Avila Beach , pronounced AH-vuh-luh or spanish pronunciation as AH-vee-lah, is a census-designated place in San Luis Obispo CountyCaliforniaUSA and located about 160 miles (257 km) northwest of Los Angeles, and about 200 miles south of San Francisco. The ZIP Code is 93424. The community is inside area code 805. The population was 1,627 at the 2010 census.

The beach itself is less than 0.5 miles (0.8 km) long and sheltered in San Luis Bay, which is formed by Point San Luis on the west and Fossil Point on the east. Avila Beach faces south and is protected from the prevailing northwesterly winds by Point San Luis. It is therefore usually warmer than the other beacheson the Central Coast.

 

Avila Beach has three piers: Avila Beach Pier, 1,685 feet long, intended for tourist strolling and recreational fishing, Harford Pier, for commercial fishing boats to offload their wares, and the California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly SLO) Pier, part of the university's marine research program and not publicly accessible.

Diablo Canyon Power Plant, one of the two nuclear power plants in California is located in a remote part of the Avila Beach unincorporated area, about 6 miles northwest of the beach itself.

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