Picnicking in Palos Verdes

It was a random Wednesday, and I think I saw a picture on instagram of a cute beachside picnic, and later the same day, a different post about visiting Palos Verdes. And that’s when I decided Zack and I needed to go on a picnic date to Palos Verdes that weekend. I texted him my idea, and he was in.

I did a quick google search of “Things to do in Palos Verdes,” but mostly I just wanted to go have a picnic by the sea and maybe check out some pretty view points.

The Palos Verdes Peninsula is a small and quiet coastal town about an hour south of Los Angeles. There’s plenty of ocean views, beaches, hiking trails, and scenic drives – basically a perfect little escape for the day.

We headed out late Saturday morning and made our way to the Point Vicente Lighthouse where we set up our picnic. There was a decent number of people there, but there was plenty of parking and tons of grassy areas shaded by huge palm trees.

Now I pride myself on being a bit of a picnic master…and I’m known to throw together a pretty epic charcuterie board, but they can be a lot of work to bring to a picnic. I’ve seen a few companies out there that sell little “charcuterie boxes,” and I don’t know why I never thought of making one before; it’s the PERFECT idea for a picnic. Easy to pack, easy to clean up, and still very cute. Plus fun to make AND eat.

We enjoyed our picnic then took a short stroll along the paved trail that follows the coastline, taking in views of the lighthouse and sea cliffs.

We also checked out Flat Rock Point and walked along Bluff Cove Trail (a short dirt trail down to the beach).

There are TONS of incredible view points and hiking trails in Palos Verdes. We weren’t really prepared or planning for a day of hiking, but keep that in mind when planning your visit if that’s something you would want to do. Two places on my list for next time: Sacred Cove (sea caves and tide pools) and Wayfarers Chapel (aka “the glass church” which was unfortunately closed during our visit).