This is a rural California seaside community about 30 miles south of San Francisco, and only an hour’s drive from virtually anywhere in the Bay Area. Half Moon Bay is the oldest settlement in San Mateo County, dating back to the 1840’s. The area boasts a very colorful past from the Spanish land grants in the 1840’s to the Ocean Shore Railroad at the turn of the century, the rumrunners of the 1930’s to the ever increasing popularity of the area today. The city is nestled between the green Santa Cruz Mountains and the powerful Pacific Ocean. With Highway 92 cutting across the mountains and Highway 1 running north and south, the 'Coastside' of the Bay and peninsula is very accessible to the entire San Francisco Bay Area. Temperatures are pretty much the same year round, varying between 40 and 75 degrees. Cool breezes off the ocean are common, with seasonal fog in the late summer.
Local activities include two award winning golf courses, sport fishing, whale watching, horseback riding on the beach, a historical Main Street with unique shops, two wineries, redwood preserves, bird refuges, bluff and mountain top hiking, acres of hot houses and field flowers, historical walking tours, two lighthouses, Ano Nuevo State Nature Preserve (south of Pescadero), Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, Princeton Harbor, and Maverick’s, presently the hottest surfing location in the world. Or just relax and take in the scenery.