Miramar Beach, Sandy beach in San Mateo County, California, US

Miramar Beach is a sandy beach in western San Mateo County, California, one of the beaches on Half Moon Bay. The marine terrace above it, about eight metres above sea level, holds the small unincorporated community of Miramar, with restaurants and lodging. Arroyo de en Medio empties onto the beach; its mouth is an intermittent stream with sedges and willow, and access is via Magellan Avenue and Mirada Road off State Route 1.

Miramar Beach lies in western San Mateo County on Half Moon Bay, the Pacific embayment noted for surfing. The marine terrace about eight metres above sea level holds the small unincorporated community of Miramar, a residential setting with restaurant and lodging uses. Access from State Route 1 runs west on Magellan Avenue, then left on Mirada Road. A public blufftop trail spans three miles of coastline from Miramar to the city of Half Moon Bay.

The name Miramar, "sea view" in Spanish, comes from the small unincorporated community on the marine terrace about eight metres above the sand. The beach sits on Half Moon Bay, a Pacific embayment noted for its surfing, so surfers share the water with birdwatchers who follow the three-mile blufftop trail toward Half Moon Bay. At the mouth of Arroyo de en Medio, sedges and willows mark an intermittent stream that stops flowing in summer.

Access from State Route 1 is via Magellan Avenue west, then left onto Mirada Road. A public blufftop trail runs three miles from Miramar to Half Moon Bay, with marine views and birdwatching. Arroyo de en Medio is intermittent and usually stops flowing in summer, though standing water remains near the mouth.

Arroyo de en Medio, the stream that reaches the Pacific here, is intermittent: its flow usually stops in summer, and the standing water left near the mouth comes from street runoff from irrigation and car washing. Its mouth holds sedges, willows and red alder, and a 1989 Earth Metrics survey found no endangered San Francisco garter snake, though the snake was seen at nearby Denniston Creek.