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Where we shoot, on a map
Garrapata Beach sits at the foot of a short trail just south of Soberanes Point, where a small valley spills calla lilies down a creek bed from February through April. The rest of the year it's a clean stretch of Big Sur sand framed by cliffs on either side. Permit-friendly for small ceremonies; quieter than the famous spots farther south.
The first thing most people notice about Garrapata Beach is that the trail down passes through a creekside field of native calla lilies — wild ones, not planted — that bloom from late January through April. For a few weeks each spring, the descent itself is the photograph. The rest of the year it's a clean Big Sur beach, but those couple of months of bloom are something you can't fake anywhere else on the coast.
The lay of the land
The story I tell most often about Garrapata is a bloom-peak elopement. Couple wanted the calla lily frame, picked a Saturday in early March, and we arrived to a lily field with seven photographers and their couples already in it. They were nervous — they'd flown in from Chicago for this. We walked past the crowd, dropped down to the beach, did portraits for half an hour while the morning sun came around. By the time we walked back up at 11am, the field was empty (most photographers leave when the light goes harsh). We had the lily valley to ourselves for forty-five minutes. The best frames were the ones we got after everyone else had given up on the location. Lesson I tell every couple now: book a weekday if you can, but if you can't, plan to wait out the morning rush.
Make a trip out of it
Where to stay
Getting here
A few things about Garrapata Beach
The calla lilies are wild, not planted. They naturalized in Doud Creek's valley from old homestead gardens and now bloom on their own every late January through April.
— Modern Hiker / BackcountrycowGarrapata State Beach is one of the few Big Sur beaches with an actual ceremony permit pathway. For about $400 the state park will let you bring up to 25 people for a wedding, which is why it shows up on so many elopement-photographer guides.
— parks.ca.gov / multiple wedding photographer guidesThe trail down crosses Doud Creek through a stretch that contains poison oak, poison ivy, and stinging nettle all in the same hundred yards. Pants are not optional in bloom season.
— Modern Hiker / parks.ca.govGarrapata State Park has no entrance kiosk, no fees, and no signs from Highway 1; the gates are numbered, not named, and locals refer to this spot as 'Gate 19' more often than 'Garrapata Beach.'
— parks.ca.gov dog-policy notice / AllTrailsThe same park that holds this beach is named for the tick: garrapata means tick in Spanish. Multiple state-park warnings make a point of mentioning it.
— Wikipedia / California State ParksGray whales pass within sight of the bluffs above the beach during their winter migration south, with peak viewing roughly mid-December through February.
— California State Parks
Garrapata Beach also appears as Calla Lily Valley, Garrapata State Beach, or Garapata Beach.