I am visiting San Diego this week. One of my favorite beaches in Southern California is Torrey Pines Beach in Delmar.
There is free parking along the beach if you have good parking karma, otherwise you have to pay between 12- 20 $ for the privilege of parking your car in the state park run parking lot. It is crowded on the weekends in the summer and at lunch time. If you go in the morning during the week, Torrey Pines has some wonderful hiking trails and the beach is nice for surfing and doing some fishing. There is a dog friendly beach further up the road towards Encinitas, known by the locals as “Dog Beach” where your dogs can run off leash and play in the surf.
For more information, I have included the beach URL.
https://torreypine.org/reserveinfo/