If you are heading for the beach from Balboa Boulevard, use Sixth Street or Island Avenue. Many other streets have stairs. There are free blue spaces in the lot at B Street. The A Street parking lot provides blue spaces for a fee.

We toured the peninsula from the promenade. This smooth concrete pathway runs the full length of the beach, with shops and restaurants alongside it, similar to the Strand in Venice Beach.

Peninsula Park (at the east end of Balboa Beach, near B Street) is a good place to access the promenade because there are free blue spaces in the adjacent parking lot. This park is also a good place to picnic or play Frisbee because the lawn is mowed short enough to roll over.

The ocean is not always visible from the promenade. You can get an ocean view from the piers or from the sidewalks that extend from the promenade toward the water. There’s a long sidewalk east of the Peninsula Park parking lot, and another at Eleventh Street close to Balboa Pier, at the foot of Main Street.

Southern California has a lot of piers, but Balboa Pier was one of our favorites for several reasons. First, it provides a good view, thanks to its narrow metal handrails (many other piers have thick wooden handrails right at a wheelchair rider’s eye level). Second, the concrete surface makes for a comfortable ride. Third, the landscape visible from the pier is lovely, with the beach curving off into the distance. There are often free concerts in the bandstand at the foot of the pier.

To get onto Newport Pier, at 20th Street, you have to negotiate a steep slope at the foot of the pier. Handrails on the east edge of the slope are useful for pulling yourself up.

The peninsula still has a remnant working waterfront. The Dory Fishing Fleet, in operation here since 1891, heads out before dawn from its docks next to the Newport Pier, returning around 9 a.m. to sell the catch on the beach. Fishermen assured us that you don’t have to roll across the sand in order to buy; just come on through their wooden dock and wave to them.

Restrooms

There is a unisex restroom with a large stall and grab bars near the men’s room at Balboa Pier. The restrooms at 15th Street are spacious and usable if you can tolerate the lack of doors. Accessible stalls have grab bars and metal toilets. Bathrooms at Newport Pier at 20th Street are similar, but may be crowded.