A lot has changed in the past few years. People are flooding back to the sand and enjoying the beach in the summer when it is legal to do so. The ropes are up but are not meant to keep people out, so from May 16th - December 14th feel free to take your family and enjoy the water. For the most part the seals are gone during the summer due to the number of children and families enjoying the beach. Here's a video I took snorkeling with my daughter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3xGEBTbl1s&list=UUc0VlV7Ba-Un9qwmdpe-kFA read more

One of the most picturesque spots in all of La Jolla/San Diego. There is so much to soak in while you are here.

Seals! On the beach! Against a fabulous backdrop of the ocean and cliffs! You have to bring your kids here, it's magical. I love this place so much! read more

I wanted in on the controversy, so here it goes. Im a fan of this debate. At least it brings real issues to light. So whats the big deal? There must be a reason why they are still there. There must be a reason why people are upset about them being there. Why there's all the fuss and arm raising against seals without the seals attacking you first.. well thats just some violent nonsense. Why theres all the fuss with animal protection persons harassing others without being intimidated or attacked first is pacifist nonsense. but the world is a bunch of bs nonsense and we live here. read more

We were able to get so close to the seals!!! It was a really cool experience! However I do feel a bit bad for the seas because there was a crowd of people & some even went as far as to petting it! Be careful because some do try to bite if you get into their personal space, but who could blame them. This place is a must for visitors! My friend & I even discovered a cave! Amazing! read more

Children's Pool is pretty much another small beach located in La Jolla/ San Diego County except for the fact that it is basically a small playground for kids. There really isn't too much room to play around in, and so if you are with a big party, be prepared to share some wiggle room. When we got here, we noticed that there were some parts of the Pool that were blocked off. Just follow the pathways and you can definitely find stairs to go down. The main Pool really isn't that big, but there is sand and rocks a plenty if you just want a quick beach trip. There's this walkway that you can climb onto to get a great view of the water, but it isn't that spectacular. When we were about to leave, my friend suggested that we continue exploring. We listened to him, and out of nowhere we saw this really cute seal just relaxing next to a rock. We knew that seals loved to hang around this beach, but we didn't spot one until the end. We climbed through bars and tape and eventually stood right above the seal. Though this is probably a rarity, it made the trip to Children's Pool worth it. In the end, there are definitely better places to go if you want water and sand. However, just the thought of seeing a cute seal is probably enough. Have fun and prosper, read more

A beautiful little beach with mossy rocks and Turquoise Waters. But beware! Danger lurks ahead!!! We innocently bought some sandwiches for a picnic, but had the visciously (I kid you not!) Torn from our hands, bitten and thrown down in the sand so we had no choice but to toss them to the birds and watch them swarm the sad remainders of our delicious sandwich. I'm just glad they didn't pick my baby up and try to eat her! Man!!! Other than that we had a lovely time playing in the sand and admiring the view. Just no food please! read more

Best thing about Children's Pool: you get to watch nature at its best, with hundreds of awesome seals sunbathing and living a nice, lazy life while tending to their close-knit families. Worst thing about Children's Pool: you stay there too long, you'll inevitably witness a baby seal do something completely mundane (like sneeze, or roll over and bark), deem it to be the most adorable thing in the world, and spend hours plotting some incomprehensibly-complex-yet-completely-doable plan to kidnap said seal and raise him in your bathtub. read more

Pros: Great scenery Amazing weather Great for kids Great place to watch watch the sun set Kids can go in the water but not to deep Great food locations near by Great for lounging Cons: Not recommended to go swimming in this specific area. read more

We went too late to catch the seals, but the beach was beautiful!! I think it may be a new favorite. read more

Children's Pool - Standing between two small cliffs in the water - Beaches Near Me - La Jolla, California

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One of my favorite places during my brief visit to San Diego. It was an amazing experience to see seals in their natural habitat. There was a good number of them just lying on the beach when I visited in March - and I even saw some pups! They were just about the cutest things ever. All they really did was roll around or flop onto the beach. This is a great place to relax in the evenings. read more

Children's Pool - Beaches Near Me - La Jolla, California

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Typical of human nature. If the beach was taken over by sharks, there would be no debate. However, because the seals are afraid of humans, some humans feel the need to flex their muscles and scare them away. Sounds like some type of Napoleon complex. If all the seals do eventually leave, hopefully sharks come to take over and then the humans can be scared away. Respect nature, respect life and find another beach to take your kids... read more

This place is great to watch the sunset. Also, the seals are quite cute. Their blubber makes them shoot through the waves and onto the shore like nerf rockets. Funny stuff. Good luck getting up that hill out of the cove if you drive a manual though. read more

ADIVICE: Don't get to close to the seals and drive them away. We all like seeing them and love having them. They were here first before we took over thier beach. Enjoy them....doing crowd them. read more

We were somewhat disappointed that we didn't see any seals today but we saw a clear nice view of the rocks where the seals usually hangs out. The cove's appears to be clean but would not swim here or around here. It's entertaining, relaxing and fun but we will walk and move further for a swim. Will come back another time, perhaps we will get lucky to see Seals next time. read more

You see tons of seals 12 feet away and the plus is the splashing of waves in you in the walkway! A must in la jolla!!! read more

Children's Pool - Beaches Near Me - La Jolla, California

ugh. been going here since i was a baby (26 now) forever a love. you definitely need to spend the day walking la jolla. parking isn't too bad during the winter weekdays. also, please remember when out by the water to not ever get too close to seals/sea lions. please respect wildlife. but welcome to the best city in the country. read more

Great place as a side visit from the Shores or The Cove. Take a gander at the cute sea life crawling around on the beach, and be amazed at the crashing of the waves against the sea wall. Sit in the nearby park and watch the sunset or listen to the ocean. read more

Was here for five minutes and fell in love with the place. Absolute greatest scenic attraction I have ever seen. My kids loved it too, especially seeing the seals in their natural habitat. LaJolla as a whole is incredible. I cannot wait to visit again, and the visit cannot happen a moment too soon. If you visit San Diego, you are doing yourself an injustice if you don't stop by LaJolla and The Children's Pool. read more

Took me a while to find this - I've always known it as "Seal Rock" and not Children's Pool! Every year I come to California, I make it a point to come here. It's such a beautiful place and the beach is covered in seals! If there's a space on the shore or on a rock, there's a seal there. I was disappointed to hear that in early 2009, the seals were being driven away (the beach was originally meant to be for humans). At one point in late 2008, humans and seals were swimming together in the water, and a curious baby seal was caught sniffing a kid's head! Needless to say, memories like that made me hope the city would stop driving the seals away - based on the most recent reviews here, I'm glad to find out that seems to be the case. A definite must if you're in San Diego or Los Angeles. read more

Yeah, this is the place you go to see the seals (and some sea lions, but mostly just fat seals). The amount of seals you will see varies throughout the year, but usually there will be a few just chilling. Parking can get pretty bad on the weekends, but it's not impossible to find street parking. There is a walkway wrapping around the beach that you can go to for observing them, and it's pretty cool. You get to watch without disturbing their business, and also the walkway is a nice place to look out at the ocean. Be careful, this is a splash zone! The beach is also open to the public, and sometimes the area that the seals occupy is roped off (during their mating season?) to keep curious onlookers from getting too close. But of course, a-holes will disregard this and barge on in anyway. It was especially bad during 4th of July, since people were actually staking out spots on the beach to watch the fireworks. It was encroaching on the seal's space, and it was clear that a lot of them didn't want to sun themselves out on the beach when so many people were there. A seal advocate (there's always one around) was going around asking people to please move their stuff further back, and people were just blatantly ignoring her. Are you f***ing kidding me? No shame at all. Do come visit, but please leave them be! I can probably be entertained for an hour just watching them rolling over, hopping absurdly on land, and scratching themselves. You don't have to get that close in order to appreciate them! read more

If you want to see some seals up close go to La Jolla and check out the Children's Pool. There has been a huge controversy over whether this pool/beach area should be given back to the children or if the seals should continue to take over this pool and to have their pups there. Once you go and see all of the children enjoying looking at the seals you will probably agree with me that everyone should just keep this amazing attraction as is. Go onto the wall and wait for the waves to break/crash over it along with the kids. It's so much fun! Enjoy! read more

Children's Pool - Seals @ The Children's Pool - Beaches Near Me - La Jolla, California

This was beautiful. The day we went there were not a lot of seals. One laying in a rock and a couple swimming around. It was still worth going. The views are amazing.. The littles still had fun. I recommend! read more

Children's Pool - Beaches Near Me - La Jolla, California

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Love this spot! There's lots of babies right now, and it's nice to see animals in their own habitat. Dogs aren't allowed on the walkway around sea wall, but they are allowed at the street level. read more

Children's Pool - Children's Beach - La Jolla - Beaches Near Me - La Jolla, California

I always love coming here to view the ocean and the sunset. It is always a stunning view of La Jolla. They've been doing construction for a while, so I really hope they figure it out and finish it up. The walk is great along the coast and the view of all the seals in the area makes it fun to enjoy the area. Watch out for the squirrels...and stop feeding them! This is definitely a must-see stop in La Jolla. read more

Great place to see the sea lions and their babies and relax with the fresh ocean breeze and breathtaking views. Knocked off one star for the beach being closed off so kids can't actually go down to the sand and water. read more

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I would recommend this beach for any parent looking to take their kids to La Jolla. It beats the madness of La Jolla Cove and also has a great walkway overlooking the pacific and beautiful panoramic views. We got to see seals swimming in the children's pool and many more from the walkway. The only issue would be all the seaweed in the area. read more

Children's Pool - Beaches Near Me - La Jolla, California

Just an amazing place to go take photos of course the parking is Insane but totally worth it

An incredible experience! Tons of seals and anywhere in La Jolla is beautiful... but here you get to walk out onto the sea walk and see it all. read more

This is a awesome place for kids to check out the sea animals and to see them first hand . The kids went to SeaWorld and liked it but didn't get too upclose to the animals like here read more

great place to see seals and ocean waves. bathrooms but hard to park read more

Children's Pool - Beaches Near Me - La Jolla, California

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Ok, so for those who aren't familiar with the history of the "Children's Pool" here's a basic run down. For longest time before humans arrived here and decided to usurp this part of the beach for their own use (even though there are plenty of alternate locations), it was a natural habitat where seals or other marine life would come. Sometime in the early part of the 1900s, humans took over deeming it the "Children's Pool" with the intention of maintain a sea wall to cove in the area safe for human use and over time the seals found other places to go. Of course as time went on, the humans were not responsible with the area and did not maintain it, our bad. Eventually humans stopped using the cove altogether and soon enough within a few decades the seals reclaimed it as their breeding grounds up until the last few years when the humans wanted it back. This meant decades of seal use of the beach complete with "leftovers" of the seals meals, lots of seaweed and naturally fecal matter (after all they aren't going to waddle their way up to the building at the top of the ridge to use the human's facilities, now are they?). Of course this has been huge controversy as now issues of massive (and very expensive) clean up of the cove was required and many animal rights activists and marine biologists disagreed with the decision to reclaim the Children's Pool for human use, as originally wasn't ours to begin with and it would compromise a species out of their breeding grounds. Of course the seals don't notice the controversy and continue to use the cove as their habitat as it's been for decades, just in much smaller numbers and less frequently now. So here we are, humans and seals "sharing" one space. The first time I came here was when the cove was the habitat and no humans were allowed on the beach and it was awesome to see dozens of seals in their natural state, frolicking, sunbathing and conversing in large masses, young and old, being one huge happy family. You could easily visit the cove without disrupting the natural habitat by walking along the cove sea wall which was also a great view, which you can still do. My last visit to the Children's Pool was just depressing and embarrassing as a human species, seeing very few seals and human families occupying much of the space, or rather should I say demanding use of the space all while complaining about its cleanliness. For crying out loud, how shameful of a species are we? Prime example of how us humans are detrimental to our own environment, and yet we continue to assume everything in nature belongs to us, when we should be so fortunate to share the space with the millions of other species we share it with. At any rate I digress. As far rating this location, I only have good things to say about it as a natural habitat. It was a great place to observe nature and teach others about this aspect of marine biology in REAL TIME and not behind a fence or glass wall at some manufactured amusement park like Seaworld. You had a real great opportunity to observe marine life in its natural state without interruption. This of course was up until humans came in to ruin things another time around. But at least there is some kind of harmony there, for now anyways, but for the complaining human masses who are very unrealistic about their use of the space and the general false sense of entitlement you will overhear here, it loses a star. The seals, the cove, the environment and nature all make up for it. If it weren't for the humans being so selfish about the cove, it would be a five star place. And yes, I don't mind the smell...its nature...get used to it...if you don't like the smell of seals, fish and seaweed, perhaps the ocean isn't for you.... read more

The seals are amazing. Such beautiful creatures. It's their little home. I love watching them. They are so peaceful and amazing.

I have visited this beach in the past to view the seals sleeping on the beach. I recently visited this cove yesterday, but I saw no seals. Instead I saw tourists and their kids swimming in the water. This is crazy... The sign in front of this beach specifically says that the water quality is not for swimming and everyone knows this is a rookery for seals. I think it is horrible that the prior yelp reviewers are trying to mislead innocent tourists into bringing their kids here to swim simply to help a few local spear fisherman chase away the seals. There is a much better, safer place for children to swim 100 feet away at South Casa beach. Please don't be fooled or mislead, this is not a good place for children to swim. read more

La Jolla which in Spanish means "the jewel" is exactly that... the jewel (or gem) of San Diego. I have loved coming here to star gaze on clear nights especially since this San Diego icon is exquisitely romantic day or night. It was nice to see the barrier curved wall walk out open again with people engulfing the spectacular breathtaking views one is bound to experience coming out here. Upon the barrier wall, one can experience the waves crashing upon its sturdy exterior while getting a closer view and sounds of the barking, sunbathing or sleeping beached seals where children were originally intended to frolic. Today was no exception with the ice plants blooming with prickly spiny anemone looking flowers, along with yellow, violet and blue desert wildflowers, curly aloe vera trees, varying types of birds flocking about co-mingling with people within a few feet. There is currently renovation still in progress with yellow caution tape marking off a small section of the bathroom area but it is about 85% accessible for inspiring views and gasps of awes! This place lives up to the area's name as I believe is its crowning glory! read more

Children's Pool - Panoramic View - Beaches Near Me - La Jolla, California

Not a "pool" in any traditional sense, a small shallow bay protected by a sea wall. Not for "children" in any real sense either: the place has been occupied by seals. It is technically legal to swim here but for your health and safety (lots of seal poop!) I wouldn't recommend it, especially because if you get too close to the seal pups they can be abandoned by their mothers. It is a good place for photos though. read more

If you're looking for seals, go to the cove. I'm with other reviewers in that seeing the seals is pretty cool, but I have major issues with all the humans who straight up crowd up right next to the seals. Seriously people. Use the zoom on your cameras. read more

Awesome place to stroll by to catch a glimpse of the seals. They have a bridge that allows you to walk out a little further into the ocean to check out the ocean and passerby sea animals. read more

The nudists have a beach (gross) and the dogs have at least 2 beaches here in San Diego, including one in Coronado. Anyone who has a problem with the seals having a tiny piece of beach, please, just go out hunting with Dick Cheney and do us all a favor. read more

I am glad to see that I am not the only one who has fond memories of swimming at the children's pool as a little girl and learning to snorkle there, I remember my mother always loved the childrens pool because of the restroom and showers nearby and of course the lifeguards right above me! When I had my children I also took them there for the same reasons...jumping off the lower wall into the clear water and sea kelp and with beautiful orange fish swimming about, you felt safe bringing your children there because of the area for small children and families, it WAS the jewel of La Jolla. And that was what it was built for... "the children of San Diego". Not the sealions! They have the entire ocean to swim in and procreate, I have seen what they have done to fisherman's warf in San Francisco and parts of the Oregon Coast where it is sooo smelly and polluted with fecies that you cannot go in the water or even walk on the beach, I am glad that they City will finally give back the Children's pool to the Children of San Diego, maybe one day I will be able to take my grandchildren there to swim and have 3rd generation memories of the jewel of La Jolla 12/31/13 I am so glad to see that people have returned to the children's pool!!!! Now I will take my great niece this summer and she will have the opportunity to experience the ocean like I did! read more