ventura pier and promenade

The Ventura Pier is very old, historic and has an amazing taco place that serves up a great breakfast burrito that you can sit and eat at their outdoor tables, or take a walk out to the end of the pier and enjoy it with the view. Off to the right is a point with lots of palm trees and this seems to be the spot for surfers… you might almost think you're in Hawaii! Except the humidity is missing. When you tire of pier you can walk down to the beach and rent bikes or walk along the wide paved promenade, and Sundays they have some sort of craft fair. The beach also has a nice play area for children to swing, slide and climb! It's a clean beach and the lifeguards seem pretty on top of things… came and spoke to us about the dangers of the currents and all. If you love to people watch you'll be happy!

We walked the length of the promenade, stopping in here and there to look at the shops. There's a great hat shop, where you will find an amazing array of hats in all shapes, colors and sizes. They even have "dress up" hats for kids!We stopped at the Carousel, which was fun! There are also a variety of games to be played, including my favorites: Skeeball and Air Hockey! My daughter introduced both to my 3 year old grandson - fun!!It's a great walk along the harbor, looking at all the boats. You can rent a paddle boat and explore a little bit on the water. We saved that for next time.After choosing our favorite ice cream flavors, we took our cones across the street to where there is a beach access. We spent over an hour playing in the sand, looking for "treasures" and watching the sun begin to set. Lovely!There are several good restaurants here too. There is a Greek restaurant that occasionally has bellydancing in the evening, and the taco place looked very inviting. there's even a small mini market on site, where you can pick up drinks, snacks, etc...

Nice place to go to the beach, walk on pier, fish, have a drink or just sit & people watch. Restaurant is a little expensive but decent.

With taco in hand it was a nice walk out onto the pier. It is nothing else but a nice walk out onto a pier for views. It does that and they do not charge you either. It is an easy walk from downtown and can easily be combined with a walk along the paved promenade too.

The playground is wonderful. Everything is so close to the beach.The parking structure helps the car not to get too hot. Not too many high waves, great for families. We stayed at LaQuinta, only 5 minutes away. The views of the Channel Island were wonderful and the beach was clean and beautiful.

Took a quick trip to the pier, nice, but the wood is starting to show the wear. Great views and we saw a sea lion.

You can see forever! What a great place to take walk and just soak in the sea air and watch the surfers! It was one of the highlights of our trip!

Whenever we visit Ventura, a walk along the Promenede and Pier are a must! The pier provides a great view of the area....fun to see the fishermen and locals/tourists hanging out....along the Promenade you can sit and watch the ocean and check out the surfers for hours!Great people watching! If you don't want to park in the fee parking lot, it's not a far walk to park on the streets, or easy walking from some of the Hotels/Motels, as well.

Beach was nice and clean and pier was great. There are restaurants on the pier which makes it convenient.

The restaurants on the pier are great! There are also some nice places a short walk away by the hotels. It's wonderful to take a sunset walk on the pier and then relax at one of the restaurants!

Having seen many California piers, there wasn't much going on here. We walked to the end, it is long, watched the fishermen, and ate lunch there.

Very spacious, easy walk with an excellent veiw of surfers, beach fun and picturesque views. Great place to enjoy the sunset.No coffee shops around for us addicts but there are restaurants and other amenities near by.

A great place for a walk in the sun and also to get in the water and catch some waves. A few places to eat in the area as well as some sidewalk food vendors in season. You can walk, bike or skate along the promenade.

The promenade and pier provide a nice place to walk or ride bikes. The pier is about 1/4 mile long and has nice views of the sunrise, sunset, and the hills of Ventura. There is a decent taco joint, but unfortunately, the restaurant on the pier pretty much sucks. The view is great, but the food, service, and noise level are bad. There is a nice playground for children on the sand near the pier, and of course, the Pacific Ocean.

Who knew that if one hopped in one's car in Los Angeles and headed north on the 101 Freeway, one would discover a cute yet cool; hip and happening place that is downtown Ventura. My wife and I loved this place. Here are a few criteria that a place needs to win our love: #1 the absence of chains. By that I mean chain restaurants and big box chain stores. And #2 good live music…wait let me add accessible good live music! And #3 good restaurants. It just so happened that we visited on 'small business Saturday' and although we were not intending on spending money outside of hotel, food and perhaps a cocktail or two we in fact did our part to support Ventura's small businesses…of which there are many. How could we not? We love the 'Ma and Pa' shop'! Let's hear it for the little guy!The downtown area has the feel of Santa Barbara without the high cost of food and entertainment. Add to this the San Buenaventura beach is mere footsteps away. After walking, shopping and stopping for the odd (and perhaps even) pint of beer we enjoyed a great meal and then were treated to 5--count 'em 5 live music bands. Four of which were very good; and we were able to walk to each, so no cabs or Uber rides necessary.My wife and I love this place and shall definitely return. (Folks, try and keep this place on the down low, we don't want it to become too overcrowded thus demanding the presence of…the chains). Safe travels y'all!