5 gallon buckets completely full of sea glass specifically mentioned from Glass Beach on a social media marketplace, which infuriated a lot of people commenting on it. If you want to know where it's all gone... It has been stolen from nature by greedy people with no respect.

Glass beach is not what we expected. We were told that so many people have taken the glass away. Now there are signs to save Sea Glass Beach! But my son wanted to visit the beach, and why not trying to escape the hot heat in southern Ca

Gem of a beach or better put, a beach of gems. Enjoy with your eyes only. These places aren't created overnight. Respect them.

Honest review... We were just there and the beach is really picked over. There is glass there but the pieces are really small(went at low tide). Still spent some time there with the kids and they did have fun. You may not find the large pieces of glass other images have shown. The walk along the beach though is nice and worth it.

Glass Beach. It's a cut above the rest. Was it worth the four-hour drive from San Jose? For most people, maybe not. But for my wife and I, yes, since this has been on my bucket list since seeing episode #3009 of Huell Howser's "California's Gold" in 2001. It was then described as "a treasure hunter's paradise... a kaleidoscope of colored glass glittering in the Pacific surf", though now it's more a microscope than kaleidoscope. Look up the history, but basically this area is one of three sites where trash was dumped 1949-1967. The biodegradable stuff biodegraded, the metal was taken for scrap, and the glassware and pottery pieces left behind were beaten by waves into smooth pieces. That may explain why Rhianna's skin was so smooth while dating Chris Brown. We went twice on our overnight stay in Fort Bragg. The first day, we avoided the right side at the end of the trail, which was full of the kind of tourists responsible for negative reviews since the area is mostly sand and tide pools, where you'd find more glass in Sandy Duncan's eye. To the left of the trail, a few questionable steps down contentious terrain down a dubious slope along a controversial ridge brought us to a small cove we had to ourselves with a beautiful waterfall backdrop (that came from a pipe). There, I figured if you dug your hand into the pebbly ground within six feet of the water and scooped up a handful of pea to Jelly-belly sized pieces, about 40% would be glass, though 75% of that would be white or clear. For those of you who did not study for the test, this means that for every 20 pieces, 12 pieces are rock or shell, 6 are white or clear glass, and 2 have color, most likely amber or green. So, in a way, it's like treasure hunting or panning for gold, especially when you know that the baby blue and red are rare. The second day was after a visit to Captain Cass' Sea Glass Museum downtown, where his homemade signs suggest that attempts to criminalize crossing the ropes and taking glass are unconstitutional. Part of me likes the whole "know your rights, stick it to the man," aspect, but part of me thinks it's like those obnoxious "auditor" people who argue with cops saying they don't need to show a drivers license at a DUI stop because of commonwealth laws that allow you to marry your horse or smoke pot under a blue umbrella. Anyway, his signs encouraged us to take the path far left and jump over the rope to inspect some debatable cliffs, where we found one with an unconvincingly safe path down problematic terrain along a spurious route down an apocryphal ridge past a conspicuous thesaurus to the beach. From this cove (on Memorial Day), we could see no other people and we found a greater variety of colors even further from the water, though the pieces were smaller. Lucky for me my wife says size doesn't matter.

This beach is so unique! A cool place to visit if you're in town. The coast is beautiful.

The amount of glass left is just much less people still are picking taking the little left smh .. over all the beach nice won't be much of a glass beach

So honestly, Glass Beach may need a new name (in all honesty most of the glass pebbles are all if not mostly gone). This is because tourists (despite caution and warnings) do take these pebbles home, and according to our Denny's waitress, this has been happening for almost 30 years until they recently put up signs to discourage this behavior. Well, unfortunately, that is now too late and most of the glass pebbles are now gone. However, Glass Beach is still worth the visit due to the beautiful scenery and gigantic waves. Walking alongside the beach, you will see a memorial, where it is the best spot to take photos of the giant waves. This place somehow reminds me of the Legion of Honors in SF, where the beautiful cliff and sea scenery is itself an attraction even without the glass pebbles. So in any case, come for the scenery, don't expect too much on the glass pebbles.

It falls short of all the social media reels, lol. I loved reading about the history on how Glass Beach became. The signs ask for visitors to not take the glass beach rocks, but there are people with buckets for collecting. On the popular beach, there's not much glass pebble stones anymore. It was nice to see while we visited the area. Luckily, we explored other areas that were much more memorable.

It was pretty. It was a nice experience for families but it kind of hurt my feet. But yeah it was pretty good otherwise.

My fiancé and I love to stop here any time we come out to Fort Bragg. It doesn't have as much glass as it used to, but there still is a good amount. And the beach itself is beautiful. There's plenty of places to explore here. Trailed that go along the coast. Ample parking. Definitely a great beach to check out while you're in the area!

Fifteen minutes of stooping and picking up little pebbles of glass was worth it. There's not as much here as there once was, because thousands of visitors like me have been picking it up. Which is not a terrible thing. Clean beaches are great and broken pieces of glass are not. Don't come here expecting a beach full of pretty glass pebbles. They're gone. It's still a nice beach though! [Review 17629 overall - 419 in California - 1148 of 2022.]

Doesn't live up to the name anymore. Parents need to stop letting their kids steal the remaining remnants of glass from the beach. Your kids don't need a pail full of sand, rocks and little amount of glass left from the beach to take home that will be thrown away in a couple days. I didn't come here for a sand beach. Shame on you all.

I had a great time walking around the coast and fraternizing with all the social squirrels and crows. Is there glass left on the beach? Yes. Is it like picture-perfect glass that you wish you could blab about on Instagram? No. But seriously, it's lovely to be outside so why should it matter? If you want something to show your friends, just go back to a night club or Disneyland and leave the outdoors to those who like it dirty and unglamorized. Meanwhile, I took pictures :)

Glass Beach is an institution and a local tourist destination. Most of the people we get at the hotel I work at are coming for this hot spot. Today was the first time I've been there in 15 years, it's still beautiful. Definitely a must visit when you hit the coast though the glass is a bit more sparse

A beautiful beach but sadly, there truly is not a lot of sea glass anymore due to it being taken home from travelers. The beaches and things to do around the area still make it a great visit.

Refreshing place to be - i enjoyed it so much I wish I should have taken more photos !

Tourists have ruined this beach - like they always do. Most of the actual glass has been taken and tourists crawl all over with zero regard for the environment or the habitats.

Ill intro this review like this...walk away from the ham and eggers at the main walk way beach area. There were so many people on the main beach part I had a panic attack and decided to just go walk my dog instead. We walked down the nice trail that skirts along the coast line. I wont give away which direction as to not spoil the spot. But if you're here and don't want to be crowded, just walk any direction and look for a way down to the water. There seems to be plenty of glass to look at. Go early! Park at the main parking lot but walk away to find your spot. My observation is that I cannot believe that people just dumped garbage into the ocean like they did in the past. There is a black and white photo on display near the beach that shows them pushing a car off the cliff into the ocean. Like WTF? Our secluded spot wasn't near the trail and we were able to let your dog off leash to run around. We weren't bothered by anyone else for awhile. Its so weird to see all of the glass. The biggest chunks were clearly white porcelain. I just imagined someone throwing their toilet over the cliff. Now I'm standing here holding a chunk of it like its magical. I'm a big proponent of take only pictures leave only footprints. Don't take the glass. I mean, in reality you're just taking home someone elses trash. Leave the pretty trash where it is.

I'll give Glass Beach a 4. It's NOT what EVERYONE expects.. like us. It's beautiful It has some glass emphasizing glass. Rocks, view, the walk, the little cave well what can I day BUT Gorgeous. I was told by a resident that because tourist tend to take the glass that some shops in town sell bags of it so it can be thrown back onto the beach ( which I did not do) but I did get some shells Have a beautiful and joyful day

Honestly any beach on the Mendocino Coast isn't a waste of time- the views here are still GORGEOUS. The glass itself, while underwhelming if you have high hopes, is still pretty cool considering most beaches don't have any. Also there are abundant shells. I enjoyed seeing the artifacts engrained in the rocks- interesting history. It's just a few blocks from the town, and there is ample parking. Lots of interesting signage! No trash and though. :/ If you have limited time on the coast, check out other spots.

I can see why people show up and leave disappointed. When you Google Glass Beach the images are amazing! I mean the images themselves are why I wanted to come to this town..... with that said you drive up there is plenty of parking. The location is very clean. You walk to the ocean all excited for the glass and...... no glass. We as humans only have ourselves to blame. Years ago there was plenty of different colored smoothed down glass. Since then people have taken a couple here and a couple there as souvenirs. Fast forward to today and now when you walk up to the beach part there is barely any colored sand. You have to get down and dig around to be able to find little pieces IF your lucky. Either way its still a nice beach with a great view.

Let me start with a caution. If you are coming here after checking those beautiful photos online, you may not find it here. It's long gone. Visitors picked up those as souvenirs and what left here is some tiny tiny glass pieces. This place was in my bucket list for a very long time. Glad that I finally made it. May be disappointed that I couldn't find many glasses here. But it still gives that vibe about the old place. There were a few volunteers around to tell us what happened to the glasses and requested us not to collect them as souvenirs. We picked up some shells instead. The whole area is a scenic beauty. We were there in the morning. Cool breeze and high waves, the whole beach looked gorgeous in the morning sun. It's clean too. There's a small Trail leading to the beach from the parking lots. We saw some squirrels and bunnies on our way. With the glasses gone, you can still visit this place for the scenic beauty!

The star of Fort Braggs. Check the tide tables ahead of time: the lower the tide the more glass you'll see. Taking glass from the beach is said to be illegal, with a fine of up to $500. It's interesting I didn't see a sign for it here but I saw one at Noyo Headlands? When you get to the parking lot, there's a bathroom, drinking fountain, and foot wash station at the front. The back doesn't have a clear sign but you'll want to take the path on the right to get to the beach. On the path you'll see edible blackberries and wild radish (only when green) and some really brave North American Rock Squirrels- I'm guessing someone must've fed them because they're really not scared of humans. You may see a raven in the parking lot too, they're giant. So it doesn't seem like there's a clear path to the beach itself; you're going to have to do a bit of climbing down. Maybe one day they'll put in some stairs as a safety measure, and maybe a trash can near the bathrooms. Bathrooms lock up before 7pm, as of mid August low tide is after 5pm. On the beach itself you'll see kelp- bull whip, Tuscan towel, rock weed, and some sea lettuce I think. You'll see plenty of hermit crabs- please don't steal their apartments, I don't think there's much around as is. There is also some kind of tiny fish- maybe a baby rock fish? I also saw some green anemones in the tide pools. Nice beach to spend an hour at, I think the glass is there because of a landfill or some kind of boat spill? I didn't see a sign that explained it, but it's really neat.

Parking was a breeze when we drove to Glass Beach. There is almost always a spot available, compared to other beaches closer to the Bay Area. The walking/cycling trail was nice (& pet friendly) and had clean benches to stop and take in the scenery. There are absolutely breathtaking views of the ocean when walking along the trail. The beach isn't too crowded, which is nice if you'd like to have a picnic or just chill. Unfortunately, around the time that we went, there wasn't a lot of glass left on the beach. Overall, its a nice spot to visit when coming to the Fort Bragg area.

Anyone know how Glass Beach in Fort Bragg, CA got its name? Well from what I heard, the Glass Beach area used to be a garbage dump from about 1906 to 1967. In the late 1960s dumping was prohibited. Over the years the natural pounding force of the waves broke down the glass debris and smoothed it down. Hence the name of Glass Beach. Unfortunately, there is not much of this sea glass left. People keep taking the glass even though they are not supposed to. Still nice to visit Glass Beach if you are in this part of Northern California. The sunsets are beautiful. You are by the ocean so what is there not to love? The sounds of the waves are mesmerizing. Cool place to hangout and chill.

Don't bother. Yes, it's a gorgeous beach, but good luck finding any glass. It's all been pilfered... and shamelessly. Went there this weekend as a "bucket list" thing, and I'm glad I left it to last. Beach full of people with ziplock bags picking all the glass. It was just a crowd of people scavenging everything. I think they'll need to change the name eventually, because there's no glass left on Glass Beach. I'm not sure how people can do what they're doing, and I'm even more flabbergasted that rangers aren't stopping it. I mean, if you try to take a teaspoon of black sand from Hawaii's black-sand beaches, you'll end up with a huge fine. But I guess Fort Bragg is happy enough to let people think it's still an attraction. If you want to see a pretty spectacular beach, yes, go. The location is pretty much a postcard. If you're looking for glass, you'll have to check Etsy because it's all there now.

Nice walk to Glass Beach. Fun to learn about its history Found some great flowers and rocks

How glass beach was formed was basically a dump site that later formed these colorful smooth fragments of glass that we see today. It's something horrible, turned kind of pretty. If you google map the location and park your car, go left down the pathway and there should be some path leading you to the glass beach. I went down the first, which was a little steep but you can branch further. It's pretty nice for sunsets.

Despite our visit during low tide revealing less glass than anticipated from online images, we enjoyed the adventure of scanning the sands for unique glass and managed to capture some photos. While the practice of removing glass is discouraged, it was notable that many visitors still engaged in this activity. As we explored, we discovered that veering left on trail and descending toward the cliffs offered a quieter escape from the crowds. Following our trip to Glass Beach, we had the chance to chat with one of the shop owners in town. Their perspective shed light on the beach's intriguing history and the origin of the glass fragments strewn across the shoreline. Hoping for preservation of Glass Beach for future generations.

This is not really a beach....it's a dumpster site that turned glass into glass pebbles over the years of decomposed process. There are many more beautiful beaches along the northwest coastline and this is not worth the drive.

If you're coming here in hopes of finding any glass, you most likely won't. Gone are the days where the sands are full of colorful beach glass. You can thank the thousands of tourists before you who combed through the sand for years and took all of the glass that was left. But even without the sea glass, this beach is still 100% deserving of a visit. Forget about the glass; the beach itself is just down right beautiful! The vibrant aqua hues and the incredible white waves were enough to catch my attention. And not only did they catch it, but they kept it in full force. I was entranced. I hiked here from Mackerricher State Park, and let me tell you; there wasn't one moment that I didn't enjoy about it. Getting here by car is easy. There's a large parking lot and plenty of street parking available along Glass Beach Road. If you take this route, you might be met with lots of other people of course. But hiking here affords you so many more opportunities. You'll have access to more secluded points of the beach and amazing views of the tide pools and many coves that surround the area. And of course, those coastal views points along the trail will hit you like a ton of bricks. It's simply just amazing. But that BEACH! I consider myself a certified beach bum. I love visiting beautiful beaches, but more often than not, I don't really get in the water. I'd say mainly because I tend to visit during the off season when it's cooler and less crowded, and the water temps are usually super cold. Plus, anyone who knows Bay Area beaches knows that you'll pretty much be freezing your arse off year around. BUT.... I actually got in the water here. Clothes and all. I didn't plan on it but... that water felt so damn good. There I was, playing at the beach like a little kid. Running into the waves with my pants all soaking wet. And I loved every minute of it. It was so much fun. The water was warm. The waves were subtle. I didn't want to leave. Definitely should have brought a bathing suit. You guys, make sure you wear a bathing suit here because you'll most likely end up in that beautiful water. But anyways, this place is so magical. I think I lucked out by hiking here. I feel like they exposed me to another side of this beach that I probably wouldn't have discovered had I just drove in amongst the crowds. The sand was perfect. I basically hurried my feet in there and relaxed until my clothes were able to somewhat dry. There were other people there, but everyone was respectful and distant. I think people really just enjoy this beach for what it is. At this point I'm kind of rambling, but I really REALLY enjoyed my time here. If you're coming to the Mendo/Fort Bragg area, I would highly recommend that you make a visit. Not for the glass, but just for the overall experience because it'll be a wonderful one.

Sadly, this beach is a shallow version of its past self. You really have to look for the glass. At one point, a kid lifted a sharp shard from a broken beer bottle and was like "is this it?" Really sad. It really bothers me to see how humans have really messed this place up. We came during a weekend so it was fairly busy. The parking lot was pretty full but we eventually found a spot. Parking is free. Unfortunately, people with loud car engines and smokers were make a bunch of rukus in the parking lot before the beach and making the air quality gross in what I was hoping to be a nice breath of fresh air at the beach. Skip this spot if you're in the area. It's a destination trap that will sadly disappoint.

I am from here, this beach is beautiful. Wish people stop taking glass though. Need trash bins for people trash. The trail is nice to walk on too.

Maybe at one point when the glass was abundant Glass Rock Beach was a site to be seen & visit. However, I'm certain the beautiful/colorful photos I've seen online prior to visiting must be throwbacks to a lost time. In short, the glass is gone & all you will find is A-holes digging through the beach to take away the last few pieces of glass that remain. I talked to several people on-site & they all shared they had also not seen anything remotely like the pictures online. 100% disappointed!

There's hardly glass at this beach, Rocks are too easy for peeps to reach. The ocean is still nice to see, but there are other beaches I'd rather be. Too crowded and it's hard to relax when peeps are taking rocks to the max. Check out online how pretty it was More spectacular than Wizard of Oz! Kids had fun though They ran to and fro We watched a man propose I don't think the woman froze. Crowds applauded and cheered His fears probably disappeared! It was a good day, nonetheless! Took away some of my stress! I'm glad we finally saw Glass Beach but not seeing pretty rocks was a b*tch!

Where else are you gonna find something like this. It's a Beach we can do the water and you have regular size of the areas in an area with glass no it does not hurt and you want to cut your feet or at least we did not it was well worth it I'll check in this place out here in the sounds as well.

beautiful area. if you didn't see sea glass you were maybe looking around with your eyes closed. not the amount you see in some pictures in the internet, but absolutely some sea glass. decent tidepools as well.