Ron L.
Yelp
Looking for a beach? First question: how large should the crowd be? If you want no crowd, then avoid this one. If you like a crowd, then drive down the semi-long residential street down to this state park. The commercial center of town is too far to stroll there from the beach.
Half Moon Bay State Beach has one thing unique among the other state beaches in San Mateo County: a campground. It's small, so reserve early. Like Seacliff in Aptos, you're camping only a few feet above sea level, and the beach itself is the campground's boundary. So it's not a stretch to say that you're almost camping on the beach. In the "awwwww" category, some stables nearby have horseback rides that take riders along the back edge of the campground.
I did camp here once, long long ago. And I quickly found out how windy this place is. My small dome tent was up, and as I was setting other things out on the table, the wind blew the tent 30 feet! I was planning to be gone for several hours, and my proof of payment was on the post, so I moved the tent behind the bush in the back. I came back long after the sun went down and found an RV in my spot; he thought my space was open. It worked out: I parked in front of him, and he paid me for half of the night's rental. Boom, I now had lunch money, thanks to the coastal winds.
I liked the beach then. I liked it even more after bringing my family here. There was a big crowd here, and my assumption is that this is normal. The day use parking lot is big; size is probably justified by the crowd size. It's a long, deep beach, with people of all ages surfing, testing the waves, taking photos, or relaxing. The waves are large enough to hurt you! The picnic area between parking lot and beach has lots of tables and bbq grills. You can spend all day here.
Half Moon Bay is not a typical beach town, like Huntington or Stinson. It does have a large enough population to support grocery stores that are needed for a several-day beach vacation. And if you can make the time for that beach vacation, and want a mellow change from Santa Cruz, then make Half Moon Bay State Beach your base spot.